TNVC Televue Night Vision Review in S&T

[GavStar]

The June 2018 issue of Sky and Telescope contains a review of the TNVC Televue Night Vision System (pages 58-61).

The article headline is ‘The versatility of this new light intensifying system just might make it a game changer in the world of amateur astronomy’.

Some interesting comments and photos in the article. However the author didn’t really seem to understand the benefits of certain filters to take away background sky pollution.

[Merlin66]

Ok if you’re a US National within the US....

[GavStar]

5 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

Ok if you’re a US National within the US....

Yes, the article sensibly discussed the ITAR restrictions.

However, there are good quality European made night vision monoculars that aren’t subject to ITAR restrictions and can still use the TNVC Televue adapters. So Europeans (and Australians ?) are able to benefit as well.

[DirkSteele]

I recall the review of the Collins I3 eyepiece that appeared in Sky and Telescope way back when and thought it sounded very exciting but incorporating a generation 3 night-vision tech meant you could not export outside the US.  Is it the same Gen 3 tech here?

[GavStar]

4 minutes ago, DirkSteele said:

I recall the review of the Collins I3 eyepiece that appeared in Sky and Telescope way back when and thought it sounded very exciting but incorporating a generation 3 night-vision tech meant you could not export outside the US.  Is it the same Gen 3 tech here?

You can get similar gen 3 tech tubes here - made by harder Digital in Germany. The best spec harder Digital tunes are very close to the best spec US tubes so performance should be close - not seen any comparisons though.

I have a photonis 4g which is actually gen 2+ but works very close to gen 3 (from tests done in USA - I haven’t compared them for obvious reasons!). 

See details at www.actinblack.com

[alanjgreen]

On 18/04/2018 at 09:22, Merlin66 said:

Ok if you’re a US National within the US....

Available in New Zealand too

https://owloptics.co.nz/products/act-pvs14?variant=3128159535133

[alanjgreen]

Looks like I am joining the club!

ActinBlack have found me a "Photonis 4g INTENS" tube above a minimum spec I gave them (have had to wait a few weeks) and I have now paid the money to them!

Should receive my PVS-14 next week (I hope)

Then "Big Dob goes Black Ops"....