NVG and helmet mount options discussions

[American123]

I feel very confident when it comes many subjects, but I find myself scratching my head when it comes to PVS 14 helmet mount options.

It seems like price ranges severely and then there is the complicated factor of chinese knock offs trying to pass themselves off as legit gear. You can find the same thing being sold for several hundred dollars more or less. Tough to tell what is legit, and then tough to tell if you are just getting raped on the price vs buying cheaper elsewhere. 1 example, Amazon has a Norotos 2 mount sold by venture surplus for $150, but if you go to their own website, they have the same thing for $100. If you go to "the night vision guys" then they want more than $300 for the same thing it appears.

I've been watching youtube and doing a lot of reading, but the information I am looking for doesn't seem very straightforward and I was hoping some members on here could chime in on sufficient helmet mount options for the pvs-14. Ideally whatever a good value set up would be, but not chinese knock off junk.

Ready, go!

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[TapRackNGo]

USGI Rhino mounts are fine, good value. TNVC or a number of other websites are where I would purchase. EBay or Amazon are infested with counterfeit, unless buying genuine surplus. Team Wendy has a great suspension system.

 

[American123]

USGI Rhino mounts are fine, good value. TNVC or a number of other websites are where I would purchase. EBay or Amazon are infested with counterfeit, unless buying genuine surplus. Team Wendy has a great suspension system.

Thanks for the reply. That's really the crux of the issue, happy to buy surplus, but tough to tell what is legit, or chinesium. TNVC seems very proud of what they sell.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Couldnt you just head down to JB Lewis-McChord area and look in the actual surplus shops around there, or the 3 or so shops in Seattle that I know of?

 

[American123]

Couldnt you just head down to JB Lewis-McChord area and look in the actual surplus shops around there, or the 3 or so shops in Seattle that I know of?

You know, that's actually a great idea I hadn't thought of.

 

[TapRackNGo]

The more expensive mounts just move the NV a bit closer to the helmet or give you a bit more adjustment. But you need to make sure you have a good helmet suspension system or the thing will be moving around on your head anyway. Surplus will most likely have a little play in them so maybe bring your helmet. Don't forget to tether your NV to your helmet once mounted.

 

[American123]

The more expensive mounts just move the NV a bit closer to the helmet or give you a bit more adjustment. But you need to make sure you have a good helmet suspension system or the thing will be moving around on your head anyway. Surplus will most likely have a little play in them so maybe bring your helmet. Don't forget to tether your NV to your helmet once mounted.

Great info, thanks. I have a CPG helmet which (as I have later found out) is apparently a knock off ops core. As you said, it seems based on review it might have some slop in the mounting system, so it'll be tough to know for sure until it's all assembled.

The goal is to be able to use the PVS 14 with the helmet. If a surplus store lets me try out a mount and put it all together and try it, that would be superb.

My other idea was buy things easily returned and return them after trying them if necessary.

 

[TapRackNGo]

So... First I would ditch the knock off helmet and buy something else. Attaching a $3500 PVS14 to knock off helmet is crazy talk. So my suggestion would be to find a decent helmet first and go from there. There are plenty out there.

I would really suggest you visit the NV forum on arfcom and spend a couple months there before purchasing anything. Then re-evaluate.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Good question. Ballistic protection, or bump protection?
Or just a place for NVGs to mount to?

Edit. I mean; for ballistic protection, there's the classic, obsolete PASGT kevlar, then the newer MICH and ACH, and then the LWH, and I believe there's a few more versions thats more up to date?

And then for bump/non ballistic helmets.. lots of options.

And if you're just looking to mount NVGs to something... well. That depends again on what the purposes of the NVGs are.

 

[American123]

So... First I would ditch the knock off helmet and buy something else. Attaching a $3500 PVS14 to knock off helmet is crazy talk. So my suggestion would be to find a decent helmet first and go from there. There are plenty out there.

I would really suggest you visit the NV forum on arfcom and spend a couple months there before purchasing anything. Then re-evaluate.

Thanks for the info! That's a good idea.

 

[American123]

Good question. Ballistic protection, or bump protection?
Or just a place for NVGs to mount to?

Edit. I mean; for ballistic protection, there's the classic, obsolete PASGT kevlar, then the newer MICH and ACH, and then the LWH, and I believe there's a few more versions thats more up to date?

And then for bump/non ballistic helmets.. lots of options.

And if you're just looking to mount NVGs to something... well. That depends again on what the purposes of the NVGs are.

Good questions. Currently I have a ballistic helmet of questionable origin, "CPG" I got it multiple years ago when they were advertised as being on significant sale. Since then I haven't been able to find any videos of them actually being shot except for 1 done by sage dynamics with a .44 mag, it did stop the round (so that's promising).

All that is a bit irrelevant though because whether it's ballistics protection is questionable or not, it could still serve as a holder for a PVS 14 assuming the mount lockup was secure and that's mainly what I am interested in currently, getting the PVS 14 mounted so it's not merely a handheld device and instead something that I could more effectively use to shoot with at night.

Since I currently don't have a way to mount it, my main goal is just to get it mounted in hopefully a rather inexpensive way without buying chinese knockoff junk, however mounts range drastically

Venture Surplus is offering new Rhino 2 mounts for $100 (assuming they are legit)

The Night Vision Guys have the same thing for hundreds more.

Other mounts run up to $1000 or more.

And then there is a lot of chinisium junk out there for $50.

It definitely made me scratch my head wondering how to be a value shopper when it wasn't easy to tell what was obvious mark up or what was fake.

 

[Diamondback]

Thanks for the info! That's a good idea.

Or pop over to M4C and check with the Gear Gurus there.

 

[American123]

Or pop over to M4C and check with the Gear Gurus there.

More great info, thanks!

 

[waltermitty]

I had a helmet and head mount but sold one (not remembering which). I will check tomorrow and see if I still have milspec helmet for PVS-14 (milspec). it was a souvenir someone sent me from Kabul

raymond (just off Boeing Field and SODO)

 

[JustShoot]

The more expensive mounts just move the NV a bit closer to the helmet or give you a bit more adjustment . But you need to make sure you have a good helmet suspension system or the thing will be moving around on your head anyway. Surplus will most likely have a little play in them so maybe bring your helmet. Don't forget to tether your NV to your helmet once mounted.

-
that best advise you need to start with with right there .
Get a good quality bump and ' Wear It ' ( several hours ) . get tuned with pad-kit to the unique shape for your head . You will never regret this advise . then set-up a counterweight also.
.

 

[American123]

-
that best advise you need to start with with right there .
Get a good quality bump and ' Wear It ' ( several hours ) . get tuned with pad-kit to the unique shape for your head . You will never regret this advise . then set-up a counterweight also.
.

Thanks for the input. With the helmet I've got, I have been wearing it around the house to get used to it, similar to how a football helmet takes some getting used to. It's original padding sucked so I replaced it with gel pads (that seemed to be the biggest recommendation from what I had read online)

In terms of purchasing, even though I could get a better helmet I intend to go about buying in this order and seeing what I can make work at the moment:

#1 mount (if mount works with current helmet "good enough" then
#2 Infrared sighting system/laser

If the helmet isn't sufficient to support a good mount then helmet will need to he replaced, in terms of bump or ballistic. I don't personally like the idea of spending hundreds of dollars for what amounts to a fancy bicycle helmet, I figure if I have to get a new helmet for some reason I will just spend the extra cash and get better genuine ballistic helmet from a more reputable company.

I'm currently debating the mount because I could do things multiple ways over time.

A) just buy the cheapest option to mount a single pvs-14 because it's better than the no mount I currently have, if I end up being in a spot to upgrade later and buy binocular night vision I would have saved money initially by doing it this way.

B) buy a mount that is far more expensive but allows for dual PVS-14's to be mounted because once I have the mount and the single pvs-14, it would be cheaper to buy a second one than it would be to go binocular down the road (at the cost of additional weight) so I've read.

So currently I have several possibilities that I need to consider and I think in writing this I just answered my own questions, because I could chase this rabbit deeper down the hole and pay a LOT more money, so to keep it from getting out of hand, I'll get a mount and the infrared laser and call it a day and if the current helmet I have is insufficient I will cross that bridge when I get there, but the mount I buy I will buy with the planning that it will probably be the only mount I ever buy for it because realistically I will likely never spend $10,000 for a binocular set up and the benefit of going with two PVS-14 for me would allow for a second person to utilize one if I was doing something with company and it made more sense for us both to have 1 eye so to speak than for me to have 2 and them to be blind.

 

[JustShoot]

Thanks for the input. With the helmet I've got, I have been wearing it around the house to get used to it, similar to how a football helmet takes some getting used to. It's original padding sucked so I replaced it with gel pads (that seemed to be the biggest recommendation from what I had read online)

In terms of purchasing, even though I could get a better helmet I intend to go about buying in this order and seeing what I can make work at the moment:

#1 mount (if mount works with current helmet "good enough" then
#2 Infrared sighting system/laser

If the helmet isn't sufficient to support a good mount then helmet will need to he replaced, in terms of bump or ballistic. I don't personally like the idea of spending hundreds of dollars for what amounts to a fancy bicycle helmet, I figure if I have to get a new helmet for some reason I will just spend the extra cash and get better genuine ballistic helmet from a more reputable company.

I'm currently debating the mount because I could do things multiple ways over time.

A) just buy the cheapest option to mount a single pvs-14 because it's better than the no mount I currently have, if I end up being in a spot to upgrade later and buy binocular night vision I would have saved money initially by doing it this way.

B) buy a mount that is far more expensive but allows for dual PVS-14's to be mounted because once I have the mount and the single pvs-14, it would be cheaper to buy a second one than it would be to go binocular down the road (at the cost of additional weight) so I've read.

So currently I have several possibilities that I need to consider and I think in writing this I just answered my own questions, because I could chase this rabbit deeper down the hole and pay a LOT more money, so to keep it from getting out of hand, I'll get a mount and the infrared laser and call it a day and if the current helmet I have is insufficient I will cross that bridge when I get there, but the mount I buy I will buy with the planning that it will probably be the only mount I ever buy for it because realistically I will likely never spend $10,000 for a binocular set up and the benefit of going with two PVS-14 for me would allow for a second person to utilize one if I was doing something with company and it made more sense for us both to have 1 eye so to speak than for me to have 2 and them to be blind.

-
You need to put more than 2 to 3 hours nonstop at a time with helmet on and all loaded, to really start to find out all the hot points to get ironed out in your pad lining . fix that, then you can go all night with very little fatigue.

Good ridged shell and quality 4-point harness . . and Unless your going to get shot at ? you don't need ballistic helmet . they are a ridged shell , but ballistic more weight and there hotter on the head . . A Quality bump is where it at . lighter and they are ridged shell with top notch 4-point.
NOD/pvs14 on the head is the workhorse you really use often for safe stealthy foot travel from the moment you step out of the truck to gear-up . get all squared away on that 1st and then if budget allows down the road and you log-in more hours hunting and get more gear, maybe bump-up to wilcox mounts latter on.

If was me. I would just go for setting up your helmet 'proper' for right now . and just use a common Mil. rhino mount with a single pvs14 . Get a wendy or opscore helmet . You don't need to blow a lot of coin-$ on the Carbon bump unless you want to . I had had both and (for me) even though the opscore carbon is pretty badazz, I got hundreds more hours on the wendy by preference.

After you get setup proper on the head with pvs14 . Then if you were going for another NV option for spotting, 'Go thermal spotter' go for a monocular or bino .
Tune all you other gear to complement your rifle and weapons sight that you mounted .
If only just using NV NOD on the helmet and a rifle, then hunt with IR Laser/collimated illum. combo unit .
If you going Therm. on the rifle, just get a single IR Laser to slave to your POI . then you can also use the pvs14 for quick shots.
If you going clip-on NV on the rifle . Then go IR Laser/illum. combo unit .
.

 

[TapRackNGo]

Wearing your helmet around the house isn't going to do much for you. Without having 1.25-1.5lbs hanging off the front of the helmet you won't learn to much about your helmet and your neck. Also, don't forget the counterweight off the back. Ballistic is just extra weight on your neck. Unless you get this stuff dialed in proper you will get headaches and neck fatigue quickly and decide it's not for you. Again I would suggest reading more and spend money on a good helmet.

 

[waltermitty]

looks like the helmet I have is an earlier gen, weighted version. I didn't know much
about it other than it arrived, gratis, on my front porch and I just put it away.

 

[American123]

Thanks for all the feedback. Ended up getting a Rhino 2, not as fancy as many others, but will do the job and was inexpensive comparatively to other options.

Mounted on the helmet, has a little play, I attribute that more to the cheap helmet than the mount as I read from others that the helmet has that fault. Going to see about shimming it up a bit to reduce play. Have noticed a bump helmet from hard head veterans group can be bought for $200, might try that out someday, but for right now just being able to mount it is 100x better than mot being able too.