How many of you have thought about buying Night-vision goggles? I know I have, and if you haven’t your boyfriend or husband has(Girls: safe bet to be a well received gift for your boyfriend/husband. Guys: NO! Unless your girlfriend/wife has expressed a specific desire for them, I will say again…NO!). The main problems are the price and it’s hard to get a straight answer about the different types available, I’ve seen products advertised as night-vision that turn out to be nothing more than cheap binoculars with a flashlight attached. I’ll be describing the three most common types of night-vision goggles.
- There is military grade light-amplification goggles
- Military grade thermal night-vision
- Commercial Infrared and low-light night-vision (cheapest)
The military grade light-amplification goggles are arguably the best available. However, these cost $1,000 or more (usually more), but like most things electronic, you get what you pay for. This type of night-vision will greatly amplify any available light. This means that someone who enjoys overnight camping can explore the campsite without a flashlight. These would make a great gift for someone who enjoys, as above, overnight camping, stargazing, night-hunting, and any other excuse they can come up with to use them. When using these goggles they don’t produce their own light and so they won’t give away your position, which is why the military uses them. Some video cameras have this type of night-vision but trying to walk around while looking through a camera is not very fun and will get boring very fast, at about the second sprained ankle.
The military grade thermal night-vision is not very common and may not even be available for purchase. If they can be bought then they will be about the same price range as the light amplification goggles. These goggles work on the fact that everything warmer than absolute zero emits heat energy, it’s just a matter of sensitivity. If you have seen police helicopter footage that was night-vision but didn’t have a green tinge and very few details in the image then you have seen an example of this type of night-vision. These goggles don’t require any light from the visible spectrum (White light). This means that you can probably go into a cave with no light and see OK, the only problem might be that all the rock is the same temperature(I haven’t had a chance to try). These are also used by the military because they won’t give away your position.
Onto the cheapest of the three, commercial infrared and low-light goggles. Now when I say cheap I mean hundreds as opposed to thousands, keep reading and I’ll tell you how to get even cheaper ones. These goggles are usually regular cameras, that have a light sensitivity of down to 2 or fewer Lumens, with Infrared LEDs around the lens(es). The easiest way to explain how these work is if you point most cameras, camcorder or camera phone, at a remote control that is being used you will see white light coming from the end. This is also how night-vision security cameras work. These goggles have they’re own light-source, this provides consistent easily seen results. The only real downside is that the LEDs will emit a dim red glow, if they don’t they’re not emitting the best wavelength of infrared light for the goggles, for best performance and range you want the LEDs to emit 850nm light waves. The military doesn’t use these because it’s a trade off of visibility for others seeing you (the dim red glow).
Make sure, before you purchase any type of night-vision goggle, that you know what the goggles will be used for. For example, if you want them to be able to go hiking at night you don’t want night-vision binoculars, instead you would want something with the widest viewing angle available. Also most likely some that have a head-strap for hands-free use would be most preferred.
In part two (which I will link to this one, once I write it) I tell you how to make the third type of night-vision goggle for under fifty bucks. I’ll also include anything I forgot to mention here.
