martintyler
New member
Birder looking for recommendations on night vision binoculars
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Hello, Night Vision Binoculars (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter martintyler
- Start date
Hi Martin and a warm welcome from me too. I thought I'd move your post the the Binocular forum, as they're better able to advise you there.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about.
I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I hope to hear about all the birds you see when out and about.
Have a look at this thread...
Night vision equipment for mortals
Night vision equipment for mortals
Night vision… image intensifier or thermal? If you are looking for warm things at night then a thermal is better, there are thermal “binos” they typically have an optical sensor and a thermal sensor so they can be overlaid and provide the same image to both eyes.
For navigating around at night an intensifier is better, though two eyes views are £££££ as each tube is already rather pricy. Depends what you’re after. You can get lightweight, very potent thermal monocular snow from a range of companies and things are only getting better/cheaper.
For navigating around at night an intensifier is better, though two eyes views are £££££ as each tube is already rather pricy. Depends what you’re after. You can get lightweight, very potent thermal monocular snow from a range of companies and things are only getting better/cheaper.
It would be helpful if you give some indication of budget as the market ranges from (almost) reasonable to 'if you need to ask the price you cannot afford it'.
My wife demanded (poetic license Mea Culpa) I buy a pair of thermal/night vision bino's as we could hear the owls close by but had no idea where they were. Loads of articles on youtube and reviews everywhere but quite difficult to actually test or examine as shops are few and far between here in Mid Wales. But I did find one and by chance they were having an open evening to demo them properly.
After trying a few I narrowed it down to a pair, that whilst not at the top of the tree in terms of performance, ticked all of the requirements I wanted (or those I told myself I wanted).
I decided on the HikMicro HH35L as they offered an excellent compromise between dead cheap but mostly awful, and not so cheap but rather good.
They are 'optical' day and night in one tube and thermal in the other, all synchronised in an electronic view finder (EVF) that wins no prizes for outstanding optical quality but does a more than acceptable job. For circa £1700 I have a thermal device with 5 different palettes ranging from black spot to red thermal outlines, optical day and night vision, a rangefinder laser, a remarkably accurate compass, GPS, a camera, a video recorder and a 3.5 year warranty. It is dust and water proof and comes with four rechargeable batteries and a proper charger, not a usb body charger.
I am impressed and we have found the owls, and foxes and badgers and a whole ark full of nocturnal creatures at night and located Herons and others, who have decided to land behind hedges or bushes, during daylight as the thermal imager 'see's' through vegetation barriers.
I like it very much and though you cannot possibly identify the species, I can follow the gorgeous little barn swallows, who have returned from Africa to my coachhouse eaves, as they swoop to gather insects and return to feed their young in total darkness as the red outline of their bodies is picked up by the amazing HikMicro's thermal imager. The outline is there and I know they are barn swallows but it is a real thrill to see them
And before someone ticks me off (as they have so kindly done recently) that they are not bino's, I am fully aware that they are not. One tube is 'optical' the other tube is thermal but what I see in the rather natty little EVF is one picture or image with both eyes fully open a la standard optical binocular.
Like everything optical it is personal and if you can, try before you buy or buy from a vendor with a genuine returns policy.
This is a good summary which I found useful when researching.
Good luck.
My wife demanded (poetic license Mea Culpa) I buy a pair of thermal/night vision bino's as we could hear the owls close by but had no idea where they were. Loads of articles on youtube and reviews everywhere but quite difficult to actually test or examine as shops are few and far between here in Mid Wales. But I did find one and by chance they were having an open evening to demo them properly.
After trying a few I narrowed it down to a pair, that whilst not at the top of the tree in terms of performance, ticked all of the requirements I wanted (or those I told myself I wanted).
I decided on the HikMicro HH35L as they offered an excellent compromise between dead cheap but mostly awful, and not so cheap but rather good.
They are 'optical' day and night in one tube and thermal in the other, all synchronised in an electronic view finder (EVF) that wins no prizes for outstanding optical quality but does a more than acceptable job. For circa £1700 I have a thermal device with 5 different palettes ranging from black spot to red thermal outlines, optical day and night vision, a rangefinder laser, a remarkably accurate compass, GPS, a camera, a video recorder and a 3.5 year warranty. It is dust and water proof and comes with four rechargeable batteries and a proper charger, not a usb body charger.
I am impressed and we have found the owls, and foxes and badgers and a whole ark full of nocturnal creatures at night and located Herons and others, who have decided to land behind hedges or bushes, during daylight as the thermal imager 'see's' through vegetation barriers.
I like it very much and though you cannot possibly identify the species, I can follow the gorgeous little barn swallows, who have returned from Africa to my coachhouse eaves, as they swoop to gather insects and return to feed their young in total darkness as the red outline of their bodies is picked up by the amazing HikMicro's thermal imager. The outline is there and I know they are barn swallows but it is a real thrill to see them
And before someone ticks me off (as they have so kindly done recently) that they are not bino's, I am fully aware that they are not. One tube is 'optical' the other tube is thermal but what I see in the rather natty little EVF is one picture or image with both eyes fully open a la standard optical binocular.
Like everything optical it is personal and if you can, try before you buy or buy from a vendor with a genuine returns policy.
This is a good summary which I found useful when researching.
Good luck.
tenex
reality-based
I'm sure whoever that was really just wanted to know how this worked. How is an optical tube useful, at 2x or so? Is "the EVF" showing the thermal image to both eyes, or do you get a merged optical and thermal image, and if so what does that look like?
Great to hear that the digital/thermal fusion works in these units. I’ve found a thermal monocular fine, but modern units have sensors with many more pixels in, improving the field of view or detail (depending on the lens used). It’s amazing how fast these things are developing.
