WOW! There are still a lot of misconceptions about night vision out there. You dont want 1st gen! for one thing! 2nd gen is more than twice as good and 3rd gen is AWESOME! Whats more, contrary to popular belief thay are becoming affordable.
I have been successfully using night vision equipment to hunt coyotes for over a year now.
You CAN buy affordable 3rd generation night vision equipment. I recently purchased the Night Quest from CABELAS for $1,800. It is produced by I.T.T. one of only two manufacturers of Night Vison intensifier tubes in the U.S. (the other is Liteon). This pocket scope normally sells for over $5,000 dollars but when you speak to a Cabelas rep, you'll see that they buy some of I.T.T.'s non-milspec units at a discount price. The only thing keeping mine from beeing non-milspec is two VERY small specs in the upper field of view that really amounts to nothing.
My weapon site is an ATN currently sold by The Sportsman's guide. I paid $800 dollars for it and it is worth $1,400. Trust ne this is the ONLY way to hunt coyotes at night if you don't wanna spook them. I use the pocket scope while I'm calling then and once they are in I pull up my weapon. An AR-15 equipped with the gen2+ ATN scope. I have had excellent luck with these optics. The 3rd gen Night Quest sees like DAYTIME even when there is almost No available light. The 2nd gen weaponsite I use is not quite as good, but it also has a built in illuminator which is good for about 200 yards and will cause the coyote's eyes to glow even further than that, out to about 400 yards. The coyotes never see the infrared illuminator and so are not spooked unlike conventional spotlights.
Besides it is illegal in my state of Kentucky to use spotlights to hunt anything but raccoons and Possums. But using NIght vision is perfectly legal to hunt all coyotes, according to my local conservation supervisor.
I encourage all coyote hunters out there to check for deals on 3rd gen and 2nd gen night vision, because you see, its not the price you pay but which generation you get.
It used to be mega bucks for 3rd and second gen but not anymore, people are selling them for great prices like Cabelas and the sportsmans guide.
My advice Stay Away from anything lower than 2nd gen or you will be dissapointed. 1st generation SUX period. And some people offer Russian Gen 1 which is equivalent to our generation ZERO. Russian gen 2 is equivilent to our gen 1, again a dissapointment.
I was first exposed to 3rd gen night vision equipment by my local police chief who had an I.T.T. 3rd gen pocket scope. I could not belive my eyes when i looked through it. Everything is like broad daylight except it is green.
Hope this helps all!
Anybody else our there hunting with night vision?