Nigh-Vision equipment

Larry J. Farrell <
Stay away from the Russian junk. I bought the top of the line, Dedal 40,
with crosshairs and even a camera mount. About $1300 at the time. Pretty
grainy. Auto iris. Did amazingly well around artificial light. But out
in the country in natural light (moonlight or starlight) it was almost
worthless. Looking through the scope the brightness was such that your
eyes adjusted and it would take you a few minutes for you eyes to adjust
back so you could function in the darkness again. They say 50,000 X
light amplification, but so is a light bulb :o/ I think optomistically
at best you could see 30% more. For that amount of money, your better
off buying a quality pair of boniculars, like stiener, which work all
the time, aren't as fragle and don't need batteries.

Instead, TRAIN YOUR NATURAL NIGHT VISION!

To learn how, check out a totally free (spam free) book "Night
Movements" a night combat manual read by practically all Allied agents
in training in WW2: (complete with all diagrams in bandwidth efficent
html)

#

It may be junk but, on the whole, it will be at least one generation higher
than Joe Schmoe has (i.e.. God given standard equipment).
junk.

This seems to be the general opinion. Unless you spend a bunch you'll get junk.

You might want to consider another monocular in the G-3 class rather than
goggles.Reason: so you don't blow both retinas to hell at the same time if you
suddenly need to use your unaided sight.
We use the Night Mariner G-3 on desert opps and astronomy trips and whichever eye
is on the NV is practicaly blind when looking away for the next several minutes.

Russian Gen 1 works ok if there is no urban light in the field. If there is
light in the field, it will dim down and be of questionable use. US 2nd Gen
stuff is based on a tube that costs about $400 (used, but good). Don't expect to
get Gen 2 (anything) for under $800. New ITT Gen 2 is $1150 or so for a
monocular viewer. They are very nice. They see much better, too. Less fisheye
effect, see deeper into shadows, and have no 'slug trail' from bright lights.
Jim

Get the book "Surviving Y2K," by Boston T. Party. Around $20. Amazon.com
carries it, as well as places like #.

He describes Generation 1, 2, and 3 technology, and what to avoid. Also
gives places to buy it from.

I have only one item of night vision gear, an ultra-cheap Russian
Generation 1 monocular. Barely usable. I bought it as a semi-throwaway,
for the GOOD bag. Whether I spring for the $2500 ITT Generation 3 goggles
that Boston recommends is unclear to me at this time.

--Tim May

--
I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it
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