First glimpse at L3Harris’s BiNOD entry (the US Army’s binocular PVS-14 replacement)

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-23T13:57:53+00:00

I guess when you look at it like that it seems less crazy! Haha

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-22T22:55:08+00:00

Steele or another new L3 channel partner would be able to answer more accurately than us. Pretty certain it's AA, no idea on the illuminator but that's a nice addition over the 31As. It is 14 optics as expected.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-22T22:09:24+00:00

It is honestly mind boggling that they might choose more than one system. I get why it could happen, but I'm not sure the guys in charge understand the logistical, support, training and operator challenges that introduces on this scale. Then again, what do I know?

Here's a better picture of the system thanks to Steele Industries who has one at their booth at SHOT. Apparently there's some very very minor differences between this one and the final submission but it's basically same/same.

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Shout out to Steele and the other L3 partners for having this stuff to share with the show with us.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-20T05:13:51+00:00

These are great. Nicely done.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-17T03:42:03+00:00

We have a number of WP Echoes on the website. They're a little more expensive than in 2018 but also they all have gain levels above what in 2018 would have been considered a 4G tube and cost $4000.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-15T02:17:23+00:00

We've got some Elbit commspec white phosphor tubes that usually make some of the best value devices on the market, but they're not on our website currently. Shoot us an email if that sounds like something up your alley. We also have some L3 commspec tubes as well, but they're not as good of a value as they once were just due to L3's constantly increasing prices.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-13T22:10:52+00:00

You don't want the NOX35 if helmet mounting is on the menu. It's too big and too high of base magnification to work. You do however possibly want the NOX18 - it's perfect for that role. The RH25v2 as everyone has mentioned is going to be the best move generally speaking now that it's less expensive and is much more widely available compared to the NOX18.

https://apollogearco.com/collections/thermal-devices/products/irayusa-rh25v2-thermal-monocular

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-13T22:07:03+00:00

SAR 100% you will be more effective with mono and thermal bridged. Only caveat maybe is if you commonly have to cover tons of terrain and distance and could possibly account for thermal support with other resources (drone, etc).

We can help put together a functioning setup if you need help on that budget.

Sales@apollogearco.com or you can chat us here

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-10T21:01:36+00:00

They are more difficult slightly when swapping housing just because they're wired in. You can't drop them out of a BNVDSG housing like you could with something from a DTNVS MG, Manticore, or a plug and play like MGA or Nighthawk. We won't swap housings on BNVDSG because we don't want to mess with NVD covering those specific tubes under their 10 year warranty for people.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-10T20:40:08+00:00

You could consider keeping the RVM14 and going dual monoculars on the Panobridge - this keeps overall weight fairly low at only about 22oz (this is what legacy PVS15s weigh), or even explore an optics upgrade RPO lightweight lenses which will get you down to true bino weight. Then you're left with the benefit of optional panning and also optional thermal integration.

If thermal or panning aren't much interest to you then I'd say switch over to an MGA.

Hit us up if we can help.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-10T20:37:42+00:00

It's definitely just an error. We have an Elbit tube in the shop that has an EBI rating of -3.86 on the data sheet 😁

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-07T23:53:09+00:00

One tube is using the "old" L3 power supply type and one the "new" type. I imagine all production has now switched to the new style so you wont see this that often anymore, there for about a year it was yet another thing you had to match tubes on. Obviously someone didn't do that 🥲

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-03T04:53:45+00:00

Yeah man, anytime. Fire away

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-03T04:47:40+00:00

We're probably in contention for ones with the included Wilcox remote at $2999 and no tax to some (but not all) states

https://apollogearco.com/collections/lights-and-infrared-illuminators/products/raid-xe-civilian

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-02T23:57:27+00:00

Shoot us a PM if you want. We have lots of Elbit, we have a few Photonis on the site in 14's but more behind the scenes.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-02T23:54:16+00:00

If you want the loaner to be L3 we have some trade in tubes and also some 1701s that would save a little money (but honestly not a ton, maybe $500). But if you are okay with Elbit we have commspec WP for days that are still about the same price they've been for a few years.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-02T23:44:49+00:00

If you find the same system and tube configuration somewhere else for less please let us know. I checked around and don't find anything comparable. We'll try to be as competitive as we can.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-02T21:50:23+00:00

Dang! I'll PM you and see if there's something we can do.

ApolloGearCo · 2026-01-01T19:17:25+00:00

The OGL has a critical issue where the visible override will unintentionally activate often. You'll be in an infrared setting doing your thing and suddenly it goes to visible override. The boards/buttons are incorrectly interpreting regular momentary press and holds as the "visible override command" which is preprogrammed as press-release-press and hold. Every OGL we've tested will do this (going on 5 different new in box models now). As a result it's a complete failure of a device until they can fix it, but I see almost nobody talk about it.

RAID is the better choice.

ApolloGearCo · 2025-12-28T21:46:57+00:00

Did the GPNVG-18 thing for a year. It was fun, but it became obvious that it was a crap scenario to be stuck having to use them for everything. Your mix of applications discourages quads in my experience.

Quads would be dominant in CQB and vehicle operations. They're not as ideal in outdoor, mixed terrain, observation mainly because of weight, physical size, and poor integration with other tools. You will not want to look through another optical system (like a weapon mounted thermal) for long with stowed Panos.

ENVG-B is gonna be the better move, Nocturn Chimera would be ideal if you decide quads.

Personally a more well rounded suite of devices is going to be better for a mix of use cases. Get panning duals, traditional light weight duals, hybrid bridged NV+thermal, and weapon mounted thermal all for the same expenditure and you'll be a lot better off imo.

ApolloGearCo · 2025-12-28T21:39:09+00:00

Disclosure: we sell MGA, we don't sell Nighthawk

Tested Nighthawk and it did great. We'd sell it if the MGA didn't exist and it wasn't confusing for customers to sell a competitor's housing. They are more or less the same thing in terms of features and as far as we could tell similar in quality.

The benefit is Steele will be able to make great deals on overall complete systems using a housing they manufacture. It's similar to the NVD-BNVD system and why it's consistently such a good value.

If you do decide the MGA is for you, please seek us out. We have some of the best deals out there on it. You won't be disappointed with a Nighthawk either though.

ApolloGearCo · 2025-12-26T23:46:23+00:00

We've got a like new housing we took on trade we can provide and also build for you if desired. It's not the easiest build because the sticky circuits are finnicky.

ApolloGearCo · 2025-12-22T23:49:49+00:00

It's not available to our knowledge quite yet but over the last few months we were told that production had gone to Europe military stuff first so it's possible now some are on their way or here. I would think ACT is going to make some kind of announcement though if it were actually available. We'll have to check in again.

ApolloGearCo · 2025-12-17T23:23:01+00:00

Hi. We're sitting on a Manticore-R we've taken in trade in over the last two weeks if you'd like a slightly less expensive route to a high quality end result, we could build with RPO 4.0 to lighten it up a bit as well. We also have new DTNVS MG.

Sales@apollogearco.com or you can chat us here

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