There are many reasons person might want to get into a night vision goggle system: self-defense, star gazing, hunting, or even for career/employment purposes. Regardless of the driving need or desire, the biggest issue with getting into night vision is almost always the cost of the system. That system can be from a basic, older generation set of NVGs up to a high-end panoramic nightvision that might cost more than your first car.
NVG Review: Noisefighters Panobridge
Daniel “Big Bird” Bales
So what’s that system look like? Depending on what you want to do (i.e. your mission), you will need a few items. Let’s say you want to do some tactical NVG work. In this case, you will need the NVG unit, a helmet (ballistic or non-ballistic, though the latter must be a judicious choice), an NVG shroud, and the NVG mount. The total for all of these can be around $5 thousand (or more) depending on your choice of NVG housing and the type and generation of tube technology to be used.
Because of the cost of these items, some people choose to purchase a single moncular like the PVS-14, and then upgrade to a dual system at a later date when they can free up some funds. One way of upgrading to a dual NVG system is to use two PVS-14 units and use a NVG bridge mounting system. The NVG bridge allows you to have the two AN/PVS14s in front of your left and right eye. There are a few issues with the current NVG bridge systems, the biggest is the weight of the NVG bridge itself.
In comes the Panobridge from Noisefighters! If not to save the day, then at least to make things better. There were several technical and technological advancements that drew my attention to the Panobridge. First, the weight savings: the Noisefighters (Nf) Panobridge (Pb) weighs in at just 1.5 oz. That makes them a half ounce less than a single military specification PVS-14 J arm. This also puts it below the weight of some of the competition although wearing two “eyes”, as it were (i.e. individual monoculars), will still wear at your neck and head (as you’ll see below).
In order to save weight, Noisefighters manufactured the Pb from what’s described as a high performance Arkema polymer. Arkema polymer is a high-impact-resistant material that is able to absorb shock instead of fracturing. Nf also uses high-strength stainless steel fasteners, themselves light and also corrosion-resistant.
NVG units are attached to the Pb using two-arm mounting screws; Nf has also come up with mounting options for thermal devices and other NVG items (like the MUM), thus providing some choice and modularity.
Broadly Viewed
The Panobridge is capable of up to a 75-degree field of view. Instead of looking through tubes that are positioned on a roughly identical bearing, with the Panobridge, you are essentially able to see in a V. This is accomplished using what Noisefighters calls AFOV (Adjustable Field of View). The advantage of this is the ability to get a more panoramic field of view while using NGVs (which are typically restrictive when it comes to depth perception and peripheral vision). This allows the individual to see more of their surroundings and have better situational awareness.
It also makes it easier to see what’s going one between the two units (from a perspective/field of view context), assuming there is some form of ambient light in the area. This provides you with the best of both worlds, albeit in a limited fashion: aided and unaided low-light/no-light vision.
The AFOV is accomplished by adjusting the front of the two NVG units outward at an angle of up to 75 degrees. This orientation allows the human brain to make two images into one.
Crazy, I know. It’s science.
If you don’t need or prefer the panoramic function, no worries. You can adjust them to a position that is straight in front of the eyes, much like the NNVD or DTNVG units.
Single Tube Usage
Another advantage of the Panobridge is the ability to move one unit up and out of the way. The fixed bridge of some NVG units (like the BNVD) prevents this sort of adjustment.
This sort of arrangement can be an advantage, particularly in such situations as working in an environment having ambient light. One could effectively use the “naked” eye for scanning the environment unaided while the other can be utilized to search/navigate areas of greater darkness. This is neither easy nor immediately intuitive for many people and will often require using one eye or the other at first, but training and practice will allow one to keep both eyes open and smooth the contrasting views into a single image. Working with both eyes open this way is, as with shooting, the preferred way to do it.
When the NVG unit is not needed. the Panobridge will allow you to stow PVS-14s flush against the helmet. Storing them this way makes for a (relatively) low profile setup – which in my case helps me get my big ass through doorways and under trees without snapping my neck.
The articulating arms make the completion of such action simple and quick; likewise, you can easily move the arms back into position.
The only issue I have with the overall bridge system is the combined weight. This is less due to the Noisefighters mount than it is the cumulative burden of two optics on a helmet that has other accessories aboard. You will notice a difference between a DTNVG system and a Panobridge + PVS-14s. There is no escaping the additional weight of the latter system, though unit housing options and other upgrades can be used to mitigate it.
If you’re one of those guys who has a single NVG monocular and are interested in a dual-tube system, the Panobridge from Noisefighters is definitely an option you should investigate as you consider the advantages of various night vision systems. It’s lighter than any current NVG bridge system that I’m aware of, is user-configurable to the mission, and is easy to stow up and out of the way when not needed.
Check ’em out.
Big Bird Out.
About the Author: Daniel “Big Bird” Bales has been in law enforcement for nearly 15 years. During his career, he has worked for a large Sheriff’s department in Nevada on such assignments as detention, courts, court transport, patrol, and S.W.A.T. He is currently a full-time Rangemaster. Daniel has numerous firearms, tactics, and instructor certifications, including handgun, shotgun, carbine, less lethal, force on force, low light, certified armorer, basic and advanced S.W.A.T. schools. When not writing for The Mag Life and other publications, he teaches. A lot, having instructed numerous students as a representative of his agency, a part of LMS Defense, and now via Crucible Consulting (of which he is one of the founder-owners). Follow or connect via Instagram, @crucible_consultants.