Night Vision on the cheap

[fingerpuk]

Hi.

I have my first night game coming up, and I just realised I’ll be able to see nothing. As I’ll only play maybe two night games a year (for now) I don’t want to spend vast sums.

Are the cheap monoculars usable? Nightfox Prowl 2 etc? My first game is on the 10th so I’m tight on time.

 

[hitmanNo2]

Stay away from digital. It's simply not worth it. You're looking at at least £1k for a gen2 mono. But there are deals about for less. If you're patient and can wait around for good deals on parts and happy to do a little DIY, you could get gen2 for as low as £750. It won't be pretty or amazing, but it's better than no night vision.

And plenty of people do night games with no nods. Just make sure you have a decent weapon light.

 

[fingerpuk]

Ok, that’s way more than I’m willing to pay for the use they’ll get. I’ll have a weapon light and spare torch. That’ll have to do.

Are the cheap digital that bad? All I expect to see is blobs moving. I don’t need Hollywood fiction levels of clarity.

 

[Mad dog 49]

I have a digital one, same reason as you, it gets used maybe twice a year. It's not on par with actual analogue nods, and anyone using analogue nods will see you lit up like a Christmas tree, but for Airsoft they are workable. The picture is decent enough for airsoft and let's be real here, nobody is sighting in a target in airsoft at 300m so horses for courses. Some of the digital ones do have a bit of lag which can cause issues, but the ones I got were cheap enough and don't have a lag. Nitesights or something like that I think are the ones I have.

 

[Mad dog 49]

Nitesights elite. Currently about £200 with a picatinny mount, helmet and mount included. The helmet is so bad, yeet it in a bin, but the sight is okay for airsoft.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Worth noting an alternate strategy- if you dont have nv get some cheap torches you can wedge into tree branches at chokepoints. I'd argue this is more effective than gen 1.

Then you can go hide somewhere nearby and enjoy the tracers rolling in and screams of "take your hits" as people shoot at them.

One night game years ago someone brought a big work floodlight and set it up on a bridge that was the only way through a part of a fallback game. The game rather predictably ground to a halt when they pushed us back past it.

 

[Captain Darling]

As mentioned, good torches are cheap these days and very useful.

I struggle to find sites that run night games. Where are you playing?

 

[Cannonfodder]

I picked up a cheap set of NVGs a couple of years ago just for messing around with a I'd rather go without than use them in a game.
The lag, whilst it's not really noticeable when still I found walking in them would end up giving me motion sickness when moving at anything faster than a snails pace.
Then there's the IR lamps. To see anything I need to turn them on which will light you up like Blackpool sea front to anyone else with NODs, they might even be visible to non nods wearers if they're at the right angle. Those lamps will also give people a spot to aim at so unless they're protected then you could easily end up with a very expensive paper weight.

Night vision is one of those things where you get what you pay for

 

[Skara]

Your mk1 eyeball is better at night vision than a digital camera with its IR filter removed and it's free..

Depending on where you play and the weather you can almost always see what you need in the dark (footpaths, trees, vegetation in general).

Learn to play with your ears rather than your eyes and for the love of god do not use a torch! All it does is:
Instantly blind you and fuck up your natural night vision
Telegraph your position all the way up to the next postcode
Lighting a torch against a bush will cast a very deep, almost impenetrable shadow area behind the very first layer of foliage, so even if there's a guy right behind it you won't be able to see him.

 

[fingerpuk]

As mentioned, good torches are cheap these days and very useful.

I struggle to find sites that run night games. Where are you playing?

Click to shrink...

Apocalypse in Kent.

What I’m thinking is - it’s a large site, it’ll be pitch black, I don’t want to fall into a trench (again). I had a thermal but I sold it as I never used it, I don’t want to have a similar experience with expensive nods. I just want to be able to see without a torch. Not see very well, just see.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Another point to raise about night games is to think long and hard about how often you're using shot trajectory to adjust aim, and how often you'd miss if you couldnt see your rounds.

The bestest gen3+ nods with military grade ir laser aint gonna be useful when the gun they're bolted to decides its rounds wanna go someplace else

 

[mightyjebus]

use a torch with a red filter to navigate at night. The human eye has trouble detecting it at distance at night so as long as you aren't waving it about like a lightsaber you should be safe.

 

[mightyjebus]

also any take a guess at what gen this is?

 

[untrust]

Hi.

I have my first night game coming up, and I just realised I’ll be able to see nothing. As I’ll only play maybe two night games a year (for now) I don’t want to spend vast sums.

Are the cheap monoculars usable? Nightfox Prowl 2 etc? My first game is on the 10th so I’m tight on time.

Click to shrink...

They are "usable" but will be miserable. Any other NV user (digital or otherwise) will see you coming the same as if you were using a torch.

You can certainly get some "real" NV for cheap however. Over the past few years the price on most of it has come down a lot. Feel free to check my profile for some examples
Failing that there are plenty of affordable thermal scopes now that will probably do the job, although they won't be any use for navigation.

Plenty of uses for NV besides airsoft, so don't feel too bad about not using it for loads of games.

 

[untrust]

also any take a guess at what gen this is?
View attachment 48757

Click to shrink...

No way of knowing from just that photo. Without knowing the ambient conditions the pic was taken in, etc it could be anything. The high compression and low resolution of the image also make comparing it to anything else very hard.

In person you have a better chance of telling if you know what to look for - In the same conditions with all other specs equal a gen2 tube will have a slightly "muddied" image in comparison to a gen3 one, with darker shadows and better contrast a giveaway.

Better to ask for a photo of the back of the tube so you can read off any model numbers. Failing that you can look at the input side of the tube, a gen3 one will have a distinctive blueish tint, while most gen2 has a somewhat silver finish, though some nice, modern ones have more of a "rainbow" effect.

 

[GeorgePlaysAirsoft]

also any take a guess at what gen this is?
View attachment 48757

Click to shrink...

digital dl31?

 

[mightyjebus]

No way of knowing from just that photo. Without knowing the ambient conditions the pic was taken in, etc it could be anything. The high compression and low resolution of the image also make comparing it to anything else very hard.

In person you have a better chance of telling if you know what to look for - In the same conditions with all other specs equal a gen2 tube will have a slightly "muddied" image in comparison to a gen3 one, with darker shadows and better contrast a giveaway.

Better to ask for a photo of the back of the tube so you can read off any model numbers. Failing that you can look at the input side of the tube, a gen3 one will have a distinctive blueish tint, while most gen2 has a somewhat silver finish, though some nice, modern ones have more of a "rainbow" effect.

Click to shrink...

It was a trick question This is digital NVG's without IR taken about an hour ago. These sell for around £600 for dual nods in a PVS-31 shell. You can pick them up for around £400 second hand. I've got a mil spec PVS-14 autogain set as well but that's overkill for airsoft whereas the digi stuff is getting better as the sensors get better. You only need to look at the night mode of the latest phones to see in the last couple of years the massive jump in technology.
Most night games I've played there is loads or torches and IR everywhere so running a set of digi's isn't that much of a disadvantage. Most fun I've had at a night game was no nods, walking softly and carrying a TM Mk23.

 

[Mad dog 49]

use a torch with a red filter to navigate at night. The human eye has trouble detecting it at distance at night so as long as you aren't waving it about like a lightsaber you should be safe.

Click to shrink...

You can see red light just as easy as you see white light. The reason for red light is it doesn't mess up your own night vision like a white light would.

 

[mightyjebus]

2nd part is true, first part isn't. Red light is a longer wavelength and doesn't travel as far as white light.