 So, if I don't have a laser on my gun, is night vision still worth it? Hey everyone, Dylan Schumacher, Citadel Defense, and I recently just made a video regarding passive aiming versus using your IR laser to aim. And when I got done making that video, I thought if I were watching my own video, my first question would be, okay, so is it even worth getting night vision if I don't have an IR laser? Like, okay, you know, night vision is already expensive, right? You're talking about probably ish, three ish grand to get in the gate, you know, plus a mount for your helmet, you need to have a helmet. There are some other options out there, but I haven't tested any of them, but from what I understand, helmet's the best option. I've only run helmet, so just do that. It's nice. So I need to have the helmet, I need to have the night vision device, I need to have the mount, and now I need to go out and spend, you know, $1300, $2,000, or whatever on an IR laser for my gun. Like, so if I can't get the laser, is it even worth it? Should I even bother? That would be the question that I would ask if I had watched my own video. So I was thinking about that, and I think the answer is absolutely yes. Night vision is still absolutely worth it, even if you don't have an IR laser. Are you going to be able to use your rifle as effectively? No. And you know, I mean, you've done this, right? Where you buy gear pieces, because you're planning to buy future gear pieces, and you know, you don't need to buy it all in one shot. You can work up to it, and buy a piece here when you can, and then buy the next piece. However, even if you never get a laser, which you should get a laser, but even if, you know, that that's not affordable for you for a long time, like, you know, two, three, four years, before you actually be able to get the laser, but you can get the night vision now, I would say still get the night vision. If I could go back and do it all over again, and I've talked about this before, I would buy night vision almost immediately. And what I mean is, yeah, I'd get my pistol, yeah, I'd get my one rifle, yeah, I'd get the supporting equipment, you know, like a chest rig and a rock, maybe some plates, a helmet, maybe I'd get the can first, but then the next thing is night vision. Like that is the absolute next thing. It's like fifth or sixth on the list. If I could go back and do it all again, I would not get a second rifle or 15 different chest rigs or 12 different rocks or, you know, all these other stuff that we can get caught up in, or, you know, 16 different pistols and whatever. I wouldn't do any of that. I would just get the next thing I would get would be night vision. I think it's that helpful and that important that you own it, particularly one, if you are facing someone who has night vision and you don't, that puts you at a big disadvantage. Also additionally, even if you don't have the laser or the laser is still a far way off, still get the night vision because the biggest benefit to night vision isn't fighting. It's movement. It's navigation. That's what the biggest advantage is to having night vision is giving you the ability to navigate and move at night. That's by far its biggest advantage. So even if you don't have the laser and even if you can't as effectively fight at night, being able to detect what's out there, number one, and then number two, like I said, the biggest advantage being movement. I can move from A to B through the dark, through where normally it would be far too dark to see. Now I've been out on nights that are so dark that I'm like, I'm not really sure if this night vision is providing any benefit because there's just no light. Now is it providing benefit? Yes, obviously. But I've been out, you know, when I'm like, man, the ability of the night vision is severely diminished. But when I talked to other people on that same patrol that did not have night vision, they're like, yeah, I couldn't, I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Like it was just pitch black. I couldn't see anything. Right. And even if you are the only, you know, guy or two that has night vision in your crew and no one else does, you can still help your team navigate better. Right. I know this stuff is expensive. But my point is that it is such a significant advantage to have that allows your team to move and allows you to move from A to B. That to me is the main benefit of night vision. Being able to fight with it is a secondary benefit. It's a huge benefit. Let's not underestimate it. However, being able to move, in my opinion, and that's all it is, is the is the best advantage of night vision. It gives you that ability to navigate and move at night under the cover of darkness when it's hard to detect you. Right. Even if someone else out there has night vision and you're moving fairly stealthily and you have, you know, clothes that absorb IR light and you're not, you know, everything that pops and you're pretty good about light discipline. And by pretty good, I mean perfect. You're still hard to detect. You're still hard to detect. But because I have night vision, I can move from A to B. Right. I can, I can move around and do what I need to do. And that is a huge, huge benefit. So all that to say, look, if you can't afford the laser yet, still get the night vision. Thank me later. You'll be happy you did. Do brave deeds and endure.