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Posted: 4/9/2014 3:17:37 PM EDT
| How does one determine what a used tube is worth? Tube in question is a L3 Omni VII, manufactured Dec 2011. No data sheet but is very clear with one small speck in zone 3. Tube is very quiet, but has the "screen door" effect. Thoughts? |
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How does one determine what a used tube is worth? Tube in question is a L3 Omni VII, manufactured Dec 2011. No data sheet but is very clear with one small speck in zone 3. Tube is very quiet, but has the "screen door" effect. Thoughts? Until I got to "screen door effect" I was thinking my max would be $1,500. Now I'm thinking $1,000 -- unless the effect is barely noticeable. |
| Yeah if you could get good pics that would help! The white wall test can be deceiving as if there is any extra light (especially ir light from detectors, security systems, etc...) it can make tubes look much worse then they actually are (I had a recently installed security system detector give me fits recently... I couldn't figure out what was going on!) |
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Noticeability of the "screening" varies, from not at all in very dark conditions, to obvious if held on a white wall. Would pics help? Is the seller offering it at a fixed, non-negotiable price? Or can you leverage the fact that is has an undesirable "defect" to get a better deal? It sounds as though the effect is either negligible or practically invisible under normal use scenarios. |
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If the light is bright enough the "screen door effect" can be seen on all tubes. What you are really seeing is the micro channel plate or what we call the MCP. It is not a defect in the tube and will not be seen when you use it in dark conditions. Value ? 1000 to 1500 assuming all else is good. Always ask for an inspection period with a used tube or at the very least nice through the scope pics. I have bought many used tubes and most were great bargains but a few I got burned on. Mostly because I was impatient and did not do my homework.
ETA: From the pics that looks like a nice tube. 
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| I traded a rifle for this tube, and you're correct Dino it is a very nice tube. Used solo it's not a problem whatsoever. Unfortunately I was hoping to bridge this with another tube and the other tube while exhibiting slight "honeycomb" doesn't show it as easily. That phenomenon tends to make my eyes go a little nuts. So the thought occurred to sell it. So options are, I abandon the idea of bridging, sell the tube, or stop being a fussy bastard! Thoughts? |
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I traded a rifle for this tube, and you're correct Dino it is a very nice tube. Used solo it's not a problem whatsoever. Unfortunately I was hoping to bridge this with another tube and the other tube while exhibiting slight "honeycomb" doesn't show it as easily. That phenomenon tends to make my eyes go a little nuts. So the thought occurred to sell it. So options are, I abandon the idea of bridging, sell the tube, or stop being a fussy bastard! Thoughts? 
Some tubes show the MCP more easily than others. Nature of the beast but if you can see it you are usually using your scope in a bright environment or using a lot of IR light. |
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It's been my (limited) experience that when you put two clearly different tubes in a bino arrangement they "blend" very well and your brain combines the best parts of each and discards, to a great extent, the less-desirable attributes.
Also, I notice when I'm playing around I am more attentive to subtle things about the tube(s). When I'm using them in a more serious capacity, I forget I'm wearing them and concentrating on the objective, at which time any picayune issues become completely irrelevant. |
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It's been my (limited) experience that when you put two clearly different tubes in a bino arrangement they "blend" very well and your brain combines the best parts of each and discards, to a great extent, the less-desirable attributes. Also, I notice when I'm playing around I am more attentive to subtle things about the tube(s). When I'm using them in a more serious capacity, I forget I'm wearing them and concentrating on the objective, at which time any picayune issues become completely irrelevant. I don't recommend mixing different types of tubes for goggles... short term it may work but the eye strain can get quite debilitating quite quickly... YMMV |
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I notice when I'm playing around I am more attentive to subtle things about the tube(s). When I'm using them in a more serious capacity, I forget I'm wearing them and concentrating on the objective, at which time any picayune issues become completely irrelevant. Very good point! I'm probably very guilty of this. I just did the trade and so far have only played with it. That usually consists of checking out how good a tube I got, and sneaking beers out of the fridge in pitch black so as not to awaken the wife! To honestly evaluate this tube I should take it on a nice long hike in the woods. |
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I don't recommend mixing different types of tubes for goggles... short term it may work but the eye strain can get quite debilitating quite quickly... YMMV Quoted:
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It's been my (limited) experience that when you put two clearly different tubes in a bino arrangement they "blend" very well and your brain combines the best parts of each and discards, to a great extent, the less-desirable attributes. Also, I notice when I'm playing around I am more attentive to subtle things about the tube(s). When I'm using them in a more serious capacity, I forget I'm wearing them and concentrating on the objective, at which time any picayune issues become completely irrelevant. I don't recommend mixing different types of tubes for goggles... short term it may work but the eye strain can get quite debilitating quite quickly... YMMV Dude, you're a pilot. I dick around on my farm. 
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| Matched tubes are a must for aviation. They are also recommended for ground use but not as critical. Matched aviation tubes almost always have sequential serial numbers unless for some reason the tube was changed. With ground use some effort is needed to SOMEWHAT match the tubes but it is not as critical. Matched tubes are expensive because somebody has to go through many tubes to get a truly matched set. Labor intensive process. |
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You don't necessarily have to use matched tubes, I don't recommend using drastically different tubes... I like to match manufacturer and Omni Spec/contract at a minimum, I have seen others who have paired drastically different tubes (non-autogated MX-10160 with a autogated MX-10160C for example) and I can only imagine how bad the difference in image quality and type would be! I have played with a lot of different setups over the years (both aviation and ground) and have played with 2 monoculars mounted via bridges on several occasions, a mismatched set of tubes has given me headaches, sometimes within a short period of time!
My advice, if you want to get two monoculars or a pair of goggles, try to get two similar tubes for them. |
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I need too make a decision then. I did trade for this with hopes of eventually bridging them. Should I opt to sell it, what would be a fair price for the tube, and as a complete PVS14 unit? If it's an Omni VII tube manufactured in 2011 with verifiable numbers still on the label, you'll get $1,500 for it on FleaBay. You'll get at least $600 minimum for a complete, used PVS-14 housing there as well, probably more. If you were to sell it as a complete unit, it's hit-or-miss as to whether you'll get the same amount as you would if you break it up -- this is all predicated upon whether or not you know how to put a good FleaBay listing together. Between FV and PP, you'll also pay ~8% in fees. |
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Its more like 13%. Fv fees are 10% up to 250 unless you have a storefront. That's only on the first $250. It drops pretty quickly thereafter. However, we have a storefront and our FV fees are considerably less, as are our PP fees, since we sell about $200k / month via PP. |
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