Also check out the Manticore-R. Add RPO lenses to make it lighter. Modern L3 tubes are great in that there is no soldering required to switch between 10160 and 11769 formats. The EGAC (aka pigtail) is plug and play.

Oh yeah, about the warranty! This is important info. I think many folks believe the tube mfg is the one offering a long warranty and that’s not the case.

This is where the vendor really comes into play. The US tube manufacturers (L3 and Elbit) only warranty tubes for 2 years and modifying tube formats will void the factory warranty. So it’s on the vendor to warranty the tube if they modify it or offer a warranty beyond the manufacturer warranty.

Such as in our case, we warranty our TNVC built systems with a 10 year warranty on the tubes and lifetime on the rest of the system (housing, optics). We also warranty the L3Harris BNVD (PVS-31A), BNVD-1531, and M914 for 10 years whereas the factory L3H warranty is only 1 year for these systems.

Really, for the customer who is going to buy a modified tube and/or wants a long warranty, they should consider the probability of the vendor being around long enough and capable of covering their warranty. Tubes are obviously the most expensive component so a tube failure can really hurt if you have to come out of pocket to replace.

Of these, I would look at the new ruggedized Katana R.

I've been running old skewl early Gen polymer Katanas for a little more than 3 years now, never had an issue. The Katana R is even better IMO. I may switch over to the new housing soon, but honestly don't feel a rush to, have had such good luck with them. Lifetime warranty on the housing.

We have these in stock with immediate shipping with UF or thin filmed high spec YH grade WP tubes. 32 years in business.

Let me know if you have any questions, feel free to PM, email or call.