How To Purchase the Night -Part 2

 

Video: Budget Night Vision Helmets

Helmets and Set Up

You can use your NOD as a handheld, glancing though it occasional, or even mount it to a weapon. But the best way to use a GEN3 NOD, the way to “own the night,” is to have a good helmet set-up. This allows hands free activities, weapon manipulation and navigation. IN this article I am going to describe all the parts that you need for a helmet set-up. It is way more complicated than it seems. This article is describing the components as simply as possible.

In this article I will to refer to the NOD as in the image intensification tubes talked about in part 1. I'm also going to be referring to a couple of companies as I introduce parts to your helmet. Norotos (norotos.com) and Wilcox (wilcoxind.com) are both quality manufacturers of night vision accessories, especially mounts. Ops-Core and Pro-Tech are both manufacturers of helmets. The Tactical Night Vision Company (TNVC.com) is a large retailer of night vision equipment, they have a very well done website for research. When possible I would suggest you look beyond their website for purchase as they tend to have the highest end prices.

Bump vs Balistic

In shopping for a helmet, the first question you need to ask is, ballistic or not? Ballistic offers protection from bullets and fragmentation, but the weight is a lot more to deal with and can even cause injury. However, if you have the neck for it the weight of a balistic helmet will automatically make the NOD more stable out front. Ballistic helmets are also much more expensive when buying new, $500-2000. Deals can be found on used military helmets, the MICH and ACH are examples of ballistic military helmets that can be found on the used market, sometimes for as low as $100.00.

Bump helmets are obviously going to be much lighter, and usually less expensive, than ballistic helmets. I suggest them for anyone trying to build a good “own the night” set up on a budget. One pitfall of bump helmets is that there are a lot of airsoft grade examples that people seem to want to try out. In my opinion there is really only one high end bump helmet that is almost universally useful. That is the OPSCORE FAST helmet. It costs about $300, but there are a lot of tempting airsoft replicas that I would stay away from. If you are on an extreme budget the ProTech Bravo is an option that I have had luck with.

Lastly, I need to mention soft helmets, things that can not properly be called a helmet. The most common is the very cheap and uncomfortable “skull crusher” that comes with many PVS 14 kits. I would suggest moving away from this as soon as possible. There are several decent options though, I have tried and like the Crye "night cap.” I have found that none of these are as stable as any true rigid helmet, but they have an advantage in cost, comfort and weight. To me, their biggest plus is pack-ability. If you see yourself keeping your setup in a backpack with your other gear during the day, this might be for you.

Mounts

Once you have your helmet, you have to have a way to mount your NOD to it. This is where the “mount” comes in. There are actually three parts to most mount systems. The part that goes on the helmet is frequently called the “shroud” The arm itself which goes between the shroud and the NOD and allows it to be folded up and down. Lastly, there is the interface on the NOD itself. You have to make sure that all of these parts will work together. The various mounting points, pivots and adjustments each induce a certain “wobble” and that can add up. For that reason mount systems in general and mounting arms in particular can be very expensive, because a good one hat reduces wobble and is secure) requires some very precise machining.

Shrouds: There are two common shroud patterns, the Norotos low profile and the universal style. The universal is far and away more common, and I recommend you stick with it. There are multiple styles of shrouds (vs pattern, I know this gets confusing) for example, a very common shroud are the ones meant to mount to various modern ballistic helmets, frequently by clamping on with a strap running to the back. These can also be adapted to bump helmets. Another way to do this is have the shroud screwed to the helmet, and in some cases (such as the preferred OPSCORE FAST mentioned above) they can even be molded in to the helmet.

Arms: Again, there are many different arms, from several manufacturers and Chinese knockoffs of those. The most common used mount is the Norotos rhino, Arms have to securely mount to the shroud at one end and hold the NOD at the other. They also have to pivot up and down and adjust in several axis. The most common low end mount is the Norotos Rhino (so called because it looks like a horn when folded up). There are a variety of other style arms, such as the Wilcox G series type mounts and the Norotos TATM and INVG.

Interface: There are two common interfaces that actually attach the NOD to the arm. They are the bayonet style and dovetail style. The bayonet style is the most common in low end set ups as it is a legacy item and common in surplus equipment. The dovetail interface is much better, more secure with less wobble. I recommend getting a dovetail adapter as one of the first major upgrades to low end NOD setups (if you can't start there.) Another advantage of the dovetail is that almost all binocular NODs need a dovetail adapter. So if you ever upgrade to binos you will need one anyway.

Once you get all the parts to the mount set up, examine the wobble and security. Don't be afraid to tighten a screw on a used mount or shim the interfaces (glue in a piece of paper or Velcro.) Play with it, make sure you can do all the adjustments with it on your head in the dark. Nothing is going to make you look dumber to your Goon Squad buddies than having to take off your helmet to fold up your NOD.

Pads and Harness

Like all other parts to the the helmet set up, there are many options in pads and harnesses. Pads are cushions that Velcro to the inside of the helmet. The most common, and cheapest pads out there are the foam USGI pads. There are airsoft grade pads out there, but all foams are not created equal. One thing I would make sure you have is a longer brow pad, get a variety of other pads and play with it. To me, less pads are better because this allows air flow under the helmet. Use the minimum to keep the helmet in the right position. There are better pads out there, with gel filling or other space magic. The only person that will know how much you need them is you.

Helmet harnesses generally mount to four mounts on the helmet, they will have four points of adjustment, and they will cross at the nape of your neck. How they cross the back has a lot to do with your comfort. I like ones that cross over the back; x-nape harnesses, vs one that have a separate strap to cross; h-nape harnesses. Some high end helmets come with a dial adjustment that does a very good job of both comfort and security. The Ops-Core FAST helmet has this system.

I think most helmet problems can be solved by adjustments to the pads and harness. Once you think you've got it comfortable you have to wear the helmet for a couple of hours. Getting the helmet fitted properly requires trial, error and testing time. But it will pay large dividend if you wear it longer than it takes to make a selfie.

Other Accessories

There are other things that you might want to attach to your helmet. There are three things that every night vision helmet setup should have. The rest all depend on your use or perceived need. First, dummy cord your NOD to your helmet. There are fancy dummy cords, but a piece of parachute cord will do. A mile into the woods is not a place you ever want to find out you didn't get your mount into your shroud quite right and now you're feeling around in the dark to find it. Next, a lens cloth, I try and keep a lens cloth on all my NOD helmets, they fog up and need to be cleaned before you put them away. You don't want to be digging through a pack in the dark or using your sweaty t-shirt to clean your $2-$10k NOD. Seriously, it costs about $6 to have a lens cloth with you. You will also need some kind of bag to hold things in. You don't want to be throwing your assembled NOD helmet into the back of your truck. I have seen people use pelican cases for their NODs and there are also nice bags that cover the whole helmet. I prefer a simple bag, there are USGI ones, that will fit in your helmet so that it is all one backage.

Rails: There are two types of rails that you see on helmets. First, and most common, is the ARC rail. The ARC bends around the ear and allows for the option of attaching other accessories. Most notably hearing protection and communication gear. (I'm not going to get in to comm gear, totally outside the scope) but other things like lights can be attached as well. Another things you see are small pieces of Piccatinny rail attached to helmets. This allows for the attachment of lights. If you are adding this

Battery backs and counterweights: This is basically a pouch that goes on the back of your helmet that will hold led weights (if you have a seriously heavy pair of NODs) or spare batteries. On ballistic helmets they are usually Velcroed on, but with bump helmets they can be zip-tied on. If you don't need the weight to balance your helmet then it isn't necessary- but I like to have spare batteries where I need them. There are some pouches from naim brands that are rediculously expensive. This is on place you might (if budget limited) going for an airsoft level clone. In between is the Maxpedition battery pack, this is what I use.

Lights and strobes: It might make sense for you to have an IR or near IR illumination on your helmet. This can be used when there isn't even enough light to use your NODs, or can be used to signal friends with NODs. I frequently keep my IR weapon light attached to my helmet. When I'm going to be doing Goon stuff I'll switch it to my weapon and it's a good place to keep track of it. Another way to signal your position is to have an IR strobe light. In my opinion this isn't very helpful unless you are working with aircraft, that's why soldiers use them. I have also seen people have small red or white lights attached to helmets, this might be handy if you need to work on some kind of small equipment, provide first aid or to read a map. This is a big risk though, as accidental activation could be very detrimental. Like anything you need to think before you start adding stuff to your helmet.

Camouflage: Lastly, helmets are a big obvious shape in nature. If you are getting your helmet because you want to be sneaking around at night you need to think about camouflaging it. High end manufacturers generally make covers for the better helmets but they are generally pricey. If you are trying to stay under a budget getting yourself a real USGI helmet cover might be an option. Knock offs of the cover generally do more harm than good, if they are made of an improper material they will stand out more than a bare helmet under IR lighting. Another low cost option is painting. Camo painting a helmet does a pretty good job og concealing it under visible light but doesn't do much under IR light. One thing I have had luck with is cammo painting a helmet but mixing the pain with sand to add texture.

IR lasers: This isn't an actual part of your helmet setup but it needs to be mentioned. How do you shoot with your NODs? For a long time the answer to that was by using an IR laser on your rifle and/or pistol. Yet again, there are a lot of options there, and for simplicity's sake I'm going to call them all LAMs, for laser aiming module. Does the LAM just have a laser? Does it have a visible laser also, does it have white light and/or IR illumination? This article has gotten to big already so I'm not going to talk about this much. Suffice it to say if your rifle and helmet are set up properly you can shoot through a good red dot with your NODs. If you are worried about people shooting back this is where you need to start. We call this “passive” aiming, because those laser point both ways.

Final thoughts on Setting up Your Helmet.

If you told me today that you just got a PVS 14 and asked what else you needed I would say Ops-Core helmet, Wilcox G24 mount and dovetail adapter. This is the setup most likely to work for you. However, if you have a source for used equipment etc, you need to plan and think it through. In the end you have to walk around and play with your NODs. You have to try over different terrains, in different lighting systems. You will have to tweak them and figure out what works best. You have to have a lot of time using NODs to be able to own the night. But when you're done it's like a super power.

Once you get your helmet setup, you are halfway there. The number of commercially available thermal imagers have changed the game. Look for part three of “How to Purchase the Night” where We will talk about thermal imaging.