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If you bought a new autogated modern night vision set your unit is pretty well protected against things like sudden light flashes, muzzle flash, brief IR exposure, etc.
However autogating doesn't cover everything. Therefore it's always important to be careful around any IR emitting source, and this includes your on board IR illuminator like on your PVS14. In my experience, 90% of the time additional IR is not required for use with a quality high spec tube. What you DON'T want to do it blast your IR illumiantor against walls in your house (reflecting back on your tube). We have unfortunately seen a lot of people do this- despite the fact that the emails we send with tracking info for orders covers this information and the paperwork you receive with a unit does also.
What can happen with IR exposure directly to your tube is that it can "burn" a shadow into your tube view. There are a few tricks that CAN help mitigate this if it's happened to you, however you want to use common sense and avoid it in the first place.
We have seen youtube "NV experts" (read, who didn't know crap) say that you can use the "daylight cover" to practice with your PVS14 on during the day. That's incredibly stupid advice in my opinion. I would remind you that no company covers light exposure, high IR burns, etc. in their warranty. Much like if I bought a brand new truck and promptly drove it into my neighbors house, the truck manufacturer wouldn't cover my stupidity under warranty.
One thing we were taught to do in the field a hundred years ago when I was young before everyone had night vision was to look slightly to the side and down when a flare was popped, or headlights of a car went by, etc. This helped preserve your God given natural "night vision. You can- and should do the same thing with high light and IR exposure with your NODs on.This will help mitigate any burns on your tube. Just look down and slightly to the side. If your using a single tube unit- PVS14 for example- also close the eye not in use under the 14 also.
A Light Interference Filter (LIF) will give you some additional protection against high lights and certain lasers and to me, it's a worthwhile addition to your NV units for added protection. They simply screw in the front lens, and you can still install a daylight (pinhole) cover or sacrificial filter over it for additional protection. Keeping your lenses covered is extremely important, especially when you consider the cost of lenses used in PVS14 optics. Some folks like this, some don't. They also act as an additional sacrificial filter- protecting your front lens from damage. A lot cheaper to replace a LIF yourself than sending your unit in to replace the front lens!
Probably the #1 thing you can do to protect your NV is to get in the habit of always removing the battery when you are done using the unit. I don't care what type of battery you are using, remove it every time when you are done. Not only will you avoid finding a bad battery in the unit later, it will help you avoid accidentally leaving it on and burning the image. There is a story online where an "NV expert" left a pair of Panos ($40K at the time) powered on staring at lights in his kitchen and the image was burned into the tubes!!! Avoid this stupidity by the constant habit of battery removal.
To help with small scratches, etc that are inevitable if your using your unit as well as to give it a lower profile, check out the Nocorium wraps. These install on the outside of your NODs and are available in various colors. They give the outside some added protection as well as toning down the black color of the unit in field use. While scraps and scratches on the outside of your housing won't affect it's use, I know it bother some folks. The wraps are inexpensive ($20-30.) but will give you some added protection against those as well as toning down the black color of the PVS14. They are available for a variety of different night vision devices.
If you have any questions relating to this or comments to add, fire away!
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