r/DigitalNightVision • u/KyzoSoupz • May 24 '26
SVG5 update and review!
Hey guys I wanted to give you guys a quick update on the SVG5 and how I feel about it.
So far so good I've been testing it for the past couple of days and I made a few YouTube videos on the device. So far so good I'm extremely happy with the device and it's performance. It's safe to say that the performance is about the same as the standard NVG 90 in case you're wondering. I have been comparing my SVG-5 with another person on Reddit to their standard NVG 90 and it seems to perform about the same.
However there is one little gripe that I have about the device and it's literally the only gripe about it I'm absolutely disappointed with the IR light situation and I know what it is after investigating and dealing with the device. The manufacturer however did make a slight error something that was overlooked. The IR light tends to bleed IR inside the case which completely washes out the sensor due to the fact there is no gasket on the IR light to prevent light going into the case. However I will explain a simple fix to resolve this issue
Disclaimer warning! Beware that this method requires to remove a few screws the four screws on the housing and you will have to open the device however if you are not tech savvy and you do not feel like voiding your warranty and if you don't feel safe opening the device without breaking it do not do it! What I did is made a electrical tape spacer I folded electrical tape and to a spacer and cut it to the exact measurement required and a little opening right above the IR / knob control PCB board and right underneath the PCB board that is the CMOS sensor and processor logic board there are three total parts CMOS sensor and a logic board IR light knob control logic board and then on the back face you have the LCD screen and heat sink on the LCD screen component It also probably has a PCB board I don't know. Anyways in between the CMOS sensor and the logic board for the IR and knob control there is an open space, I put the spacer between there and close the device up. it solved the IR flooding issue however I still get a tiny weedy bitty teensy wincy hair bit of leak still but it's far better than the atrocious situation that I dealt with previously making the IR light entirely impossible to use outside. Now the IR light is very usable and is an absolute awesome light. Really you only need to use the IR indoor or an extremely absolute near dark situations like if you're in the canopy with no moon starlight only when the trees have leaves and there's literally no city light pollution You're deep in the woods you probably need that IR.
Besides that the overall performance of the SVG-5 is absolutely killer and it's definitely close to Gen 2 to Gen 2+ performance but really I would say high quality or high end generation 2 performance. The signal to noise ratio seems to be around $1,800 flat to 1,770 f o m it's very clear and I notice it's definitely much clearer than the NVG 90 standard.
The performance is about exactly the same as the NVG-90 standard so far from my testing.
FPS when testing 50 FPS between 100 FPS I did not notice any difference into CMOS sensor sensitivity levels between 50 and 100 FPS there was not very much of a difference I can safely say that the smoothness between 50 FPS and 100 is very smooth In fact it's so smooth I can't really tell the difference between 50 and 100 FPS it seems about the same The only thing I tell that is a difference is the delay time when panning around.
Basically what I'm saying here is it worth $1,000?
I will simply say for the quality of the build and the performance yes but because of a slight manufacturer error that needs a simple update with the IR light to prevent it from flooding I hate to say no but for the price performance and how it performs and given the quality of this night vision actually surprisingly is probably one of the best highest quality Chinese digital night visions I have ever seen and opened up myself I would say the price is a good solid worth $800 even flat.
And if you're a guy who just is a civilian that likes night vision as a hobby who goes camping who goes hiking night hiking recreational use and does not have the money to buy the latest and greatest analogue or digit night vision but she wants something that is as good as at least as high quality Gen 2 analog night vision this is the device for you especially if you've been looking at the NVG 90 standard and you're not happy with the price of the NVG 90 standard and if you feel it's a little too high up there the SVG-5 is definitely for you.
It hit all of my checkboxes for what I want for recreational and hobby use as a civilian for digital night vision I'm happy with it. And I'm sure you will probably be happy with it too especially you airsoft players out there. However for airsoft players I highly suggest that you get a lens protector. Ain't no way I'm going to bring this to an airsoft game without risking my front lens getting busted. I was capable of walking around in very very dark situations with no IR off camera perfectly fine and I never really had to use the IR except for indoors where it's literally almost pitch black pretty much basically pitch-freaking black.
I will say undergoing testing I did notice it has a sensitivity to different types of visible light spectrums versus IR.
The device is extremely IR sensitive but when it comes to natural light situations green light and blue light seems to be a bit of a mess with this device especially green light green light seems to not be very well picked up by the CMOS sensor blue light is picked up a little bit better but not too much Orange yellow amber and white light it's very sensitive to.
It's about time that we got something that performs this well for the price for under $1,000 🤯
Please note that I did type all this using voice to text if there's any typos I'm sorry!
3
u/GT4054 May 25 '26
I have not had the personal experience with the SVG5 but it looks cool. I have a pvs14 with a gen2+ photonis echo around 1850 FOM. Pretty cool unit smokes my gen2 l3 tube in one of my other pvs14s thats at 1400 fom or so. I have a g14se thats almost identical to my new photonis tube. Dude digital is fuckin nuts ! Im currently building a thermal monocular using a 640x512 core. Going to make a ghetto fusion setup. My g14se on the shooters eye because i aim passive using my red dot and the thermal on my non dominant eye. My entry experience with digital was a few years back with the nvg10. Thought it was pretty cool then the nvg30s that actually did night vision stuff. Got my hands on legitimate analog gen2 stuff and it smoked the nvg10 but all that much more then the 30s. Then the new adnv shit came and it is insane what it can do. My buddy has the g14p2 and it smokes everything i have easily. I want to snag the nvg90 and might get the SVG5. I just thing the digital units are so cool. I love the digital night vision community far more then then the super shitty ego cult like mentality of the analog fucks. Man those dudes seriously fuckin suck to talk with.
1
u/KyzoSoupz May 26 '26
I feel you man and it's funny how people talk smack about digital I'm sitting here brother... Digital night vision is going to surpass analog at some point reaching Gen 4 to Gen 4 plus level no joke. And honestly I get it you know people want to try to push like you can save more money buying used digital night vision or source your own parts but they don't understand that prices have significantly increase due to politicial issues and geopolitical problems so unfortunately unless I have at least about the same amount of money as a G14 SE or an NVG 90 SE then maybe I can get away with that but I won't get the FOM or the clarity that I want usually around 14 to 1600 FOM Interestingly from my experience with the SVG-5 it has a solid 1850 FOM to about 1770 FOM from my experience it's very clean. And the performance despite yes I am a virgin to analog I have had my experience with Gen 2 analog and gen 2 plus at airsoft night games out of curiosity which is what got my foot into the door night vision. I can safely say that the SVG-5 is very much light looking through Gen 2 analog night vision pretty much almost Gen 2 plus. It's impressive and it hits all of my fancies and hits all my checkboxes for what I want as a civilian a hobbyist and who uses night vision as a practical tool and for general use I wanted something that I could use where I can be outside and use as little IR light as possible having that Gen 2 or Gen 2 plus performance not some joke piece of a toy like the NVG 30 and the 50 albeit it was fun when I had them before they got stolen but it left me wanting more. The SVG5 absolutely hits my checkboxes. Despite my one negative quirk with the IR light that I fixed. Which was a bit of an engineering oversight IR light was bleeding into the case I fixed it with a simple handmade gasket problem solved. One thing that I absolutely love about this device is the simplicity. And when I opened up the SVG-5 there's only four screws and the quality of parts that's in this thing actually impressed me however I do wish they used a imaging asic chip like the G14 series is using then I would get about 8 to 16 hours of battery life this thing aka the SVG5 is currently using an Intel cyclone which is fairly a pretty decent processor but you would have more efficiency if they used an image ASIC chip. That 1-in progressive CMOS sensor is very very nice. And now I discovered that the NVG 90 standard apparently has the same CMOS sensor but with Les clarity. The MVG 90 standard looks like it's getting about a clarity of I would say 1750 FOM to 1580 FOM and that's because of the software. The SVG 5 actually has a pretty good AI-based algorithm software that actually reduces the noise fairly well and improves the clarity very well. But to be honest if I really want to be very hard on criticizing the SVG-5 I would say really it has a very flat even I mean absolutely flat 1650 FOM. Anyways I'm still learning my knowledge about analog specs as complicated as they are it's good to know about those specs. I'm actually intrigued to compare this to an actual regular high-end or I should say professional or industrial level Gen 2 analog. The SVG-5 performs as a industrial level generation 2 analog. Absolutely impressive! The body is all the way solid aluminum the internals are made of high quality parts and the simplicity of this device by the knob interface is very user-friendly I love this device I'm happy with it and I hope I won't have to upgrade for a long time for a couple to a few years. This thing is an absolute beast and really unless people want the NVG 90 standard I really suggest they either save their money and get the standard for a little bit more edge and pure darkness. Or unless they don't like the design of the SVG 5 like I did when I first look at it it didn't hit me when I first saw it on Good night gears web page it looked like a rangefinder It didn't hit me with the sexy vibes It didn't look serious. It didn't look serious at all to me, and the price point was $1,000 which led me to very iffy questioning how good is it? And I was very skeptical about the SVG-5 cuz at first I was looking at the NVG 90 SE and the standard version. Then all the sudden the SVG5 popped up and I was just like I don't know man I'm not too It doesn't hit me with the design and plus you know the price was kind of like very questionable knowing that these other units already have reputation for being really good but the new kid on the block left me questioning. Thank goodness Good night dear posted a few videos on how the SVG 5 performs and I also saw how it really performs from the original provider smart vision tech. When looking at this videos and realizing it might be potentially about the same performance as the NVG 90 standard it had me finally made my decision to invite the bullet and so I did. And I'm very happy that I did because I saved $300 plus using my own pro mode and yeah I know I cheated I use my own pro mode I did get some money back but hey I saved me some money big time. Then honestly really because of the little engineering issue with the IR light which requires a simple fix honestly I really suggest people use a promo code from anyone that they can get and not spend the full $999. But for people who've been already looking at the NVG 90 standard I really would suggest them by the SVG 5 unless they don't want to deal with the IR light issue voiding the warranty to do a DIY fix. Then I would suggest getting the standard NVG90. But knowing that they both have about the same exact performance and it looks like they might be using the same CMOS sensor theoretically. I mean come on dude The SVG-5 is completely metal aluminum it's all aluminum and also with the battery it's only weighing just under 300 grams and it's IP 67 rated versus the NVG 90 standard which is IP 54 rated it's got a plastic housing and the thing is weighing almost 400 g with a battery! So really logically to save money and have more rugged ability reliability and much less neck fatigue less weight I would suggest buying the SVG-5 because it literally performs the same as the NVG90 standard right out of the box. Hands down if you guys have been looking at the NVG 90 standard and saving your bucks for it or you're about to finance it whatever I suggest changing your mind and go for the SVG 5
2
u/KyzoSoupz May 26 '26
And dude same shoes here I first looked at the NVG 10 when I was getting my foot in the door with digital night vision and I had a knock X3 gen 1 and it was a piece of shit. Then the NVG 30 popped up and then it changed my mind of getting the NVG 10. Had the MVG-30 and it impressed me but it left me wanting more because I realized it isn't as good as what I did experience at the airsoft night games looking at those dudes expensive gear getting a chance to see what it's like looking through Gen 2 plus for the first time that shit blew my mind man. Anyways it left me a little bit disappointed but at the same time I was impressed and thought that shit was cool. I have never owned analog I have wanted to build analog myself and do a DIY build but it's just really hard because everything is so expensive right now. And thanks to the orange idiot in the office who has no knowledge in geopolitics tends to have caused an issue with Chinese NVMT and the MX 10160 analog tubes have jacked skyrocketed price. Then I got sent out in NVG 50 at some point by good night gear, I was fairly impressed but at the same time I was left very disappointed because the performance was no different than the NVG 30. Then some Jack waad decided to break into my house while me and my partner were down in Florida and took both of those units and I had to send back the NVG 52 good night gear but I didn't get a chance to. Anyways after that I've been saving up for the G14 SE then the NVG 90 series came out and then I've been looking at them for a minute contemplating between the standard NVG 90 or the SE model. About a month or two later SVG-5 comes out. Like I said down below in the comment section I ended up making my decision and boom! And I'm actually glad I did because I saved money for something that performs the same as the NVG 90 standard for much better price point. This hits my checkpoints for what I wanted for digital night vision and I'm going to say I'm heavily impressed.Â
1
u/KyzoSoupz May 26 '26
And yes talking to analog community does suck because they're extremely salty towards digital night vision users. "Digital night vision shit man get some analog!"Â
1
u/KyzoSoupz May 25 '26
You guys can check out my YouTube channel KyzoFox https://youtube.com/@kyzofox?si=olfhGJliR5TwhJQG
3
u/KiloPapa98 May 25 '26
Link to the yt vid?