Video Transcript
There is a lot of different night vision options on the market today, but the gold standard has always been just getting a PVS-14. Now what we have here is actually an upgrade to the PVS-14 with the model of the RVM-14. So what we're going to do in this video is we're going to go over this device right here starting with what comes in the box. We're going to show some example setups and then try and go over all of the features that this night vision device offers.
When you purchase this guy you're going to get it shipped in a box like this. It will be taped closed obviously and once you open it you're going to get your little SL3 bag and your night vision device unit will be actually in this bag. Now before we open that guy what also comes in the box is going to be a 123 battery. It's a Surefire 123 battery that's included with the night vision device. Now that is something to note that is one of the differences between the PVS-14 and this new RVM-14 is the type of battery. It takes 123 rather than a AA which is an improvement for many different reasons. But also you're going to get your data sheet for your night vision device. So to give you all your specs.
Now when you purchase this device we will contact you to make sure you're good with your specs before we ship it. But you'll have a hard copy of your specs as well once you receive it.
Now getting into the SL3 bag itself there's not much going on in here. You're going to have your night vision device wrapped up in some bubble wrap and that should be it. That's going to be all that comes in your bag. So you're basically just getting a bag for some protection. And then on the device itself you're going to have a couple of covers for the unit.
This one fell off in the bag. But you'll have your objective lens cover which has a little pin hole in it. So you can turn this on in an environment quite like this where there is some lighting. You don't want a ton of light going into the device. So you can kind of just hone down the light going in there. And also if you're wearing this like day noodle or you're out there larping or whatever the case may be. And you're outside during the day with your night vision on like you're wearing it. Keep this cover on there so the sun doesn't damage it. And then you have just a rear cover. Mainly just for travel purposes but you have it if you ever want to store it that way.
Now another thing to note about the RVM-14 compared to the PVS-14 is that you can get it in two different colors. You have black and you have FDE. FTE obviously is going to cost a little bit more money but it does look super cool. So an important thing to note about this guy is it does take the same internals and same pieces as a standard PVS14. So same lenses, same tube and everything like that. Really what you're getting with the upgrade of the housing itself is the housing is now aluminum. It now takes a 1, 2, 3 battery and it's a little bit lighter. So you're getting nothing but improvements. You're not losing any of the features of the PVS14 either. So you still have your onboard illuminator. You still have manual gain and everything like that. Now another cool thing about this device is you have an additional mounting option with the housing itself.
So on the housing you're going to have a little rail system here that can accept RVM specific mounting solutions for bridges, for standard J-arms and things like that. And you also have the thumbscrew that the standard PVS-14 comes with. So if you have a PVS-14 you're upgrading or you just maybe have some parts left over from your military experiences and you happen to have some PVS-14 mounting options, they'll still work with this guy right here. So to show an example of the specific mounting option, we have this RVM-14 mounted on the Pano Bridge. So one of the accessories here is the adapter for the RVM14 to the Pano Bridge. And as you guys can see, it is very low profile. It's much smaller than the thumbscrew option and it allows the device to get a lot more snug and tight to the Pano Bridge option. So it is definitely not needed, but it's definitely a positive and one of the benefits of the RVM-14 system, compared to the PVS-14.
Now continuing the talk about the differences with the PVS-14 and the RVM, let's just take a quick look at the differences between the two. As you guys can see, they're going to look pretty similar. But the biggest thing you're going to notice is the drastic size reduction in the battery area. And that is mainly due to the fact that this takes a 123. So obviously a lot less bulk, a lot less weight with the RVM-14. But like I said, all of the other features with the RVM are going to be the same.
So getting into the features of this device, like I said, they are the same as the PVS-14. But starting with the rear lens, so there is an adjustment on this lens, you know, just turn it left and right. And what this does, if you're unfamiliar, is basically tunes the optic to your eye. So it's very similar to an LPVO or any other sort of magnified optic. This is going to, again, adjust this specific device to your specific eyeball. So the best way to adjust this properly is what I like to do is I get, you know, obviously I'm wearing this unit. I'm staring at something about 25 yards away, give or take. If you can go up to 50, that might be even better. And I'm just turning this left and right until the image becomes as crisp as possible. So that's just basically, again, tuning the optic to your eyeball. And then on the other side, on the objective lens side, this guy also turns.
And this is going to be basically your depth perception adjustment. So this is adjusting what distance is going to be in focus for you. So you can just kind of look up at the sky to adjust this. So all of the stars are really clear to see. And you're going to kind of have like an infinity parallax type setting going on if you want to compare it to that. So it's going to be pretty good for a lot of things. But if you're trying to do something up close within like arms distance or just a couple feet away, it's going to be pretty blurry. But night vision is getting a lot better. So the need to adjust this to a specific distance is not necessarily there, comparatively to older green phosphor units that I'm sure a lot of you guys are used to from using the military. So there's a little bit more flexibility with the adjustment range there, all that to say.
And moving on, we have the turn dial for the device. When you want to turn this guy on, you just turn it to the right, it clicks. And then as you turn it farther, that's going to be your adjustments for your gain. So the more on you turn it on, the brighter the device will get. And the closer you get to off, the dimmer it'll get. And then you just turn it past the click and then it turns off. And then on the front, you have a button and that's your onboard illuminator. You just click it, turn it on, hold it to turn it off. And there you have your illuminator. And then putting in the battery, it's not rocket science. You just open the battery cap, throw the battery in, make sure it's orientated as the battery housing tells you to orientate it. And you're good to go. So last thing we need to talk about is mounting this guy up to a helmet. And there are really three different ways you can do that. And I'm going to show you guys how to do that right now.
So first and foremost, you have the standard mounting solution that you would use for your standard PVS-14. And that is just using a thumb screw type arm here. So we have the Wilcox J-arm here. All you're going to do is use the thumb screw, screw it into the big screw hole that's on the housing. And you take it, mount it in your mount and voila.
Super difficult, right? So that's the standard mounting solution that you have from Wilcox. And then obviously this guy can turn left and right for whatever, you know, eyeball you want it over. I prefer to have night vision over my dominant eye because I'm trying to see things at night. So I want to use my good eye to be able to do that. It's also good if you want to try and passively shoot with the PVS-14. It can be done, but you're going to need your device over your dominant eye. Now, a lot of people, if they're walking around and doing movements, not to get down a rabbit hole here, but a lot of people do prefer to have the device over their non-dominant eye. That's totally fine too. But I'm kind of an oddball and like to have it on my dominant.
Next option we have is one of the specific mounts for the RVM. So as you guys can see here, we have this big J-arm to attach the device to your standard G24 mount. And then you have the AB Max 14 mount. As you can see, much smaller.
It's going to be a little more lightweight and this is all aluminum while part of this is polymer and plastic. And what you're going to do with this guy is you're going to use the rail system that's going on with this device. So this just slides on to the rail device. You're going to use the tool that this guy comes with and tighten it on using the screws, the little set screws. So we're just going to tighten it on so it's nice and snug. You don't need Loctite or anything like that.
And there you have it. And as you can see, there's a lot less going on with this mounting solution. So one of the benefits, again, with the RVM-14 is going to be the form factor of it. And then if I want to attach this onto the helmet, exact same thing. But the cool thing about this guy is it articulates a lot more. It can get a lot closer to the helmet. So the PVS-14, there are some solutions for it to articulate a little bit better from noise fighters as well. But given the fact, again, that the RVM is so much smaller, you can get it much more snug to the helmet. And then when I deploy it, I have a lot more flexibility of exactly where I want this device to be orientated at. So that is mounting solution number two if you're going to run this device on its own.
Now getting into one of the cooler mounting solutions is mounting the RVM-14 to the panel bridge. So generally speaking, we don't recommend trying to bridge two PVS 14s onto the same housing to have dual tubes because when it's heavy, you're going to have two tubes that are going to be slightly different specs. But with the RVM 14, half of that problem is kind of resolved because the devices, these devices are so much smaller. They're a little bit more lightweight. If you bridge two of these together, you now don't have a 30 ounce set of dual tubes. You have something that is only an ounce or two heavier than your standard RNVG-As or RPNVGs. So the adapter here is something that we also saw on the website.
This is just the panel bridge adapter for the RVM-14. And it attaches to the housing the exact same way as this arm does. And then it attaches directly to the panel bridge. So on this set up here, I have a thermal and the RVM 14, excuse me, on the same system. Obviously, I can do two RVM-14s here. And then I would have essentially dual tubes. And the cool thing about this panel bridge is that it pans. It's in the name. So you get a little bit of that RPNVG benefit with the fact that it articulates, excuse me, the fact that it pans. So these spread out a little bit, giving you a little bit more field of view. But the other cool thing about the bridge is that it also articulates. So if you want dual tubes, as of the making of this video, if you want dual tubes that can articulate and pan, getting two RVM-14s in the panel bridge is your only solution.
Now, the cool thing about starting with an RVM-14, comparatively to a PVS-14, or even comparatively to dual tubes, is this you can essentially treat it as stepping blocks to achieving a system quite like this. So I can start with my RVM 14, save up some more money, get the panel bridge, save up more money and get my thermal. Now I have a lot of capability and a very small package. Obviously, thermals are pretty expensive. But eventually one day I can then purchase another RVM-14. Now I have single tube with thermal set up. I have dual tubes if I wanted to. I just have a lot of flexibility with the set up. And the RVM-14 is just a really good foundation or base object, base product, I should say, for having a system of, or a suite of products like that if you want to build out something quite like this. It's just a really good way to start something like that that's going to end up being really flexible.
Well, that's about all I have for the RVM-14. If you guys have any further questions about this device, if there's something I didn't answer, or if you guys just need help with your purchasing decision, you know, if you should buy this, or buy some dual tubes, or whatever the case may be, just shoot us an email at [email protected], and we'll be happy to help.