Another excellent review with no punches pulled. A tidbit of information for your audience, the Boomslangs are designed specifically for the PVS-14. That particular standard housing size (the internal dimensions of the housing) limits what can be done with wide FOV optics. We can design 50 degrees with 25mm eye relief, it just requires a different internal housing design. Therefore, the Boomslangs were designed to provide 50 degrees FOV capability that is backward compatible to almost all PVS-14 type night vision goggles currently in use. There were tradeoffs, as noted in the review, but the end goal was to minimize fisheye distortion prevalent on other wide FOV optics, while preserving as much clarity as possible while drastically increasing situational awareness.
Wow, such a well-done review, CHS. I hit 30 hours on my Boomslang Tantos last night, hiking and dirtbiking around the desert for the last month, and have found the extra FOV to be an incredible asset. These will absolutely excel on adjustable FOV systems like the RPNVG/PanoBridge/Daisho where you can dial in your preferred system resolution. Looking forward to your video on that! All around impressive lenses and a huge step forward for WFOV optics.
I usually have low to mid expectations for reviews but holy shit you guys killed it. Not only talking about the product but also weird compatibility and edge use cases. Keep it up!
Just got them installed, and this video is spot on: definitely mild but noticeable drop in “crispiness” especially at the edges (L3 unfilmed WP), but extra FOV is super useful for me. Super fast shipping thanks CH Supply! (all the US distributers appear to be out of stock currently).
@@dockertonfpv 1 major con not mentioned in the video: The Boomslang lenses seem to be much pickier on the angle of your eye looking through the NOD. Straight on is fine, but if you’re off angle the blurriness is much more noticeable vs Carsons. I haven’t tested with panned out setup but seems like this would be an issue, look forward to the promised CH test of Boomslangs with panning setup.
@@yzhou05 You're absolutely right. I describe it as "finicky" compared to Carson, the image loses quality if you aren't squared up. Its pretty bad if you're bouncing around on a hike or drive and your retention system is not under tension. On a PanoBridge M7 at 15 degrees pan I was not a fan of the image drop-off during the vibrations of rough terrain. I'm optimistic about the 10 degree Daisho though and the image/FOV is really fantastic when lined up, feels significanly less like looking through a toilet paper tube.
@@goneballistic Yes, but you have to be comfortable (or at least foolish enough like me) with taking a PVS14 apart and putting it back together. It’s really not that hard, hardest part for me was finding and taking the objective retaining ring off.
Can’t thank you enough for your reviews and product spotlights. I’m just getting into the night vision game and I’m definitely going to be ordering from Cold Harbour (as long as you ship to the US!)
Working on it. It works really well and there is more overlap in the middle so there is more stereoscopic vision down the centre which is always a plus.
Awesome and very informative video. Keep up the great work guys. Would be super cool to see a trade-up option to upgrade to these from Carsons on previously bought CHS built units (obviously if the Carson's are in good condition)
Very very interesting. Just looking at the results, I think I'll stick with my Carson for the time being (plus I don't have the coin), but you're always going to have a drop in clarity and increase in distortion once you start playing with FOV. Having said that, I'm impressed that both of those metrics are quite manageable with the Boomslang. Looking forward how it works out on a pano dual tube or quad tube setup, because I think that's where you'll see some magic.
?Why you shocked. Also NVG costs a lot to start with, $1k more is significant but not surprising. Costs less as an upfront upgrade than aftermarket, though I plan on keeping my old milspec/Carson optics as backups/ in case of breakage, or to build another unit.
Why is it so difficult to design a wide angle lens for night vision goggles? The reason lies in the size of the objective/eyepiece lens. The optical system of night vision (and binoculars, etc.) differs from that of camera lenses in that it is an afocal system. This means that light entering the objective lens parallel to the optical axis exits the eyepiece lens parallel to the optical axis and forms an image only inside the eyeball. In such an optical system, magnification (angular magnification) is determined by the ratio of the tilt angle tan(μ) between the light ray from the object and the optical axis and the tilt angle tan(μ') between the light ray to the image and the optical axis. When designing for equal magnification, it is relatively easy to design a lens, since the incident angle should be equal to the exit angle. However, since the apparent size of the lens increases with a wide-angle lens, the eye relief must be shortened or the eyepiece must be enlarged. Also, unlike binoculars, night vision goggles cannot be regarded as a simple afocal system because the image is created once on the photocathode. This makes the restriction even greater. The simplest way to design a wide-angle night vision system is to increase the size of the photocathode and the lens.
@@coldharboursupplyhumm my RPO3.0 has noticeably more chrom abb than my Carson and the difference between those two in this video is not so obvious. Also it might be very well controlled but it’s impossible to have NO chrom abb.
I understand that there is a camera challenge, but is it at all possible to show a comparison between these and the upcoming panned Daisho brigde for the tantos? As is 50 degree lenses, vs 40 degree lenses panned to 50 :)
@ about $1k a set I have to buy 1 set at a time and work with my dominant eye with 50 degrees for a month till I buy the other side... sucks to be poor.
We invite you to check out this video we made to see an in-depth comparison of a US made tube and Photonis: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--Ngicy5VKi0.htmlsi=BJ_C0IkBG4Ca7gwl
@@coldharboursupply I think I misworded my question. Using boom slang lenses do I need to use a high quality L3 to have better clarity or will a photonis or elbit be about the same in regards to the edge distortion? Like say in the video the outer 10% of the field of view was distorted but does that increase with a lower quality tube?
@@ExplorinInTheWoods They will be rather similar assuming specs are the same, we find the characteristics of distortion is more so based on the lenses than the tubes in most cases except for some very fallout tubes that may not have the best quality screens.
Don't the front and rear have to match? Otherwise, the back of the device won't position the light back to the original direction it entered the front from?
That's getting good. Surprised to see people openly talking numbers, that's the only thing that matters to 99% of people but for some reason no one talks about it.
I see the price at custom night vision is around 150 dollars less than yours. What do you do for that extra price? I'm planning to buy the j 31 on Cold Harbor since you do tinker with it to make it better, making the price higher but reasonable to do so.
LOL! Yes, we hear that often, we name our 18mm product offerings (such as our Vyper NODS) based on snakes. The Boomslang is a species of Viper that has strikingly large piercing eyes that take up a large proportion of its head, and its a snake that has the reputation of having the best night vision amongst Pit Vipers. The Boomslang Viper is exceptionally deadly and we believe having Boomslang optics on your NODS will make you one with that namesake - so wear your Boomslang optics with pride and embrace the soul and night vision eyesight of one of the most deadly snakes on the planet......
![Seeing MORE with your Night Vision: Photonis Defense Boomslang 50° Lens Overview [4K]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
