Night vision goggles

[atlroofman]

Anyone using night vision ?
Does it help ?
When do you find that they come in handy ?
Are they worth it?
What generation do you use ?

[Dockhead]

I had a 3G set of Russian ones on board for a few years.


Cool toy but not of any practical use for anything in my use case. I sold them.

[Richbayle]

Save your money.
Unnecessary toy.
Never use mine, just a bit of fun for the grandchildren

[a64pilot]

I’ve flown goggles a few times.
First “real” goggles are very expense, likely far more than you realize and I believe there are restrictions on their sale.
Most of the consumer products that are available for a reasonable price are next to useless as they are simply just not very good.
Goggles are light intensification devices so if there is no light, there isn’t much to see, but you can see a tiny light source from far away, especially if it’s red, a red position light that you can barely see with your eye would shine like a street sign under goggles.

So if you are looking for small light sources, they would be good for that, otherwise I can’t see a use for them, even for FLIR. I don’t see the use, anything not heated like say a log floating in the water would be below the minimum resolvable temperature, and therefore won’t be discernible. Being immersed in water would mean that it would pretty quickly be the exact same temp as the water.
For rescue, there may be a use.

[Westcliffe01]

I dont understand the responses. There are many situations where improving the quality of vision available is a benefit to safety and awareness of what is going on around you.

Below an example of a trip into town to get supplies that ends up returning after dark and without having digital NV it would have been pretty much impossible to do safely. Judge for yourself.


https://youtu.be/x1gzDWBoGPo


The Sionyx Aurora is considerably cheaper at ~$700 than the G3 optics I bought a few years prior for approximately $3800.....


FYI, many NV devices rely on long wave radiation (IR). Glass readily blocks IR transmission. so generally you have to step outside the pilothouse to use the NV device effectively.

[a64pilot]

Let me guess, that’s your blog?

[Westcliffe01]

Nope, those are some well known youtubers.

[JamesPNW]

Originally Posted by Westcliffe01

I dont understand the responses. There are many situations where improving the quality of vision available is a benefit to safety and awareness of what is going on around you.

Below an example of a trip into town to get supplies that ends up returning after dark and without having digital NV it would have been pretty much impossible to do safely. Judge for yourself.


https://youtu.be/x1gzDWBoGPo


The Sionyx Aurora is considerably cheaper at ~$700 than the G3 optics I bought a few years prior for approximately $3800.....


FYI, many NV devices rely on long wave radiation (IR). Glass readily blocks IR transmission. so generally you have to step outside the pilothouse to use the NV device effectively.

I’d consider the Aurora for NV navigation. If it works as advertised then it will be an absolute life saving for entering known ports at night. Their models are a bit confusing for features and prices.

[CarlF]

I have an Igen Monocular. This is basically a super sensitive camera. It's far better than a cheap (Gen 1 or Gen 2) night vision camera.

Unlike many night vision products that are meant for short range (50ft), this works to the horizon if there's starlight or moon light. Or obviously looking for nav lights

https://www.amazon.com/Night-Owl-iGE...ustomerReviews

But I don't use it that often. Offshore, other vessels nav lights are too bright for these devices - easier to see with the naked eye. And radar is better to find unlighted objects.

I do use my very narrow beam flashlight from Marinebeam a lot. Sweeping this slowly across your path will easily pick out a buoy or moored dark boat at over 1/4 mile. The very narrow (4 degree) beam means that you don't get glare off your sails or bow to ruin your night vision.

https://store.marinebeam.com/marineb...or-flashlight/

[Westcliffe01]

Thermal devices have come down radically in price compared to just 5 years ago when I bought my G3 NV equipment. At that time, one was looking at Minimum $8500 for a very modest thermal device.

In the meantime you can now buy a very respectable thermal setup for $3800, same price as what I paid for my G3 setup. Thermal offers certain advantages:
Thermal can be used day or night. Obviously don't point it at the sun. My G3 NV system will be ruined if I take the cover off the main lens and turn it on in the daylight. Some of the even more expensive (up to $18k) NV systems offer protection against damage due to daylight, but when you have a device that can be ruined in a few seconds by someone who doesn't know what they are doing and you just burned up $3800, that's quite a responsibility.

Thermal is even longer wavelength that G1-3 NV so it cuts through smoke and fog very effectively. With G1-3 NV forget it.

If the object you are looking for produces heat, it will stand out clearly against the ground or water using thermal. Engines, large mammals, people etc. With NV unless there is contrast between the object you are looking for and the background, you wont find it. The display is monochrome anyway, except for the latest digital NV like the Sionyx which shows a little color.

I cant afford a flir thermal system yet, but I will certainly get it to help my night vision which is not very good before I set off. For young bucks with vision like Chuck Yeager, they may be able to do without for a while yet....

[2020]

Originally Posted by atlroofman

Anyone using night vision ?
Does it help ?
When do you find that they come in handy ?
Are they worth it?
What generation do you use ?

I love it. I can see boats, moorings and ropes in the water, we've had a man overboard (yes they were pissed) at night and in pitch black could spot them instantly when without the the thermal vision we could see diddley squat. I have actually (yes me not anecdotal) seen a shipping container just under the surface of the water off the coast of QLD Australia about 200m off. I use a Flir hand held after being on a boat that had a fixed mount on the mast which convinced me it was the best thing since gps. I can see almost everything as clear as an old Black and white gilligans island repeat. Ive spotted x rated couples on the beach a good 300m away. Ive had a go at some cheaper units and there is NOTHING that compares to spending good money. IUf you are going to be entering or navigating crowded or unfamiliar waterways at night or in fog, get one. just my 2 cents worth.

[Westcliffe01]

Here is a great comparison of G3 NV vs thermal and the guy demonstrates how he can hide from thermal behind a pane of glass but you can still see him with the G3 NV. So it is primarily thermal devices that cant see through glass, you have to be out in the open for them to work.
https://youtu.be/EIhFupwqOU4

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by atlroofman

Anyone using night vision ?
Does it help ?
When do you find that they come in handy ?
Are they worth it?
What generation do you use ?

Not sure what you mean by night vision. Some of the comments talk about thermal devices and I have a thermal scope that is an essential tool for me when harvesting wild hogs at night. Since the scope is mounted on a rifle I am not sure how useful it would be on a boat; not to mention it has lots of electronics built in that are only really useful for hunting.

I do have some true night vision cameras I use for astrophotography that are very capable of seeing in very low light situations. Again not sure how useful it would be on a boat.

So to answer your first question yes I am using night vision; but not on a boat.

There is no question they help and come in handy in the specific places where I use them; so to me they are worth it.

If you look at the vid in the link posted to the Sionyx Aurora it is clear that there is some value to devices like that. The thing is using it entails something of a learning curve and truth be told probably one person to operate the device and another person to drive the boat; not to mention communication between the two people. Not to mention some devices allow you to use illumination devices that light up the dark in wave lengths the human eye can't detect; which may require another person (something that is not an issue when I am hunting with a party but may be an issue on a boat). When I am doing astrophotography it is stills, basically you take a bunch of frames over a minute or longer and stack them. If you want real time video this usually means a very low frame rate with details lost due to things like a rolling shutter when panning. Not to mention that if the boat is rocking the camera is moving up and down and you may get smearing.

For me there is a lot to consider when using a device like this on a boat; not the least of which is just when I would use it. I have looked at a lot of youtube vids on various devices to help see in the dark and so far nothing has seemed to be that useful on a boat. Here is the best vid I have found related to using one on a boat. One thing I would note is that all these devices work better in monochrome than color.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXyFI9JIEqw

[acem]

If you avoid light male eyes have decent night vision. However you must avoid looking at light for around 10 minutes, Google it up.

Thermal vision would be useful for man overboard I expect. Otherwise use what mother nature gave you.

Thx-Ace

[Singularity]

As a reminder, cruising-age folks tend to be of the age where some eyeball lens opacity from cataracts is starting to form (cataracts = ~normal age-related clouding of the lenses).

One of the first things to go is very low light target discrimination, and the perception loss is insidious over years. Practically this doesn't cause a problem in most other acivities until the lenses get ~much more cloudy, but specifically on night watch the older individual with any amount of lens clouding ought to be aware that their night vision ain't what it used to be.