Night Vision Goggles (sorta)

[mbt2001]

I know, that you are going to laugh, but I ran across these and thought that it might be interesting to those out there that are as broke was I am. Obviously it isn't military issue, but they can be had a good price. I don't know if I would use them for home defense, or for a Power Outage, but there are times when YOU want to see without everyone seeing you... During Ike, that was one thing that grated on my nerves, when there are no lights, ANY LIGHT is a beacon to "others".

http://www.amazon.com/EyeClops-Visi...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265350484&sr=1-1



and then the cheaper version

http://www.amazon.com/EyeClops-Visi...e=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1265350484&sr=1-2



I know that some monocles can be had for around $200, but these are full blown goggles for $100 and Binoculars for $50.

Found a review on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ommyCd52E

 

[DogStar]

They're so cheap because infrared technology is ancient (1970's). These aren't light amplification like the last two generations of nightvision are - they project an IR beam out and collect the reflected radiation. To anyone else with an infrared detector (including cell phone cameras) you'll stand out as clearly as someone holding a flashlight.


Infrared scope in action.

 

[mbt2001]

For the record, you can pay a lot more for IR devices that function better, but work on the same principles. Most of what is out there is IR. Also, it's a cool toy that can be had for not much. Can't beat that.

 

[John Matrix]

On the positive side, IR nightvision will work in the rare instances where there is not enough visible light for the light amplification types to work.

I remember being in the jungle in Panama one night under tripple canopy when it was so dark, our night vision would not work. I imagine IR night vision would have worked just fine in that case...

 

[NMGonzo]

Gecko 45 feels funny in his pants.

 

[cmhowe72]

They're so cheap because infrared technology is ancient (1970's). These aren't light amplification like the last two generations of nightvision are - they project an IR beam out and collect the reflected radiation. To anyone else with an infrared detector (including cell phone cameras) you'll stand out as clearly as someone holding a flashlight.


Infrared scope in action.

This "goggles" actually has a passive light gathering as well as an active IR beam emitter that can be switched on and off. My son has one, and for the price it's a pretty cool little gadget though I wouldn't trust it when it counts.

 

[billdeserthills]

Actually, I saw something similar at Costco last Christmas. Sold as a kids toy, they were about $50.00!

 

[Shadow 7D]

All current, by that I mean what I saw, so for at least the last 11 years, army NVG have an IR light source on them, but many soldiers didn't know that, unless the were in a hurry and pulled/twisted to get the knob past the stop and turn the IR on, very useful, but like Dogstar said, you can see the IR for miles around, really bad when the FNG does it putting his gear on at 0200 taking watch on a OP, worse when he doesn't realize what the red light means and blows the position, but thats what training exercises are for.

 

[hso]

$100 for a toy is too much to depend upon.

 

[jlg]

I wonder what kind of range these would work to? 20yds, 50yds, 100yds...

Would you be able to see an IR laser with them or would the IR light source they use wash it out?

 

[jlg]

A friend got something like this for his son...may have been the same thing.
It worked pretty good in the back yard but it was basically a video camera...small 1" screen inside that you look at...made FOV terrible

 

[wgaynor]

When I was in the service a few years ago, we used our NVG's quite a bit. While troopers were jumping out of the c-130's, we'd have to hump with our aid bags up and down the drop zone to look for the injured, lost, and those that were stuck in trees. One thing I learned quickly was that Night Vision Goggles do not give you depth perception. It was like looking at a tv screen. Also, they had an IR light that you could switch on for those nights when you had too little light source to be of much use. The down side to the IR light source was that others with NVG's could spot you with them. It stands out bright, but doesn't wash the screen out.

I have an older NVG monocular here that I use for various purposes, and it has the same feature. While the clarity of the monocular wasn't nearly up to par with the military ones I used, it is very impressive. I even used it on the farm once when I forgot to check the cows, had to go count them and it was pitch dark. I grabbed my monocular, and they stood out plain as day (silhouette only) up to 200 yards away.

The one I have, can be found for about $150 - $200 used and appears to be a smaller setup than the one the OP posted. But it isn't mounted with headgear. The one the OP posted looks a bit ungainly and for a bit more money, a better quality one can be had.

 

[IronLance]

If you look at most game cameras these days, they have the same IR LED illuminator set up, they usually work okay out to 25 - 30 yards.

A lot of the surveillance cameras you buy in Radio Shack, Walmart, etc., also have the IR LED set up. Again, they're usually good to less than 50 yards.

That being said, both systems are available in color, rather than the green tinted, monochromatic world of ambient light ampilification.