Night Vision for dummies

[xtry51]

What "group"?

If you want to start yet another thread about post-TEOTWAWKI, then "being stalked/cased by a group with NV" would be a consideration, and in that end times situation, you wouldn't be wasting the power to run IR spotlights, natch.

OP posted "The scenario I'm thinking of is if power is out for a while (no street lighting), being able to see what is going on around the yard or street.", where the most realistic concern is not not Mad-max style organized gangs of murderous raiders., but rather a couple of guys in a pickup truck going around stealing generators at 4AM.

My point was directed at a very specific statement you made about people "seeing" your IR. The only way they are seeing it is if they have NV. If you're talking about seeing the cameras, well then either you missed them and they're already on your property, or they're far enough away they still have surprise on their side.

If you're not outside confronting someone by the time they spot your cameras, you're too late.

 

[hminsky]

Yeah, the most common expected situation is that the street lights are out, there's some noise or commotion outside, I'd like to see what it is without necessarily lighting up the yard with a spotlight.

Having something that could actually be mounted as a riflescope is a plus, but mostly it's just the surveillance I'm interested in. I don't mind if it needs an IR illuminator, although it would be nice to have something that worked well without one.

 

[xtry51]

Yeah, the most common expected situation is that the street lights are out, there's some noise or commotion outside, I'd like to see what it is without necessarily lighting up the yard with a spotlight.

Having something that could actually be mounted as a riflescope is a plus, but mostly it's just the surveillance I'm interested in. I don't mind if it needs an IR illuminator, although it would be nice to have something that worked well without one.

All NV is dependent upon ambient lighting conditions. Full moons or snow cover make it almost like daylight, albeit in monochrome green. On moonless/cloudy dark nights your going to need an illuminator even with something nice like a PVS14.

That's why thermal is better. It works regardless of ambient light. The downside to thermal I see from a weapons perspective is there's no laser to use with it for aiming, unlike NV where you can use a PEQ or Dbal.

 

[Kevin_NH]

Can surround your house with "0.1 LUX" cameras for the price of ONE thermal imager

That's why thermal is better. It works regardless of ambient light. The downside to thermal I see from a weapons perspective is there's no laser to use with it for aiming, unlike NV where you can use a PEQ or Dbal.

A sufficiently energetic laser will generate an aiming point for thermal-equipped weapons scopes, with the added advantage that the target may continue to self-illuminate for some time after moving out of the beam (up to several minutes, depending on how flammable they are).

 

[xtry51]

True, but shooting with a PEQ and a PVS14 is pretty much as close to Star Wars as you get these days

 

[drgrant]

Yeah, the most common expected situation is that the street lights are out, there's some noise or commotion outside, I'd like to see what it is without necessarily lighting up the yard with a spotlight.

Having something that could actually be mounted as a riflescope is a plus, but mostly it's just the surveillance I'm interested in. I don't mind if it needs an IR illuminator, although it would be nice to have something that worked well without one.

FWIW you can get IR floodlights for your house/yard, too. So even on the darkest nights you could illuminate your yard for NV.

-Mike

 

[Artifact]

That is true, thermal devices cannot see thru glass. Though I'm confused why if you wanted to run security, you'd be doing so standing at windows in your house.

Exactly, it boggles my mind that he doesn't already have a sniper den. He must not sniperate much.



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[ochmude]

so anything that would help you identify a human from an animal would be sufficient...i'd imagine either nv or thermal could do that job

Thermal is vastly more effective in doing so in my experience.

 

[Tallen]

I think a FLIR PathFindIR II would suit your purposes nicely. It's meant for a car and has limited object (read: human/animal) recognition which it calls out with yellow boxes. I've had an eye on a car-mounted FLIR myself for particular use in high-precipitation driving conditions. It wouldn't surprise me if they're as ubiquitous in 10 years as backup cameras are now.

 

[pupchow]

Yeah, the most common expected situation is that the street lights are out, there's some noise or commotion outside, I'd like to see what it is without necessarily lighting up the yard with a spotlight.

Having something that could actually be mounted as a riflescope is a plus, but mostly it's just the surveillance I'm interested in. I don't mind if it needs an IR illuminator, although it would be nice to have something that worked well without one.

I've been playing with an ATN X-Sight, which is a digital day/night riflescope. It works very well with the included IR illuminator, and the video can be streamed to a remote device via Wi-Fi, or images & video captured to onboard microSD card. I suppose it could be used as a LARGE handheld device, as there's rail on the unit which the IR illuminator can be attached to. For $440 (I've seen it listed for just under $400), I'm happy with it. But, I still want a thermal device for target detection.

 

[xtry51]

Exactly, it boggles my mind that he doesn't already have a sniper den. He must not sniperate much.



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Doesn't anyone watch mythbusters?

I am seriously working on one of those thermal cloaks we were talking about in another thread. I like to have a fun side project going all the time if nothing more than for my amusement.

 

[Kevin_NH]

I think a FLIR PathFindIR II would suit your purposes nicely. It's meant for a car and has limited object (read: human/animal) recognition which it calls out with yellow boxes. I've had an eye on a car-mounted FLIR myself for particular use in high-precipitation driving conditions. It wouldn't surprise me if they're as ubiquitous in 10 years as backup cameras are now.

I was saying the same thing 15 years ago when the "Night Vision" feature was available in the Cadillac Deville. For a while the cheapest way for a hobbyist to get a thermal imager was to hunt MY2000-2004 caddy's in junk yards.

 

[hminsky]

Following up, I ended up getting this night vision scope, the Sightmark Photon 4x digital scope

It was under $500, and has day/night capability, as well as decent resolution and is very light. I mounted it
with QD rings on a Kel Tec SU16, so the whole thing is very lightweight, and I can remove it to use as a monocular
pretty easily.

It has a pretty decent little illuminator built in, and a little rail to attach a brighter one if needed.

 

[xtry51]

Can you post day and night pics?

 

[hminsky]

The thing has an analog video out but I don't have any way to capture it.

The image is pretty good, I can almost read a license plate on a car at 50 yards. The 4x magnification is a little much for
surveying a large area, but it would be useful when you want to get a close up look at something or someone.

The picture below is a driveway across the street is illuminated by pretty bright moonlight. Here's a snap from my phone, but the image
is quite a bit clearer than indicated, and the reticle and yardage numbers are quite crisp in real life. The parts that are in the shadows are actually very easy to see in the scope.

I don't know how this compares with a Gen 2 microchannel plate, but it's pretty good, and this was without using the
IR illuminator. It's not total darkness across the street, there's enough light that if I waited for 20 minutes and let my eyes adapt, I could probably see forms of people
moving around with peripheral vision, the amplified image is good enough to make out what they are doing pretty well.

 

[allen-1]

I'd be very interested in any further comments you have on this scope, including how it functions in daylight use...

Thanks.

 

[hminsky]

In daylight it's pretty much like a VGA black and white display. There's a hinged lens cover on the front with a small hole, for daylight use you close the lens cover, for night you flip it open. You can adjust the gain with a wheel on the left. There's a choice of white, red or green reticles, with some different patterns.

It could be used in daylight, though certainly not the best option compared to a simple glass scope.

I'd like to try this out in total moonless night darkness, I'll wait until there's no moon out and look in an area with
no streetlights.