alan006
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking of getting myself a night sight. Have other people found them useful and if so which would you recommend.
Night Sight recommendations
- Thread starter alan006
- Start date
Searush
Well-Known Member
I have one of the £99 Lidl ones, but don't currently bother with it on the boat.
1/ I am seldom out at night
2/ mostly what I am looking for at night is lit
3/ I would hate to drop it or get it wet.
4/ when I do use it, I lose night vision in that eye for about 5 mins
Perhaps if I had a pilot house, I would keep one handy as I would be more likely to do night passages. There was a time once when I nearly piled up on a reef marked by an unlit red painted concrete beacon. It might have been useful then, but SWMBO wanted to know why there was so much white water where I was trying to sail. Even in the pitch black moonless night, the surf was visible if you looked properly.
Good points,
1/ cheaper than radar
2/ might be useful in a dark anchorage to check transits against dragging
3/ they are very good in poor light and shortish ranges (up to 100mtrs ish) provided loss of night vision is not critical.
4/ excellent for identifying unoccupied moorings, or unlit anchored craft if no shore lights
5/ might be fun to watch other boats in anchorage at night?
But mostly I use a 12v car spotlight mounted on a handle & plugged into a 2-pin socket in the cockpit for night vision & steamer scaring.
1/ I am seldom out at night
2/ mostly what I am looking for at night is lit
3/ I would hate to drop it or get it wet.
4/ when I do use it, I lose night vision in that eye for about 5 mins
Perhaps if I had a pilot house, I would keep one handy as I would be more likely to do night passages. There was a time once when I nearly piled up on a reef marked by an unlit red painted concrete beacon. It might have been useful then, but SWMBO wanted to know why there was so much white water where I was trying to sail. Even in the pitch black moonless night, the surf was visible if you looked properly.
Good points,
1/ cheaper than radar
2/ might be useful in a dark anchorage to check transits against dragging
3/ they are very good in poor light and shortish ranges (up to 100mtrs ish) provided loss of night vision is not critical.
4/ excellent for identifying unoccupied moorings, or unlit anchored craft if no shore lights
5/ might be fun to watch other boats in anchorage at night?
But mostly I use a 12v car spotlight mounted on a handle & plugged into a 2-pin socket in the cockpit for night vision & steamer scaring.
alan006
Well-Known Member
One of the reasons I was thinking of getting one was last year I got called out to tow a friend back who had been out in his boat at night and had lost all his lights. ( His gearbox had packed up as well)
I was surprised how hard it was to see him and thought a night sight in that situation could have been very handy. Infact the coastguard advised him to put some waste oil on an old rag and light it ( which he did) but even so he was very hard to spot.
I thought a night sight might be handy for spotting unlit navigation marks as well.
I was surprised how hard it was to see him and thought a night sight in that situation could have been very handy. Infact the coastguard advised him to put some waste oil on an old rag and light it ( which he did) but even so he was very hard to spot.
I thought a night sight might be handy for spotting unlit navigation marks as well.
roly_voya
Well-Known Member
I got one of the Lidl one as well, tied it out ashore and was very impressed but not tried it on the boat yet. One of the things I immediatly noticed is that if you use a low power torch you get a huge range, I was able to spot moored boats and mooring bouys half mile or more across the river no problem just from the light given out by the orange flashers on to of the bus.
narooma
Well-Known Member
I have one, and carry it on the boat when on a trip, otherwise it is at home. It is the type that has the 'spotlight' feature.
It is limited in so far as the distance that is enhanced by the spotlight is limited to about 100 yards. Within that area it is excellent but less so outside.
I bought it partly as an added safety aid, the idea being to better spot a m.o.b should the need arise. Fortunately I have never had to use it in anger.
I can think of only one occasion when it has been of practical use and that was to enhance the single weak light of a boat running close inshore on a dark night and allow us to identify what it was as it wasn’t painting on radar. Otherwise it has been more of an item of interest and definitely more use at home. Had we not been able to use it, it wouldn’t really have mattered.
An interesting toy, and definitely of use on a dark night to spot something in the water. Generally, the cheaper the item the less use it is. You pays your money etc. etc.
It is limited in so far as the distance that is enhanced by the spotlight is limited to about 100 yards. Within that area it is excellent but less so outside.
I bought it partly as an added safety aid, the idea being to better spot a m.o.b should the need arise. Fortunately I have never had to use it in anger.
I can think of only one occasion when it has been of practical use and that was to enhance the single weak light of a boat running close inshore on a dark night and allow us to identify what it was as it wasn’t painting on radar. Otherwise it has been more of an item of interest and definitely more use at home. Had we not been able to use it, it wouldn’t really have mattered.
An interesting toy, and definitely of use on a dark night to spot something in the water. Generally, the cheaper the item the less use it is. You pays your money etc. etc.
alan006
Well-Known Member
Sounds like I'd be better spending my money on a mounted spotlight for the top of the wheelhouse. I've got the handheld powerful searchlights which have done me up till now.
The nightsight seemed like a handy thing but perhaps in practice they are rarely needed.
Thanks chaps you've helped me make my mind up.
The nightsight seemed like a handy thing but perhaps in practice they are rarely needed.
Thanks chaps you've helped me make my mind up.
MoodySabre
Well-Known Member
Group test in this month's ST. The more you pay the better they got - £4,000 ones were excellent.
Interesting point was that they are classified as military kit and will land you in trouble if you take them abroad without having first obtained an export licence.
Interesting point was that they are classified as military kit and will land you in trouble if you take them abroad without having first obtained an export licence.
KenMcCulloch
Well-Known Member
I'm not really convinced of their utility compared to really good binoculars. For many years I used a fantastic pair of Carl Zeiss 8x50 bins, the last model produced at the Jena factory in 1989 or so, and they had such good light-gathering capacity as to enable you to see considerably better in the dark than with the naked eye. Once leaving the Menai Strait in almost pitch darkness I was able to follow the line of unlit buoys perfectly easily whereas no-one else aboard could even see them.
vyv_cox
Well-Known Member
I bought one in USA many years ago. We carried it aboard for years and used it once - picking up a mooring buoy at Dale. A searchlight would have been pretty much as useful. It packed up for reasons unknown, maybe it was used in too much light and burnt out. The manufacturer won't reply to my enquiries so is perhaps out of business. We don't miss it.
narooma
Well-Known Member
Quote; Interesting point was that they are classified as military kit and will land you in trouble if you take them abroad without having first obtained an export licence.
...................................................................................
Didn't think they still were. Seem to recall from years ago something to the effect that they were not on general issue to the lads in N.I. for fear of one falling into the wrong hands.
...................................................................................
Didn't think they still were. Seem to recall from years ago something to the effect that they were not on general issue to the lads in N.I. for fear of one falling into the wrong hands.
Searush
Well-Known Member
The Lidl ones are first generation & the lenses distort at the edges. But that said, they are good value & fine within their limitations.
But when your eyes are adjusted to darkness, they appear very bright & close your pupil right down, so you can't see in normal light with that eye for ages.
But when your eyes are adjusted to darkness, they appear very bright & close your pupil right down, so you can't see in normal light with that eye for ages.
bilbobaggins
N/A
P'erhaps this is the sort of thing.....
There's kit which works in the near InfraRed spectrum, and kit that works in the far IR spectrum. Their capabilities did not overlap. Both were used in the past by the wee hobbit in the piccy in the hunt for 'unfriendlies', and bright young staff officers such as MajorMajor will recognise the Night Sun searchlight, 'borrowed' from a Main Battle Tank. That was steerable, used with a red filter over the front, as a means of 'pointing' to things and peeps on the ground that t'others could not see with their limited kit. All of which gave rise to some gey strange stories and superstitions. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Using both sets of gear almost simultaneously to 'look at the passing scenery', while conning the aircraft around where it should be going, keeping clear of sticking-up chunks of landscape, cables and pylons, while maintaining a continuous running commentary ( like rally 'pace notes' ), hanging out of the door in the night without lights, became - at times - fairly challenging. One-armed paper-hanger sort of stuff....
Just like conning a sailboat into an unlit New Grimsby Harbour, in a rising gale, or avoiding the unlit steel mooring floats in Plymouth Sound..../forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
BTW, HM Customs cutters are - most of them - fitted with derivatives of this kit, as are HMQ's Grey Funnel Liners out of Portsmouth. If you want to give' em a hard time for sneaking up on you without lights, fire off a white flare. That'll make their eyes water.....
Of course, certain folks of the 'smuggling persuasion' have kit like that, now, too. So you'll understand if your friendly water-borne uniformed officer takes an interest in 'why do you have these, sir'......
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
There's kit which works in the near InfraRed spectrum, and kit that works in the far IR spectrum. Their capabilities did not overlap. Both were used in the past by the wee hobbit in the piccy in the hunt for 'unfriendlies', and bright young staff officers such as MajorMajor will recognise the Night Sun searchlight, 'borrowed' from a Main Battle Tank. That was steerable, used with a red filter over the front, as a means of 'pointing' to things and peeps on the ground that t'others could not see with their limited kit. All of which gave rise to some gey strange stories and superstitions. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Using both sets of gear almost simultaneously to 'look at the passing scenery', while conning the aircraft around where it should be going, keeping clear of sticking-up chunks of landscape, cables and pylons, while maintaining a continuous running commentary ( like rally 'pace notes' ), hanging out of the door in the night without lights, became - at times - fairly challenging. One-armed paper-hanger sort of stuff....
Just like conning a sailboat into an unlit New Grimsby Harbour, in a rising gale, or avoiding the unlit steel mooring floats in Plymouth Sound..../forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
BTW, HM Customs cutters are - most of them - fitted with derivatives of this kit, as are HMQ's Grey Funnel Liners out of Portsmouth. If you want to give' em a hard time for sneaking up on you without lights, fire off a white flare. That'll make their eyes water.....
Of course, certain folks of the 'smuggling persuasion' have kit like that, now, too. So you'll understand if your friendly water-borne uniformed officer takes an interest in 'why do you have these, sir'......
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
savageseadog
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
The Lidl ones are first generation & the lenses distort at the edges. But that said, they are good value & fine within their limitations.
[/ QUOTE ] It's nothing to do with them being first generation. The more expensive intensifier tubes have fiber optic light guides that pipe the light into and out of the curved intensifier windows.
The Lidl ones are first generation & the lenses distort at the edges. But that said, they are good value & fine within their limitations.
[/ QUOTE ] It's nothing to do with them being first generation. The more expensive intensifier tubes have fiber optic light guides that pipe the light into and out of the curved intensifier windows.
pheonix
Well-Known Member
i have one. an inexpensive russian job that i purchased from all gadgets some time ago. i found them a valuable piece of kit, came in very handy had a freind on the bow with them spotting pot markers when outside workington at night without them we would almost certainly have had a prop wrap and good for finding moorings in the dark.
/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
actionoptics
Well-Known Member
If you would like to learn a little more about the differences between Gen 1 ; Gen 2 & 2+ and Gen 3 , take a look at my web page http://www.actionoptics.co.uk/Night%20Vision.htm I don't sell the small ones anymore so this is not a sneaky advertisement.
Brian_B
Well-Known Member
I agree, a decent pair of bins can do wonders at night. I'm always amazed how much can be seen.
Leighb
Well-Known Member
There is a review of a number of these devices in the latest Sailing Today, they have not tested any of the really low cost ones, but start at around £240. Most expensive are many thousands, it would be very hard to justify that sort of cost unless your business is night surveillance!
