Night Vision Binoculars

[mleininger]

Looking for a pair of night vision binoculars so we can see the horses at night and watch all the critters out in the back field. Lots of brands and models to choose from, very confusing. Does anyone have a pair that they like or know where there's an online review? I'd spend up to $500 but obviously the less the better.
thanks

[Pat]

http://www.nightvisionbinoculars.com/rigel5500.html

This is a $55 dollar night vision adapter that will fit on a telescope, monocular, or camera. You can use it with a video cam, digital cam or whatever. Hard to beat the price. Save $ because you supply most of the optics and the device supplies the light amplification.

Otherwise to buy cheap, shop the sporting goods counter at Wally world. Google on night vision binoculars and you will get oodles of hits.

There is no real upper limit in price for night vision. In general the better you want the more it costs. Meade (the telescope people) have some adapters for low light work (astrophotography) which would meet your needs.

[egon]

How good would the night vision aid you have given a site for be Pat? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

Gee, Egon, what figure(s) of merit do you want to use to measure performance?

If you go to the site I gave there is a picture of a night scene through the device.

There are all sorts of things to use to rate night vision devices. Things like LP (Line Pairs relating to resolution) and light amplification (how many times brighter is the view) Terrific brightness alone is not useful if the resolution is too low to ID objects viewed. Similarly, terrific resolution is nice but if the light amplification is not sufficient you won't see too well in the dark. What yo see will be finely defined but maybe too dim to be useful in really low light situations.

Many night vision devices incorporate IR LED illuminators for when there is no moon, starlight, or a little light from some source since only the thermal imagers work in the absence of all light.

Check out some of the night vision vendors on-line like ATN and others that offer lots of good background info. Technology is typically rated as Gen1, Gen 2, etc. with successive generations being better, brighter and with more resolution but with vastly higher price tags. I don't even hope to be able to buy a thermal imaging scope (senses temperature differences and displays them in false color) Like the typical FLIR units on copper choppers for manhunting.

Wal*Mart sells fairly decent monoculars under $200.

Pat

[egon]

Thanks Pat.
[img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[mleininger]

That's slick, don't understand how it can work without batteries. Something has to be driving an amplifier, no?
Anyway, that's a very informative site with lots of good info.
thanks

[Pat]

Here are some more sites:

www.night-vision-gear.com

www.nightvisionplanet.com

http://www.target.com/gp/search/188-...NM=nightvision

I hope these are of some use to you.

ATS and some other vendors have significant quantities of educational material on their sites so you can make an informed decision regarding your night vision equipment.

The stuff at Wally World works fairly well.

Pat

[mleininger]

After reading info on these sites, found a pair of digital binoculars that have the advantage of not being damaged by bright light and can be used as regular binoculars.

Know anything about these?

[Pat]

Well... they don't actually work like regular binoculars. 1. you don't get any 3D effect as you do with regular binoculars since you are taking a single picture and displaying it to both eyes. 2. You are never just looking through the optics with fantastic resolution (greater than 10 or 20 megapixels like a real binoc) but instead are looking at a TV image from a video camera. Like looking at the LCD view finder of a digital snapshot camera through a pair of lenses (one for each eye.)

Those "day/night binocs" are pretty sensitive to low light AND the near IR spectrum. You can add additional IR illumination to light up your subject (animals will not see the illumination) to reduce video noise in low light situations and increase the signal to noise ration but... you are limited to the maximum resolution of the unit which is not much even with superb lighting.

There are cheaper cameras that do significantly better and have video output ports to export the live video to a video monitor, a laptop, or whatever that will outperform those BUT... not as convenient, portable or nice to dangle around your neck from a strap.

You pays your $ and takes your chances!

Pat

[mleininger]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Like looking at the LCD view finder of a digital snapshot camera through a pair of lenses (one for each eye.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Doh, of course, good point. Wasn't really interested in using them in the day anyway. So the only mystery is why it says you have to be 18 years old to buy night vision equipment. If the worst thing teenagers were doing was looking through night vision binoculars, the world would be a safer place.