I have them, both Sentinels and PVS14's, along with the full power lasers and accessories to make them useful for gun fighting. I teach their use both for the Marine Corps and assist a local training company here in Jacksonville with their Mil/Le enrollment classes as a aggressor for force on force and adjunct instructor/ gofer.... I've been to multiple training course both .mil and private to learn to run these things. I was also integrally involved in the field testing of PVS 31's for USMC FMF Infantry unit adoption and had one of the first rifle companies to deploy with PVS31's instead of PVS14's. I've done track nights on NOD's to familiarize myself with driving under them as well with both tactical vehicles and POV's. Just so you all know where I am coming from...
If you have never run them I really can't explain it to you, Dual tube systems are where it is at. Under the Sentinels or the 31's I can run at nearly full speed and maneuver / fight / manipulate the guns and gear/ transition to pistol, operate vehicles. On the single tube system it is slower and I have much less depth perception, I don't like fighting under single tube NOD's, but they are acceptable for maneuver, limited static observation and static shooting, I won't drive on them at all....tried it, all over the track or had to go too slow to be worth the effort vice headlights, plus you will end up with a splitting headache....at least I did.
Rifles need to be set up to prioritize the switchology of the aiming lasers, many will not do this and it shows with their split times and operation of the rifle once the sun goes down. I learned the hard way about DG switches for surefire X300's on pistols as well at night under NOD's, IE: don't do it.... RDS pistols come into their own at night as well. But you can still run iron sighted pistols, by lifting your head up slightly. You need IR illumination on your weapons. otherwise you will not be able to see into shadows very easily or very far. Other shooters can also push IR illum for you to engage under as well.
If you are going to go down this rabbit hole then also ensure that you select day optics that are NVG capable, so that at night you can use them for targeting under NOD's when you do not want to emit any IR spectrum light. Anyone else with NOD's (or a IPHONE) can see you as well once you fire up the laser. Remember, Laser on target, Engage, Laser off, Move.... Thermals are awesome for detecting movement, or security work but once a threat is located I prefer to engage under NOD's and not thermals. I'm not a hunter so I can't speak to that application.
All of this said.... only you can determine if the juice is worth the squeeze for you, If I didn't use them for work and if my one guilty pleasure hobby wasn't going to training classes then I don't think I would need them, and I could have saved a bunch of money (who am I kidding, I just would have bought even more guns instead...) All the guys I regularly shoot and train with down here have either dual tubes or a 14 and DBAL's at a minimum, either personal or in the case of some Cop friends, dept issued... Everyone is also rocking suppressors as well. I'm not sure about the value add if you are the only one in your group with them other than as a novelty.
NOD's are probably one of the most fun things you can do with guns, short of belt feds with free ammo.
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Originally Posted by rcbusmc24
