A really nice thermal binoculars that can tell the difference between a moose and a man at 800yds in a snowstorm.
Fire departments and people who insulate homes use thermal monoculars to see where the hot spots are in a house fire, or, tell where heat is leaking out. They typically start around $9800 for the cheap ones and $20,000 for a decent one that can take some abuse.
Thermal binoculars are much much cheaper. They are rated at Generation 1, 2, 3, 4 , and 5. Generation 1 is similar to 1970’s Vietnam vintage technology and run between $200-$300 – and most models are cheapo Russian or China stuff that sucks out loud. These things require an Infra Red flood lamp to work decent.
That said. You say it is just something to have. Try this – go borrow a digital single lens reflex camera (DSLR) – a digital camera where you can adjust the ISO speed and how long the camera iris stays open. When you set such a camera to ISO 400 or faster, with the iris speed set at 2 seconds or more – when pointed at a big, dark area – the image comes out like nightvision. Except it is in color rather than green. (( I do allot of low light photography (aurora) and I design CCTV security systems. )) This works – and when you crank the DSLR up to ISO 1800 or 3200 you can drop the speed down to 1 or .5 seconds and you can easily make out a fox that is 400 yards away in near total darkness.
This camera trick – and even expensive thermal binoculars scopes – all requrie some sort of light to work. Starlight is ok – moonlight is awesome. A dark rainy night you won’t get squat unless you have an IR Illuminator.
This article comes from yahoo website edit released