Night Vision scope Lidl

[anthonyyy]

Lidl in Ireland have a Night Vision scope for euro 160.
http://www.lidl.ie/IE/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20061221.p.NightVisionTelescope

I'd be wary of buying optical stuff from Lidl; I've seen some of their binoculars and they werent any good but you never know!

 

[Spikey DaPikey]

there has been a few threads on here(and elseware) that has commented on this, and it does seem a good bit of kit

 

[Silverback]

I have looked extensively into night vision equipment (no pun intended) and unless you are prepared to go for high end gen II stuff with infra red illumination forget it. Budget should be set at £1000 plus to land anything half decent and it has a limited lifespan due to the degeneration of the photocathode (spell) tube over time.

 

[Mikey P]

there has been a few threads on here(and elseware) that has commented on this, and it does seem a good bit of kit

Quite expensive, though - similar second-hand Gen 1 stuff on ebay for ~40 quid. Considering that the tubes do have a limited lifespan, if you just want to play about with night-vision in a non-serious manner, I wouldn't pay more than 50 quid for a second-hand one. Don't bother with anything that has lots of magnification - this just means that they don't collect as much light and the performance is not as good. In-built IR illuminators are useful too and come as standard on most systems these days.

If you are aware of the limitations, they are immensely good fun! Not really a 'bushcrafty' thing though. Just eat more carrots.

Gen II are substantially better - much higher amplification - but very expensive, as pointed out. Best thing to do is join the military and they let you play with the cool stuff.

 

[wingstoo]

Of course Gen 111 is even better than Gen11, but that is even more expensive!

The good thing about the Lidl ones is that they run on ordinary AA batteries, even re-chargable ones which compared to many of the other ones is an advantage, they can also be used in daylight conditions.

These ones are a lot better than the original Gen 1 scopes that were developed by the military and probably less damaging to the health.

They have a very effective IR light as well that works to about 60 metres and under starlight and low conditions without the IR they are good to about 200mtrs, will need to get out of town to give it a better try though.

For the price a very useful item, more for a bit of Badger watching though than "serious" stuff.

LS

 

[loz.]

Anyone else having issues with the link ?


however

from Thur 14th Dec @ ALdi Ireland !

* Compact Binoculars: 12 × magnification, 32mm objective lens, diopter setting, metal body, foldable rubber eyecups
* Multi-Tool: Steel design with 9 functions, pliers, large and small slotted screwdrivers, pricker, knife, fish scaling tool with ruler, tin opener, small Phillips head screwdriver, file
* Compass: Oil bedded compass in aluminium casing with distance scale
* Mini Torch: Halogen illumination, light diffuser facility, aluminium casing. Supplied with 2 × AAA batteries
* Carry bag: Nylon material with mobile phone pocket

 

[moocher]

about 8 yrs ago i bought a nightvision scope it was some cheap russian/chinese make and when i went out at night it wasnt any better than when my eyes had become accustomed to the dark it just tinged everything green.i can only assume that its like the old saying you get what you pay for.?it was soon sold on.

 

[Hunter_zero]

about 8 yrs ago i bought a nightvision scope it was some cheap russian/chinese make and when i went out at night it wasnt any better than when my eyes had become accustomed to the dark it just tinged everything green.i can only assume that its like the old saying you get what you pay for.?it was soon sold on.

I've used image intensifiers for many years. The stuff thats around second hand is getting better. Most Gen1 tubes will be ex-military, as such they will have failed testing and sold on for civilian use. Gen 2 & Gen 3 kit is much better but cost 4 x as much. Any Gen 1 kit can be enhanced with infra-red light. Don't go and buy these off ebay. Perspex suppliers can order 6' x 6' sheets of infra-red perspex (same stuff used on remote controls) for about £100 a sheet. Out of this you can make 1000's of infra-red illuminates. I purchased a sheet about ten years ago and still have IR lenses here now!

Best to buy binoculars and not monocular as you get twice as much light ! (I kid you not) the very best Gen 1 binoculars are "red star" and equal low end gen2 stuff.

Price wise, Gen 1 monocular can be snapped up for £30 on ebay if you keep an eye out. The tubes will be the same in most scopes.

John