Night Vision equipment in SAR

[Hawk200]

No need to dis the product just because it does not fit our needs.

The key is right there. If it doesn't fit our needs, no reason to consider it. In vehicles, that toy would probably be worthless. In an aircraft, it's dead weight. In our mission, they are completely unnecessary.

If we end up doing anything at night, there is a far cheaper item that we need instead: a flashlight. On a night mission, we need all the light, and to be making all the noise (noise discipline is actually undesirable) we can. You can find someone a lot easier when they know we're coming.

[pixelwonk]

To all I do realize that these do not work as well a a pair of Gen 3s costing thousands of dollars but if they help you see at nigh by maybe 25% then they are worth the $50. No need to dis the product just because it does not fit our needs.

Not only no, but hell no.

Wanna experience what they're like without having to buy them?  Do this:
find a really dim flashlight.  As in "about to go completely out in 10 seconds" dim.
position your dim flashlight in the corner of a windowless room such as your bathroom, turn it on and turn out the lights.
With your left hand, cover your left eye.
With your right hand, make an aperture the size of a nickel with your thumb and forefinger.  Kind of like an "ok" sign, only way smaller.  Now put that over your right eye.

Behold this very accurate simulation.
For extra fun, do this in a dark hallway,  with stairs.  Now walk.

As an aside, TinyURL and bit.ly are your friends.

[N Harmon]

A couple of months back I got a cheap night vision monocular as a gift:



I was fairly skeptical about them since I knew likely cost less than $200. But I have tried them out at night and they don't seem all that bad. I can distinguish objects out to about 200 feet.

It seems they would be handy for scanning open areas at night. With a 200 feet radius, that is almost 3 acres of area you could scan.

Or you could light up the area with flashlights. You could scan the area, and then wait a while for your eyes to readjust to the dark. Or else leave the flashlights on all of the time and forget about it.

And your POD would likely be higher with flashlights too.

There seems to be a definite trade off.

[♠SARKID♠]

hehe I found a pair in a tech magazine for $50 !!! they truly do work but not as well as a pair that costs in the thousands. here is the link of of amazon

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00153F5QA/ref=asc_df_B00153F5QA888001?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=googlecom09c9-20&linkCode=asn&creative=380341&creativeASIN=B00153F5QA

Sorry for the long link

Night vision that is not.  What that is is hobo-vision.  Its a black and white camera with the IR filters removed, a green filter overlayed, and a snot load of infrared LED's surrounding the camera.  There is no image intensifier tube in the unit.  So yes, it does help to see in the dark, but its not night vision in the common sense of the term.

Here's the $160 generation 1 device I picked up a little while ago.  It works nicely, and I'll be using some uber-powered IR LEDs to make an IR flashlight for it.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/atnamtnig1st.html

[Eclipse]

Useless from the air, and on the rare occasion we're doing a night search, those lost generally want to be found and you'd be much better off with a really bright flashlight.

Nightvision gear is really only useful when you're trying to stay hidden but still see everything around you
(or for searches where you can't get light on the target).

All this stuff is fine for paintball and laser tag, not much use in SAR.

[Hawk200]

All this stuff is fine for paintball and laser tag, not much use in SAR.

Never played laser tag; as far as paintball goes, I wouldn't use it anyway. It may have been fifteen years since I played, but I've never played night games, and never had any plan to start. Not much point in playing in the dark, it's not particularly safe.

Speedball arenas would probably have almost stadium type lighting (lights covering the whole field), and night vision wouldn't be needed. So, all things considered, those things wouldn't even be useful then.

Agreed on SAR use.

[flyerthom]

As I said on the other thread. NVG's require FAA currency - 3 take offs and landings in 90 days. CAP doesn't do enough night work to justify the expense. FAA also requires two crew members to be under goggles at all times. The purpose of NVG use in ES is to keep aircraft from CFIT incidents. It is not to enhance search.

Quite frankly NVG's in CAP  would help crew pick up campfires. That's about it. The less expensive NVG's on sportsman sites do not do the job of military or Helicopter EMS goggles.

This is what we use at work:

http://www.nightvis.com/night_vision_goggles/Dual_tube_ANAVS9_Type_Goggle.html

At almost $11,000 a set do we  really think CAP can afford something that we won't be able to remain current to use?

[Eclipse]

As I said on the other thread. NVG's require FAA currency - 3 take offs and landings in 90 days.
CAP doesn't do enough night work to justify the expense. FAA also requires two crew members to be under goggles at all times. The purpose of NVG use in ES is to keep aircraft from CFIT incidents. It is not to enhance search.

Perhaps for the flight-deck operators, but the FAA couldn't care less about the MO or MS using them. Since the pilots aren't allowed (by CAP) to use them, there's no FAA applicability or comment either way.

This isn't about CAP funding night vision gear for regular use, but more about them not being prohibited for the GIB in the rare case someone gets their hands on something usable, or the (sadly) less-rare case of a member with more dollars than sense who goes out and buys something.