Night Vision Goggles: An Overview
With such a wide variety of available night vision goggle configurations let's simplify things by first talking about the features that are shared by all night vision goggle systems.
While it's obvious that all night vision goggles are "wearable" to permit hands-free use, you'll also see that none are equipped with magnified lenses. No matter how sophisticated the unit you're looking at you will always see that a 1-power lens (1X) is specified. Why?
This is because when we're wearing goggles we need them to provide an image that's mimics exactly the way we see the world with our naked eyes. Walking around with a set of magnified goggles is a recipe for disaster - try running around your home (slowly) while looking through a pair of daytime binoculars and you'll see what we mean!
Other common features include automatic overlight protection to turn your goggles off if they're accidentally exposed to bright light. This prevents the image tubes from being damaged.
Something else that's shared by all goggle systems is the presence of an integrated infrared illuminator. These provide short-range covert lighting that will help you read a map or do room-to-room search. Remember though that these little lights are for short-range only - if you need longer range illumination a visit to our Night Vision Lighting section is highly recommended.
OK, so those are the common features. To determine which goggle system is perfect for your application, consider the following -
Water and Weight Considerations
Though all night vision goggle systems are water-resistant (they'll hold up to a light misting of rain) some are completely waterproof to the the extent that you can operate them while submerged. Also keep in mind the weight of the system - the longer you'll be wearing your goggles the more you'll appreciate a lightweight system.
Mono-Goggle or Dual-Eye?
Another consideration is to decide between a mono-goggle or a full fledged dual-eye system. In addition to being less expensive and lighter in weight, mono-goggles preserve the "natural" night vision of the eye that's not covered by the mono-goggle. On the other hand, the dual-eye systems tend to be easier to use and provide some degree of depth perception (which is another useful feature if you're adverse to the whole stepping-of-a-cliff thing).
Flexible Use
Finally, notice that as you click around our website you will find that many of our night vision goggle systems also appear in other categories as scopes and/or binoculars.
This highlights the fact that some models can be quickly transformed into a good pair of night vision binoculars or compact hand scopes. Others can be adapted to cameras for night vision photography while some can even be converted into rifle scopes. If you're shopping for a system that will give you "room to grow", these multi-functional systems would be an excellent choice.
Have a question about Night Vision Goggles?
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