Tag Archives: night vision

Shooting Sports

GTMedia N4 NVG

Night vision goggles (NVGs) used by military combat units cost thousands of dollars. But with “Digital Night Vision” goggles have made night vision affordable for civilians; in the hundreds of dollars (and sometimes under a hundred). GTMedia sent me their newest N4 model test and it is a good example of this type of NVG.

All digital cameras are sensitive to inferred (IR) wavelengths of light outside our eye’s visual spectrum. Digital NVGs are essentially portable digital video cameras and displays. These Digital NVGs are essentially Gen 1 night vision, only able to see images with the help of active IR illumination (an inferred flashlight).

The N4 is a compact and lightweight Digital NVG unit that has the form factor of a binocular but is in reality a single lens digital camera with individual eyepieces that look at the same display. The second objective lens is actually the IR flashlight which illuminates your subjects in beam that can extend out to over 100yrds. The N4 has a built in rechargeable battery and can take both video and 10MP photos while it is being used as an NVG.

The unit is made of lightweight plastic that has a 1/4″ photo socket so it can be used on a tripod or attached with a GoPro compatible bracket to a head strap and worn over your eyes, handsfree. The unit has a focus controls for the eyepieces to see the internal low-res LCD display and for the digital camera. My unit had a slight defect in the camera focus which limited the distance of sharp focus to 20ft-60ft. GTMedia sent me a replacement unit after I sent them videos of the problem which was mechanical in nature.

In testing I was able to see a man sized figure at a distance of 100yrds but because of the IR illumination, the image was mono-chromatic. The unit is able to see in full color but it’s camera is night very high fidelity and the video footage I was able to get was lackluster; about the same as low-quality security camera footage. The footage I did manage to get felt more like an analog horror game.

The 1x through the unit is more like 5x and is disorienting and makes to walking while wearing it in the dark, awkward and potentially dangerous on rough terrain. The light weight shell makes it easier to wear and travel with but feels fare too fragile to drop. It could do with some silicone armor and a stronger GoPro bracket connection or an adapter for NVG J-arm.

The unit did work and could allow me to identify animals or intruders at night but it is not a combat optic. Because Gen 1 NVGs require in IR light source, these can be easily seen at a great distance by Gen 2 or Gen 3 NVGs and identified. In a SHTF situation, the N4 is outclassed but it is better than not having night vision. There is an old saying, “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king.”

BUY IT

Amazon affiliate link: https://amzn.to/3WRpv97

GTMedia direct: https://gtmedia.global/products/gtmedia-n4-night-vision-binoculars?DIST=QEM%3D

SPECS

Photo resolution10MP(3648*2736)/8MP(3456*2448)/5MP(2592*1956)/3MP(2048*1536)/VGA(640*480)
Video resolutionFHD (1920X1080@30FPS),HD (1280×720@30FPS)
LensF1.2 large aperture, f=25mm
Lens angleFOV=10 degrees
Display screenInner screen 1.54inch (320 x 320) high-definition TFT
Auto-off1 minute/2 minutes/3 minutes/5 minutes/10 minutes/off
Infrared LED3W,850nm strong infrared focusing,7-gear intensity adjustable
Max distance in complete darknessAbout 250-300 meters
Daytime focus distance3 meters to infinity
Digital zoom5X times
Power supplyBuilt-in 3.7V 2000mAh lithium battery
Dimension: 150 x 125.5 x 64mm
Weight: 390g

Shooting Sports

Win a GTMedia N4 NVG

Enter to win a brand new N4 night vision goggles from GTMedia. Entries must be received no later than 12pm EST on September 30, 2024. Entrant must be legally able to receive this NVG device and reside in the USA, Canada, the UK, or the EU.

Screenshot

CONTEST INSTRUCTIONS

1. Subscribe to my YouTube channel: Moondog Go or Follow me on X.com

2. Take a screen shot showing you’ve SUBSCRIBED/FOLLOWED.

BONUS ENTRY: Make a donation (any amount) to Marcella’s high school Concert Choir Fundraiser: https://www.paypal.com/pools/c/97H5u9j8vh and upload a screen shot of your donation confirmation email.

3. Prove you have the skills to fill out a form and upload that screen shot. One entry per platform/donation. Up to 3 chances to win.

SUBMIT ENTRY

https://forms.gle/WeFDdTsmNRaLgcVB8

RULES

NO PURCHASE OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER. YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING DO NOT INCREASE WITH A PURCHASE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.

1. Eligibility

Void where prohibited by law. Must be legal resident in the USA and Canada. Moondog Industries employees, subsidiaries, affiliates, suppliers, advertising and promotion agencies, employees’ immediate family members, are ineligible to participate in the contest/giveaway.

Entrants must be willing and able to appear on YouTube to discuss the contest and post images of the prize on their social feed should they win the contest.

2. Sponsors and Platforms

GTMedia is an electronics manufacturer in China and Moondog Industries (collectively known as the SPONSOR) is a video Edutainment producer based in San Francisco, CA. YouTube, TikTok, Rumble, and online video platforms (known as PLATFORMS) are not SPONSORS or in any way affiliated with the contest or content.

3. Agreement to Rules

By entering your contest, participants agree to abide by the SPONSOR’s Official Rules and decisions. The SPONSOR retains the right to refuse, withdraw, or disqualify entries at their sole discretion. By submitting an entry, the participant agrees to accept the decision of the SPONSOR as final and binding.

4. Entry Period

Contest email entries must be received between:
12:00pm EST Aug 24, 2024
and
12:00pm EST Sept 30, 2024

5. How to Enter

This contest requires your skill in navigating your phone or computer controls to screen capture an image of the following YouTube channels/Social Media accounts. Subscribe or Follow and make a screen capture of those pages showing a greyed out Subscribe button or indicator that your account is Following that page. One entry per person or per Social Media account. Fraudulent methods of entry, photo retouched, or other methods of circumvention of the rules may result in the SPONSOR invalidating a participant’s entries.

6. Prizes

Winner must be able to receive the prize by e-mail or by physical mail. Prize may be substituted at the sole discretion of the SPONSOR. Acceptance of the prize grants SPONSOR permission to use the Winners entry, name, and likeness for advertising, promotion, and trade without further compensation or remuneration unless prohibited by law.

7. Odds

The odds of winning is dependent upon the number of eligible entries received.

8. Selection and Notification of the Winner

The winner will be chosen at random by the SPONSOR from among the entrants that demonstrated the skill to navigate the electronic entry and have met the minimum requirements. Winners will be contacted via the email used to enter the contest no later than December 31, 2024.

SPONSOR is not liable for the winner’s failure to receive notification of winning if he or she provided the wrong email address or if their email security settings caused your prize notification to go into the spam or junk folder. If a winner does not respond within 24hrs of sending a notification, the SPONSOR will select an alternate winner. Receipt of the prize is upon the condition of compliance with federal, state, and local laws.

9. Rights Granted by the Entrant

The SPONSOR, upon submission of an entry into the giveaway or contest, has the right to use the participant’s submission, voice, likeness, image, statements about the contest, etc., for publicity, news, advertising, promotional purposes, trade, and so forth, without any further notice, review, consent, compensation or remuneration.

Participants shall defend or settle against such claims at their sole expense, and shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the SPONSOR from any suit due to damage of or by the prize.

10. Terms & Conditions

The SPONSOR reserves the right to modify, suspend, cancel or terminate in the event that non-authorized human intervention, a bug or virus, fraud, or other causes beyond your control impact or corrupt the security, fairness, proper conduct, or administration of the contest/giveaway.

11. Limitation of Liability

Entry into this contest constitutes the participant’s agreement to release and hold harmless the SPONSOR and PLATFORMS, subsidiaries, affiliates, employees, etc., against all claims liability, illness, injury, death, loss, etc., that occurs directly or indirectly from participation in the contest or use/misuse of the awarded prize.

12. Disputes

As a condition of participating in the promotion, the participant agrees to resolve all disputes with an arbitrator designated by the SPONSOR in the state of California, without resorting to any form of class action. Entrants waive all rights to punitive, incidental, or consequential damages, and waive all rights to have damages multiplied or increased.

13. Privacy Policy

Participants agree to abide by all privacy and NDA laws in the State of California and any federal laws of the United State of America.

14. Winners List

Participants may request a list of winners by submitting a request in writing to Moondog Industries for up to 30 days after the contest ends.

15. Social Media Platform Rules

Winners will agree to post a photo of the prize on their social media channels in such a way as does not violate any rules of that platform. The winners also agree to appear for an interview where they will discuss the prize and its performance. If there are functional problems with the prize, the winner agrees to make a good-faith effort to resolve all issues with the SPONSOR prior to posting reviews or opinions about the prize.

16. Affirmation of Acceptance of and Agreement to All of the Official Rules

By entering the contest, the entrant has affirmatively reviewed, accepted, and agreed to all of them. 

Shooting Sports

New iAiming iA-612 Thermal Scope

I have very little experience with thermal optics because they’re so damn expensive. But what I do know is that cheap thermal scopes are pretty much a waste of time. I stopped by the iAiming booth because it was literally across the isle after my visit to Athlon and it was well worth my effort.

iAiming is an Australian based company with US sales offices in Texas. The showed me their newest scope, the iA612 which MSRP’s for $5799 with a street price closer to $5500. One of the nice things about SHOT Show is getting hands on with products I in no way can hope to afford.

The ia-612 has a digital zoom from 2.4x-19.2x and a digital viewfinder with 1024×768 resolution. It offers the user the ability to range find and to choose one of 6 different reticle types. It has built-in WiFi which allows you to broadcast the scope’s view a phone App so your friends can see real time scope views and potentially spot for you.

The newest feature that iAming was showcasing with the ia-612 is an automatic 1-shot zero feature. When you set it up on the onboard menu, the self-zero feature detects the heat signature that a bullet leaves on a paper target. The scope will automatically re-zero the reticle to that hole and Bobs your uncle, you’re zero’d out. That’s something I’d like to test out myself.

Short Elon Musk randomly gifting 1000 shares of Tesla to Twitter users with “moon” and “dog”in their handle, it’s not likely I’ll get a chance to test one myself. There is hope that iAiming might send me an evaluation model but we’ll see.

This scope is available on Optic Planet using my Affiliate Link: https://shrsl.com/3yk3j

Gadgets, Shooting Sports

Oneleaf NV100 Night Vision

Night vision (light enhancing) scopes have been used by hunters and soldiers since the Vietnam War but even today these devices can cost thousands of dollars. With progress of technology, these devices have shrunk in both size and price. The Commander NV100 is a digital video camera that is designed to mount directly onto a typical rifle scope and turn it into a night vision scope. Oneleaf technologies sent me an NV100 to test out.

Almost all digital video cameras can see in IR light but most have a built-in optical filter that block out most IR light which can distort and fog an image in normal light. Using the NV100, you are looking at its built in digital display viewfinder much like you would with an old-school video camera. In fact, when using the NV100 in normal light, the image looks slightly blown out with a glow on objects, a side-effect of IR light.

The NV100 can record 1080p videos and photos onto a micro-SD card. It runs of a rechargeable CR18650 battery which can be recharged using a micro-USB cable. The unit can also record sound and output though a 3.5mm headphone jack, though the audio sounds compressed and low fidelity.

In practice the NV100 is equivalent to a Gen 1.5 night vision monocular. To a small degree it can passively enhance low-light images but in reality, it does require IR illumination to function as intended. The unit has a built-in IR illuminator and visible red laser to light up and aim at targets.

The NV100 can be used as a hand-held Night Vision monocular. It has a standard 1/4(20) camera screw mount at its base to allow the unit to be mounted on photo tripods. OneLeaf does not offer any type mounting system or adapter to attach it to a helmet or headband.

Where the NV100 shines is its ease of mounting to a rifle scope. The packing includes a 42mm, 45mm, and a 48mm adapter collar to allow you to mount it to your scope (some spotting eye-pieces may be too large even for the 48mm adapter). The NV100 attaches to the collar via bayonet style locking ring; the package also includes a roll of electrical tape to assist in shimming your eye-piece to provide a more secure fit for the adapter collar.

When mounted to a rifle scope, the image you see in the NV100 appears like a low-resolution videocam viewfiender. The unit’s menu system is accessed through the viewfinder and the buttons on the unit function like a D-pad for navigation through the menu system. Adjustments in focus are made through the NV100 large physical focus knob.

I could get a decent focus of an object 100yrds away but I could not get both my target and the reticle in the same plane of focus, despite adjusting the scope’s paralax focus, ocular focus, and the NV100’s focus. I could get both somewhat in focus at my scopes lowest magnification (4x) but found it impossible at magnifications greater than 6x.

I was easily able to see objects 100yrds in low light and even faintly in pitch-black in its full-color video mode. Switching to B&W mode activates the unit’s built-in IR illuminator, an IR LED flashlight with a lens that allows you to adjust the beam from flood to focused. Oneleaf claims it can illuminate objects up to 300m away.

In B&W IR mode, the issues with depth-of-focus were even more pronounced. The reticle was blurred to the point of invisibility when my scope was at 20x magnification. Given that IR illuminators are far shorter range than visible light flashlights, long range engagements using a scope and the NV100 may be a moot point though some users have posted varmint hunts at ranges out to 200yrds or more.

The NV100 does have two shortcomings, the first one is a potentially a deal-breaker for some hunters. In my testing the NV100 has a short 1.5″-2″ eye-relief from the back of its eyepiece (OneLeaf claims up to 2.75″). This is fine for shooting 22LR or even 5.56mm AR’s. But on a large caliber rifle this short eye-relief could easily cause scope bite. OneLeaf does include some larger eye-cups which could provide more padding but a real solution would be to design a viewfinder eyepiece with a minimum of 3″ of eye-relief.

The second issue is minor but annoying. The image the NV100 displays is distorted, with the vertical proportions appearing shorter than the horizontal giving you a squashed image of your target. This is also evident in the movies and photos you take with the NV100.

Overall the Commander NV100 works as advertised without breaking the bank (though the latter is relative the cost of higher-end NV systems costing hundreds more). On my wish-list of improvements would be a firmware update to allow adjustment of X/Y proportions of the image, a lanyard loop to attach a wrist or neck lanyard for handheld use, and an adapter arm to attach it to a GoPro or PVS-14 mount.

The OneLeaf Commander NV100 is available through this Amazon Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/4kMPrO6