joko

No, do not expect anything good from this tube.

With your OVNI-M do you use a focal reducer or do you prefer afocal for wide FOV ?

With OVNI afocal adapters it has always been possible to insert filters between the OVNI-M / OVNI-B and the eyepiece in afocal. For example on the website if you look at the pics « Afocal By adding a filter wheel + afocal adapter » (column 2 line 3) : https://www.ovni-nightvision.com/en/content/11--ovni-m- The new OVNI-M afocal adapter will also allow this, as you can see below. And here with OVNI-B

Gary Myers (StellarCAT) is retiring and this is the end of the ServoCAT which equips most non industrial GOTO Dobsonian telescopes around the world. Gary Kopff (Wildcard Innovations) manufacturer of the Argo Navis will take over and will propose the Wildcard GOTO controller. Having met Gary K. in Sydney in 2007 at a Star Party, the Argo Navis was already a great success and still is. It is certain that this new system will be highly anticipated by many astronomers. " Wildcard Innovations will be introducing a new advanced servo motor GOTO controller. A release date is yet to be announced. Recently Gary Myers at StellarCAT has announced that he will be retiring and that StellarCAT will soon cease production of the ServoCAT GOTO controller. We wish Gary Myers all the best in his retirement. Wildcard has had a close working relationship with StellarCAT over many, many years. We co-developed the "ServoCAT" communications protocol and closely collaborated on the development of advanced features such as SmartTrack. This feature allows Argo Navis and ServoCAT to track solar system objects, including man-made satellites, in real-time. In discussions with Gary Myers, we have been aware of his pending retirement for some time and the plan had been for Widcard to make a new GOTO controller available seamlessly once the ServoCAT ended production. However, the ongoing global semiconductor supply crises has resulted in a delay in those plans. The Wildcard GOTO controller incorporates state-of-the-art electronics and advanced features. It is compatible with existing servo motor installations. Manufacturing of all our products is at a state-of-the-art facility in Sydney, Australia. We hope this announcement will alleviate some concern as to the availability of servo motor GOTO controllers for telescope owners. We will make further announcements in due course. Best Regards Gary Kopff Managing Director Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd. sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au "

For sure NV binoviewer (with 2 eyes) is more comfortable than NV monocular. Also for sure FOM2600 have better specs than FOM2100. With 2 eyes every target look bigger, with a kind of 3d effect and with more brightness and details (when equivalent FOM are compared).

Trentend has one of the 2 "prototypes" i made, only this 1st unit was without manual gain control. Of course this was discussed before he ordered. Trentend got his OVNI-B in August 2020 while OVNI-B has been official 4 months later, in November 2020. So yes he has a collector's eyepiece 🙂

That's right, but we always remove the French VAT of 20% when we ship outside European Union. In the UK VAT is also 20%. If it was a product that you bought in the UK you would also have 20% VAT included in the price. So the insanely expensive is about the extra 5% for customs fees. Meaning the final price was 5% higher than what buyers in the EU pay. You have to ask the seller to remove the VAT when you import.

An other solution much less expensive is simply to use an astronomy NV binoviewer. As it is made for astronomy, it works in any telescope in prime (without backfocus issue), afocal and handheld with any camera/SLR lens. Only 500 grams in just one part, so no need to use a headset and not restricted to just afocal like terrestrial NV device you are using. Most NV users prefers to use a NV binoviewer for visual observation and a NV monocular for visual and astrophotgraphy. There are much more NV binoviewers users in France and in the USA than in the UK, but here is a review on this forum. For information the user observe from the city centre of Edimburgh in Scotland and also wrote a quick comparison between his NV binoviewer and his traditional Binotron binoviewer.

A quick clarification here. All our "astronomy grade" intensifier tubes are built to order, we do not choose them among a batch of production. And all our tubes in the OVNI-M / OVNI-B are specifically designed with the best specs for astronomy use, no black spots and autogated + manual gain features. We have stopped partnerships with all our resellers worldwide in may this year. So yes, we stopped dealing with "Astrograph" in the UK. We only sell direct and we are used to ship on the 5 continents.

I would like to clarify one very important point that was not explained in the review. The PVS-14 is just the "housing". The intensifier tube in the PVS-14 is an OVNI Night Vision "Astronomy grade" tube specially designed for astronomy. Around 80% of the price of a Night Vision Device is dependant of the tube.

What do you mean by "something else is making a bigger difference…" Because there is something else you do not explain, the PVS-14 is just the housing, you have an OVNI Night Vision Astronomy grade tube designed for astronomy in your PVS-14. And knowing you have an OVNI Night Vision Astronomy grade intensifier tube in your best PVS-14 housing, tube that i supplied to you, it means you have the same tube performance in your OVNI-M. And there are absolutely no other parts between the tubes and the SLR/Camera lens. So the only difference is this SLR/camera lens. Nothing else can explain the difference you get. As you explain, there are a lot of positive comments on CN, (i never read any negative) so there are obviously something that makes the difference. For sure, it is the lens. I already tried a lens at f/2 and the view was really bad, close from your Fujinon f/1.8. And it was incomparably better with the Cosmicar f/1.4 (close to your f/1.5 lens). Like most OVNI users have. So the difference is due to the lens and nothing else.

A NV eyepiece made for astonomy works like any eyepiece, it has a 1.25" barrel so you just plug it in the focuser. But please note PVS-14 is made for terrestrial use, not for astronomy, so you can't use it in prime (in the focuser) and you can't add SLR/camera lens for handheld use. Here is a review wrote by GavStar in Astronomy Now magazine this year, it may help you : https://astronomynow.com/2021/07/29/reviewed-ovni-m-fom-2600-night-vision-eyepiece/ Please note the intensifier tube in the PVS-14 housing has been replaced before the test by an OVNI Night Vision Astronomy grade tube that i supplied. This is something i'm often asked by PVS-14 users. This is not explained but by PVS-14, this is only the housing, 80% of the price and the results obtained with a Night Vision Device is made by the intensifier tube.

Fujinon is f1.8 while most OVNI-M users have Cosmicar 75mm f/1.4 and emission nebulae are amazing with h-alpha filter. I never heard any negative feedback with the Cosmicar lens. All feedbacks are positive like those you read on CN.

A NV eyepiece made for astronomy will work with SLR/Camera lens. But your PVS-14 is made for terrestrial use, so you can't use it in prime and you can't add SLR/camera lens for handheld use. Have a look to these reviews about NV binoviewer with SLR/Camera lens : https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/789690-first-night-in-city-with-ovni-b-using-a-filter-wheel-in-all-modes/#entry11368888 https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/791613-ovni-b-with-more-camera-lenses-in-the-city/#entry11396988

Thanks for clarification Jim, i thought you wanted a product mixing eVscope and NV, which would not be possible.