Note.. I know you are using a true-bino setup, however that image is obviously only shot thru (one) lens, and yet the detail of nebulas are quite impressive. Are the PVS 14 that much better for seeing structure in clouds versus PVS 7, even in the mono version?
I am sorry for long delay on this reply, but I just caught this nice topic from you.
Most of the difference is probably in the tubes. It is very difficult to find a PVS-7 tube (10130 D/UV) that has the same performance of the top end MX11769 tubes that most people using a Mod 3 or PVS-14 are using.
In fact, it is hard to find a PVS-7 tube that is as good as the F9800VG which can be pretty close to the MX11769.
I have owned I think six or seven PVS-7 tubes (in search of the "best" one), including four "Omni VII" tubes, and none of them have performed even close to my F9800 (which has the same specs as the 10160C/AVS-6 which is an Omni VI/Omni VII spec and is the same quality that is used in military aviation binoculars) and while all were capable of showing a lot of things, none were close to any of these monocular tubes in performance. The view in the PVS-7 tubes was always nosier and the EBI was always much higher than with my MX11769 tubes (though some had less EBI than my F9800 spec tube).
Now there have been some PVS-7 filmless tubes in white phosphor made in recent years, and I have had the opportunity to view with one of these, and the result was quite good! Not quite as sharp as a good monocular (some chromatic aberration) but far better than even the very best of the "Omni VII" PVS-7s I have used. No comparison at all. This tubes had high SN (around 30 or 31 as I recall) and appeared to have very low EBI, though I think when I got to use it, it was a cooler night.
So, I have never seen a standard PVS-7 Omni VII tube that could perform as well as the better monocular tubes.
Would it be worth upgrading the tube, or just going to a new monocular? I have to say that I am sorry that I did not buy one of the filmless WP PVS-7 tubes when they were available. Using Peter's was quite enjoyable. I have a full binocular, but that only works hand held. I enjoyed the ability to use both eyes in the telescope, but in the end, I got rid of the PVS-7s simply because the tube performance was inferior to the monoculars I have.
If you could not find one of these filmless PVS-7 tubes, then I would say it is better to move to a monocular because finding better tubes than what you have will be trivially easy. If you could get hold of one of these filmless tubes with good specs for your PVS-7 though, that is a different story. I was quite taken with Peter's PVS-7. I would say on par or better with my F9800VG spec tube, but with what looked like better EBI.
Edited by Eddgie, 11 October 2019 - 07:32 AM.