Night vision

Good afternoon Ats hope all is well. Sorry to create such a small thread, no conspiracies here or anything

Later this year me and a few friends are doing a 5 day trek through the cairngorm mountain range in Scotland. I have most equipment and I'd say I'm a pretty good amateur when it comes to trekking and what not. I currently own a hand held night vision monocular it does the job for spotting wild life and also on a trip to wales was able to help me and a friend tell whether some lights we saw at night was an army land rover or walkers.

Anyway I get the point. I'm looking at upgrading my night vision equipment. Several questions if like to share before purchasing a new toy

1. My monocular is ok .. However id like something with a bit more power. Is it worth getting head mounted goggles or go with a nice decent pair of night vision binoculars

2. If I were to buy head mounted goggles I've seen different types. I've seen one with just one eye piece, a night vision sight that sits over one eye while the other eye is free of any device and can see normally. The second is where you have an eye piece for both eyes. Which would be best ?

3. If anyone can advise me or can share their experience with night vision as to what to go for best of happily listen to people's suggestions.

Am willing to buy products from around the world so if anyone has any websites that arnt in the UK is still be happy to look. Any questions are welcome if it helps narrow down what I need

Thanks again ats users

i would stay away from the "skullcrusher" head mounted NV devices unless you're going to be wandering around at night an need hands free for other things, so, i guess it would come down to weight. NV bino's are a little hefty but IMO worth it since you tend to get a bit more power out of them but with the bino's you sacrifice battery life. It's really a matter of user preference

reply to post by EyesOpenMouthShut


Hey eyes thanks for your input. This is the trouble I'm having while deciding. When I go to Scotland we won't be night walking so hands free isn't really an issue I just like the idea of having them hands free. I mainly want some NV for star gazing and to just generally be nosey of a night

Money wise in looking at spending between 200-400 pounds (£)

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker

LINK
Pricey ... but you won't ever buy another. I prefer the monocular as it allows me something akin to normal vision and I don't become disoriented walking about. The head-strap this comes with is all you need and the device works well mounted on my AR.

This was the last piece of gear I bought, but considering what I bought it for, it should have been the second or third, in hindsight.

Here try this link and see what you can come up with. www.opticsplanet.com...

Snarl
reply to post by ThePeaceMaker

 

LINK
Pricey ... but you won't ever buy another. I prefer the monocular as it allows me something akin to normal vision and I don't become disoriented walking about. The head-strap this comes with is all you need and the device works well mounted on my AR.

This was the last piece of gear I bought, but considering what I bought it for, it should have been the second or third, in hindsight.

Ahhhh the PVS-14 i miss that little guy

Low tech night vision....
Wear red lenses over your eyes for the last couple of hours of daylight. It enhances your vision after dusk. I've tried it, it works.

I know that it isn't high tech, but when TSHTF, you might need the info.

Cheers people! I've looked myself on certain websites but was stuck in a dilemma as to what I want so thought I'd ask the ats community. I'll look at the links when I've finished work

Red lenses eh ? Will look into that too

here these are pretty lightweight and work fantastic Link I happen to still own mounts for them and know where to buy them legally . Also there is another AN PVS system that works mono and Bi that are coke bottle lens thin but I can't seem to remember there actual nomenclature but I am looking and those are super lightweight and are tough as nails and have a superb battery life and are obtainable through civilian markets. When I find what I am talking about I will link those as well. Also the first set I linked IS head mountable with a certain type of beanie, yeah a beanie and it is comfortable and all though does not look it is actually pretty good!

reply to post by ThePeaceMaker



If you are indeed on a "trek" and won't be walking at night, I can't imagine why you would want to burden yourself a piece of equipment that is not essential. A good head band LED outfit is perfect for trekking. --Not to mention the enormous cost you seem to ignore in your thinking about upgrading. Actually, most experienced trekkers would laugh at carrying even the device that you have.

Brotherman
here these are pretty lightweight and work fantastic Link I happen to still own mounts for them and know where to buy them legally . Also there is another AN PVS system that works mono and Bi that are coke bottle lens thin but I can't seem to remember there actual nomenclature but I am looking and those are super lightweight and are tough as nails and have a superb battery life and are obtainable through civilian markets. When I find what I am talking about I will link those as well. Also the first set I linked IS head mountable with a certain type of beanie, yeah a beanie and it is comfortable and all though does not look it is actually pretty good!

edit on 5-2-2014 by Brotherman because: (no reason given)

I never had the pleasure of fielding those and they look like they work amazingly well but at $40K.... no thanks

Aliensun
reply to post by ThePeaceMaker

 

If you are indeed on a "trek" and won't be walking at night, I can't imagine why you would want to burden yourself a piece of equipment that is not essential. A good head band LED outfit is perfect for trekking. --Not to mention the enormous cost you seem to ignore in your thinking about upgrading. Actually, most experienced trekkers would laugh at carrying even the device that you have.

I agree. Being an avid adventurer, the only night equippment i pack is 1. a headmount red/white LED. 2 a good quality 320 lumen flashlight. and 3. for back up my old trusty L shaped flashlight with red/blue/green/clear lenses

reply to post by EyesOpenMouthShut


yeah they are not cheap never said they were affordable but they are awesome, they don't have the FLIR modular link up for thermal like older RAZ capable systems but they are extremely comfortable and work very well. I'm not sure of the work you used to do, but I used to get to use lots of cool toys. have you ever used NVG on the water? That just looks so neat!

These work well too but they are not mono/ bi capable

I found some material relating to the red lenses from the American Optometric Association.

For maximum utilization of scotopic vision, 20 to 30 minutes in total darkness are required to attain satisfactory retinal dark adaptation. An alternative is to have the aircrew member wear red goggles for 20 to 30 minutes before flying. When worn in normal illumination, red goggles will not interfere significantly with the ability to read most maps, charts, manuals, etc., as long as the printing is not in red ink. Red goggles block all light except red, which enhances rod dark adaptation because red light does not stimulate the scotopic system. There are some drawbacks to wearing red goggles or using red cockpit lighting. When reading maps, markings in red on a white background may be invisible. Red light also creates or worsens near-point blur in older far-sighted, presbyopic (decreased near focusing ability due to age), and pre-presbyopic aircrew. Under red light or using red goggles in normal light, red light is focused behind the retina due to the optics of the eye and more "near focusing" than average must be used to provide a clear image when reading at near.

American Optometric Association

reply to post by butcherguy


This is why we use red lens lights at night, also red is the spectrum that penetrates water the deepest. Nice find Ill read through that in a bit anyways S

reply to post by Brotherman


I was a conventional. Infantry grunt. Yeah NVD around water is really neat, never got to be on a large body of it, mostly creeks and ponds, the usual range conditions and this one lake in Afghanistan.

reply to post by EyesOpenMouthShut


I have pics of L-RAZ targets conventional and Un that would blow your mind with thermal and NVG implement. I started in USMC 0311 and worked into other things but this isn't the thread for that hold on I'm going to try and load one for you.

reply to post by EyesOpenMouthShut


"HUD Daylight Thermal Adaptable"


no movement


movement

reply to post by Brotherman


Thats impressive. so clear and crisp

There are optics out there for every person and every way to pass time.

In the military I went from the PVS-7 to the PVS-8 and the jumped to the 14's. Just a world of difference in quality and comfort between to monocular night vision and the old "Cyclops" and binocular systems.

As a civilian (as in you will not be running and gunning) dropping massive amounts of money on optics to play with is insane. I carry a Night Owl X-Gen 3X Monocular when I am trekking, camping, and kayaking. I carried similar models when I was deployed in Iraq during several deployments. They are lightweight, cheap(ish), and fairly ruggedized.

I would definitely suggest you look into them if you haven't already.