[Closed] Night vision equipment

"Interested to observe badgers, deer, etc in the dark."

Whatever. *winks, but can't put winkey emoji on cos forum is now shite*

Yes they would be great for the dogging spots (with your hound of course)

Avoid the light amplification stuff - fine if there is light to amplify, but inside a wood or similar where it's properly dark it's useless.

IR one with an integrated torch is good. Monoculars.. hmm depends on if you want to use it static or on the move - lack of depth perception takes a bit of getting used to

If you knew where I stayed, do would know that 'outdoor activities' are very unlikely...but plenty of wildlife.

Static use is fine....I don't want yo be wandering about with military issue NV headset.

Keep the suggestions coming. Thanks.

We were discussing the potential practicalities of using NV goggles for night rides instead of lights in a post ride pub stop recently.

A bit of googling suggests that "not at all suitable for use on an MTB at night" is the default position.

Night vision tech is a bit of a hotchpotch at the moment. The infrared spotters you can get (Bresser/ National Geographic) are at first glance very limited.  There are a number of issues, which boil down to the size of the screen - you’re looking through an eyepiece at a screen the size of a postage stamp. You can get over this by using the AV out to link to a larger monitor. Mine plays very well on a 4” reversing monitor (about a tenner on eBay) but that then needs a 12v power source- another 30 quid or so, then you need to bodge it altogether in an easy to handle package. Next is the depth of field. Massive aperture lenses means really shallow dof. You need to learn how to use the front focus to best advantage. Next the onboard light source is limited. You can buy add-on Illuminators, again, another 20 quid or more, and another problem to add to what is becoming a cumbersome package.

Professionals lke gamekeepers are now using thermal. Not good for observing, but great for spotting. They are good enough to find a heat source and identify it- you can tell a fox from a hare or small deer for example,  but then move to an infrared scope or add-on to shoot.  Thermal spotters start at about £1800 up to about 3.5k.

almost  bought some night vision gear years ago when i used to airsoft. Spent weeks looking at reviews and forums. Think for the money the Yukon stuff was meant to be ok.

Yukon stuff is OK. The riflescopes certainly work. I have one for close work like rats on an air rifle, and a 6x magnification one for larger vermin/predator control. They cost between 400 and 600. They pale into insignificance compared with a thermal riflescope though, but again, they start at £2500

Having driven with NV (PVS 15 ‘gen 3’ military stuff) there’s no way I’d want to try it for riding, but there is a combined thermal/nv setup that I’ve definitely not had a play with 🤫 that would be fine. Bit pricey though, circa 14k a set I believe if you could actually buy it.

I'm looking at the Flir One. Its a thermal camera that clips onto your phone. Costs about £200. Quite low resolution, but might let you see what's out there.

Whatever. *winks, but can’t put winkey emoji on cos forum is now shite*

[img] [/img]

I used to taxi, fly & land an aircraft using NVG’s so you bl***y well should be able to ride a bike!

BITD the MOD were testing an innovative diesel powered off-road motor bike. For one of the tests the rider wore some form of night vision goggles with some sort of IR headlamp on the bike, apparantly it was quite a scary experience, but it did seem to work (ish).

Diesel motorbike