Night vision goggles

Reversing camera is a good idea. I have one on the motorhome & it's ability to see in the dark is pretty good. They don't see very far though, you'd only get a moment's notice & only if you happened to be looking at that time.
Put half a doz IR super bright narrow bbeam point ing forwards .in garden gives 200 feet ish with a web cam
 
Put half a doz IR super bright narrow bbeam point ing forwards .in garden gives 200 feet ish with a web cam

Even in broad daylight, reversing cameras have VERY wide angle (almost fisheye) lenses so you can't see more than a few car lengths - that's the zone they are designed to cover. So high intensity IR lights plus a waterproof web cam & we are starting to increase the cost quite a lot aren't we?
 
True but IR LEDs are only a 30/50 pence edit a pound so a bit of digging the web cam is a cost though if you want good resolution
 
Last edited:
Hi All,

Will chip in my pennies worth here. In the interest of full disclosure, my business has selling Thermal Imaging Kit from a well known manufacturer for over a five years and have done multiple side-by-side tests with them & NVGs alike.

The one thing which I like about NVGs is it's easy to get more range out of them, though is a tad cumbersome. You just look through one of the binoculars with the NVG et VOILA! Zoom!

My recommendation would be, if anything, to go with a monocular. If you have to use them, dedicate one eye to the challenge, rather than swapping them. This way only one will suffer loss of night vision. This is a trick our forces use, and from personal experience, it makes a big difference but it can be disorientating. After practice you get used to it.

One example I will give you, I went on an outing into the Solent. I brought with me two Ti units, one at £2k & one at £8k. On-board we had at least 10 NVGs, varying from Gen 1 to Gen 2+ (i.e. £200 to £1k+). We had varying results, and of course additional range was achieved from turning on the IR illumination. However, when we came to leave the little cove we were in for the test we had to exit through a narrow passage (sand-banks on either side). When we came to leave, we must have had over £20k of kit to hand, but what did we use to navigate out? The £10 torch from Halfords.
What I took away from the event is despite the fact these things could be useful, the reality is the picture needs to be on a screen as holding them to your eye is difficult / counter intuitive.

This may not be ALL that useful, but I hope it provides some insight into how practically useful this kit is when infrequently used. But I would search for a cheapo NVG on ebay first and see what you think?
 
Groot T, useful input thanks. Bear in mind that the Aldi NV gear is £100, so nothing like £2-8K. Your comment about the output being on a screen is very relevant, I like the idea as your sight is nowhere near as badly affected. I am interested in air rifles & notice that people are now assembling NV set-ups for hunting with the output to a small LCD screen for only around £120. That sounds a far better solution for boating purposes than an NV monocular & still not that expensive.
 
A little NV camera with a video out will make for a cracking little tool! For £120-ish you really can't go wrong! Do let me know how you get on, will be very interested.

To claify, I wasn't suggesting you look at any of the Ti Handhelds. They'e crazy expensive and a bit sh*t, tbh. Only one worth looking at is £4.5k plus the vodka & Tonic, so is wild money. Especially when you discover it doesn't see through glass!
 
Top