Night Vision Monocular

[Thufer]

I am interested in getting a night vision monocular. It would mainly be used as an aid for manuvering through the woods without the aid of a flash light. So I only need to see obstacules at about 50yrds or less. The woods around me can get to be near total darkness if there is no moon.

My question is. Would a good generation one be good enough for my requirments? If so, which kind should I get? Also, how well would a gen 1 work at 50yrds without the IR illuminator on?

Thanks

 

[DougCxx]

Gen-1's need their illuminators on, pretty much all the time. Or some other illumination.... You need an IR ir red light source that is focusable-and some gen-1 scopes don't have that, so a separate flashlight with an IR filter or converted to red LED helps a lot. I've got an ATN M0-21 around and it will see that far with its illuminator on. The illuminator is a jumbo-visible-red LED. Animals often ignore it, but it is easily visible if it is aimed at you. It is a 3X magnification though, you'd want a 1X scope for walking around.
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Also: if you use a NV goggle moving through brush at night, you should wear clear eye protection if you are using a single-eye NV scope of any kind, or even a dual-eye NV unit that leave your eyes exposed. You will tend to walk into tree branches at night, and there is a big danger of being stuck badly in your eye.
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[P95Carry]

Somewhat outa pure interest - coupla years ago picked up one of thoise Russian mono NV's. It does work way better with its own IR switched on but that pulls battery down real quick.

Without separate IR source tho - still has its uses ... as ever you get what you pay for but, all considered for something IIRC well under $100, it is still worth having.

Doug's suggestion re IR filter on flashlight is excellent one.