Cheaper for a Reason: AGM NVG-40 Night Vision Goggles

The NVG-40 is an affordable articulating binocular night vision housing; sort of AGM's poorfriend version of the BNVDs. They have a surprisingly robust feature set for the money, but as with other night vision devices from AGM there are some shortcomings you should be aware of before you pull the trigger.

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[benjamincornier]

Someone calling a $6000 pair of NVGs cheap makes me feel poor

[michaelblacktree]

I can appreciate the irony of Hop reviewing cheap guns and rich man's toys.

[BrassFacts]

Damn... that was great NV footage.
Going to need to up my game
Or buy a sionyx aurora and only shoot in the evenings.

[kylepropes]

I was pretty shocked at the quality of the Omni IV tubes in my NVG40. Kosher Surplus does a great job by allowing the end user to pick their tubes. We compared them to two sets of dtnvgs, both WP, and both 2100+ FOM. The increase in performance was not worth an extra 4K for civilian use (especially running a perst 3). They are heavy as hell though! All great information! Thanks for the video!

[Meph]

Non-USA resident here, I own a set of AGM NVG-40 with Photonis 4G tubes. My set has manual gain and autogating. For the money, I have to admit there are really no other options that have the features of this unit, and I think the downsides of more weight and slightly lower quality glass is worth it when half-decent tubes are installed. Considering it has been working well with a Jerry C5E Coti, this set has been particularly awesome. I don't think the lens flaring or "hooping" has been a huge issue for me, but that does depend on your environment and usage scenario. There are other cheap housings out there, but none of them have the features and (for example) the Nocturn Industries "Katana" dual tube housings can have faults that make them actually un-usable as my friend has discovered after being scared away from the AGM set because of the weight and lens quality. He currently has to wait for his "Katana" to be repaired or adjusted because the pod shut-off feature would engage prematurely, and the articulation friction fit was so loose that the pods would shut-off just by shaking his head. In the "Katana" housing, none of those things are user-adjustable.

You have to consider that options for a lot of us not in the USA can range from "terrible, and overpriced" to "an Act in Black DTNVS with German-made Harder Gen 3 tubes is in the ballpark of 32000 CAD/23 000 Euros" and yes, that's twenty three thousand Euro or thirty-two thousand CAD. With cheap ~1800 FOM Echo Photonis tubes, the ACT DTNVS ends up around 9000 Euro or 13000 CAD. With 4G tubes, the ACT DTNVS nips at the heels of the Harder Gen3 price tags. Absolutely DISGUSTING. I've never felt that the AGM set had any downside big enough that it made me regret my decision, or look back at any other option, or even hinder me in my LARP'ing or whatever else I'm doing with NV. With tubes that aren't terrible, the AGM really kicks ass especially for the price tag.

[yakivpopavich]

Night Vision Rule #1 : Buy once, cry once.

[AlexanderEddy]

With the amount of money Hop has spent fucking around with budget setups to make videos for us, he could have probably bought a set of quad tubes by now

[YukarisGearReviews]

"There's a reason it's cheap."
I keep telling people this, but every time I do someone screams at me about "gatekeeping".

[IFarmBugs]

At least they even bothered to put an "On - Off" designation unlike some of their other products...

[TheSonsOfSimon]

Do you have a vid that explains also of the critical tube specs and what is acceptable vs optimal? Like FOM, SNR, etc.?

Great vid!

[indymcconnell]

Very cool information, however I'm stuck with the squintyeye 4000's for my Binocular NVG set up

[brickmastersk]

When you said, "Cheapest NVG's on the market, " I was going to get a pair for Christmas, little did I know, $6000 is considered cheap

[rangedrink]

Mystery meat tubes was my nickname in college.

[PelenTan]

This is going to sound a bit fan-boyish. I'm not in the market for NVG's at this point. I only watched the review because it was you giving it. Always entertaining.

[jaysonsladen]

I've had a set of these in the UK for about 15 months and agree with this review. I only use them for wildlife watching, and occasional airsoft use. They have been great for both of these activities, and I much prefer binos over my old mono. I paid the equivalent of $5k, but wanted the warranty and correct legal paperwork to travel abroad with them. I've recently integrated the Jerry C Ecoti, and the combo is a lot of fun to use for night airsoft games.

[ParrotTactical]

Except for armchair elitist internet mall ninjas who will argue otherwise, night vision is far too expensive and untrainable to ever be in common use among civilians. If it could get down under $2k, all in, for a new unit, it would be possible. You’d still need an infrastructure of ranges offering night shooting as not everyone can afford private land in areas where shooting after dark isn’t frowned upon. I’m not against it, but until the industry finds a way under that $2k price point, I predict NVGs remaining a 1%er niche kind of thing.

[Swanhub]

Have you done a video on your full helmet setup, including counterweights and etc? Checked your catalog but didn't find one

[Ozeanic]

"cheaper NVG's"
i mean 6, 600 dollars is cheaper than 36, 000....

[nickdevault]

Have you ever tried a Nightfox digital system? With your extensive knowledge base of legit NVGs now, and I think you did one review of a digital monocular / camera a while back, I'm curious how the Nightfox's airsoft/LARPing digital cameras stack up

[turnitdowntyler]

I almost bought these back in my early days of night vision. Went with a Thin Filmed White Phosphor PVS14 with a L3 tube.