Cheap Thermal/Night Vision is NOT "Just a Toy"

[@UrbanSurvivor]

This was a great video! So cool that you stumbled across a hunter that was some really cool footage!

[@DontDoDaylight]

You’re the man! Thanks for watching/commenting! I hope all is well, sir!

[@shayne7300]

I have the NVG10, a Pard "Clip On" mounted on a spotting scope and a HikMicro LE10 pro handheld thermal, I have found them very useful for various things in my semi rural area upto and including checking the property for a missing person last night..local law enforcement was very surprised that someone had a capability they only have on helicopters/drones..

[@DontDoDaylight]

You’re a great person to have in the community! Thank you for being not only the person with the technology but also the knowledge and willingness to use it! That’s a completely worthwhile application, to the point that I wish I had mentioned it in this video! Searching for a missing person is no joke. Thanks for sharing, as well!

[@travislupum]

How does the pard do on the spotter ? I've been looking for magnifiers for my 7 and 14 but I really want a digital set up that I don't have to worry so much about

[@shayne7300]

get the eye relief and mounting right and it goes ok, works in both day and night modes for recording video and sound, video quality is better than "potato" but depends on your spotting scope..

[@Bhodi_Ballistics]

Where can I get those? Both optics I would appreciate you a lot, I just want a nice affordable nvg/ti I can protect myself and loved ones with.

[@Bhodi_Ballistics]

Can get confusing with all the different optics for sake from various places

[@Slorida05]

So I've got an nvg 10 unit and I stumbled across a really useful hack.. poking a hole in the lens cover creates an auto focus feature not standard on the factory unit.. you loose some image quality but for an automatic focus, it's well worth it.. cool video man..

[@DontDoDaylight]

Oh, man! That’s fascinating and thanks for sharing. Funnily enough, that’s actually fairly common to do with higher-end night vision! I never thought to do such a thing with the NVG-10 but you just put that idea in my mind! Fascinating. I believe that I talk a little about this in my “best $70 night vision accessory” video. The $70 accessory in question essentially being what you’re describing (a device that lets you view through a small hole). Thanks again and I hope all is well! I’ll definitely give this a try!

[@SWZ32TT]

Also works with the more expensive NODs. Use a 5.56 casing to punch a hole in a scope lens cap that fits on your objective lens. It will limit your light intake, but will give you infinite focus.

[@christophergreen2892]

About that purple/red light: There are two main frequencies for IR lights, 940 and 850 (I forget the measurement, I think nanometers). The 850 is the closer wavelength to what devices are optimized for so it looks much brighter in night vision devices but the emitter has a purple hue like you showed because it is a close-ish frequency to visible light. 940 Is a more faint light both in the visible light at the emitter and casts so little light in NODS I can barely tell it is on for nearly half of the moon cycle (with a gen3 PVS-14, I haven't tested it with my digital). The best use for 940 is sneaking in heavy cover where you need supplemental light but don't want a bright IR with visible purple to help others see you.

[@DontDoDaylight]

Awesome comment/contribution! Thank you! What you just said is especially important to me while I consider purchasing an IR driving light setup. I’m looking at either the “940nm Stealth” or “850nm Hunter” light bar from Goblin Tactical. They describe the 940nm Stealth as being “designed for when a zero visible signature is paramount”, yet “this light bar is most effective outdoors when the moon phase is less than 15%. Once the moon is more than 15% full, the output will be overcome by ambient light”. Conversely, they describe the 850nm by saying that it “will produce a faint red glow to the naked eye… the trade-off for the visible faint glow is superb light output that will dominate most environments”. I’m under the impression that the 940nm Stealth would be the better decision for me, as the supplemental lighting would be most valuable while the moon is at its lower percentages of illumination and I can reasonably drive under ambient/moon light when the percentage of illumination is higher. Not going to lie… there’s an argument for both! Once again, thanks a lot!

[@christophergreen2892]

@@DontDoDaylight I just checked my lights again and I got the frequencies flipped. I'm gonna fix the comment to keep from confusing the future.

[@DontDoDaylight]

@@christophergreen2892 Whoops! I’m going to edit my response to you as well, haha! I meant to say that I’m learning towards buying the 940nm Stealth version!

[@christophergreen2892]

@@DontDoDaylight Two years ago I bought the cheapest flashlights in both freqs that I could find to experiment with, together they cost

[@alanv5704]

@@DontDoDaylightjust came across your video and haven’t explored your other videos yet. Will do after I comment here. Looking to buy a thermal scope preferably a clip on. Overwhelmed by all the choices on optics’s planet. Can spend roughly $4000 Looking between atn, pulsar, agm and armasight. Would go for a monocular or binoculars if specs really are that great. Is there a go to device you would recommend?

[@starsandnightvision]

The NVG10 is great for stargazing and capturing flying objects. I love it.

[@DontDoDaylight]

I have your videos saved to my “watch later” playlist! Love to see it & I absolutely agree! Thanks for the comment, as well as making the content that you do!

[@bushwhackedonvhs]

Yes, I say this so much as a partisan you will almost never be able to engage in night fighting on equal footing with a modern military. The strength of partisan and guerilla forces is knowledge of local terrain and being able to pick the when and where of an encounter. Something like an NVG10 may not be good for fighting but it might allow you to maneuver under cover of darkness to set up a position from which you can set up ambushes and stuff which would be far harder to avoid detection doing with white light

[@DontDoDaylight]

It’s funny that you mention “knowledge of terrain” because I’d argue that using my night vision has afforded me the ability to spend a whole lot of time exploring my local area. I now know all sorts of shortcuts, important locations etc due to walking around at night. You’re spot-on! Thanks for the comment and have a good one.

[@melvinhowell5469]

Great video, and I agree 100%. Bought the NVG-10 a couple of months ago from Good Nite Gear, and am very happy with it. Kyle at Good Nite Gear helped to confirm that the NVG-10 does indeed have an IP66 rating, which makes it extremely useful, even in inclement weather. Being an old, slow speed non-military guy myself, I envision using the NVG-10 pretty much as you described, with a few nuances in contested environments, where adversaries may or may not, depending on their status (military, gangs, small groups of thugs or individuals) have night vision capabilities: LP/OP either along a perimeter or in depth; at a roadblock/checkpoint where one is stationary, already exposed to some extent anyway, and still needs the ability to see possible encroachment in partial or total darkness; Interior checkpoints in blackout conditions where you might be hiding from hostiles moving through your territory, building or block; surveillance of potential hostiles in their territory from concealment. Some of these might include the use of independent IR illuminators, where you would not have to use the unit's IR to see opponents...and, don't forget that in some situations (total blackout) my understanding is that even the best NOD's may need to use their own illuminators (I may be wrong about that) which means that you might see them coming before they even know you are there...Thanks for the great video!

[@luciankristov6436]

I have the NVG10 and i love the thing. Works pretty good

[@DontDoDaylight]

I can see why! I forgot to mention in this video how great the NVG10 is to hand to a friend/family member so that they can use night vision with you, if you have a different primary night vision setup. Just another great use for it! People were telling me about the NVG10 long before I ever got it and when I finally did, I knew from the first use why it’s so liked. Thanks for the comment!

[@aaronnataren4861]

Ok. So im gonna receive mine in 4 days. Ill be back to let you know how they do with either CQB, and outdoor shooting. I also purchased the special mount for a tactical helmet, im not gonna use the flimsy one that it comes with. Ill use the Techbender 3D printed mount, and see how it goes. I hate how everyone just films outdoor, but they never test it being used for shooting. A friend of mine showed me that it doesn't glitch as much as these guys show in their videos, and TBH folks, its a cheap option to try it and see for yourselves.

[@mikey13b]

How did you go?

[@aaronnataren4861]

@mikey13b it was decent. The narrow rectangular view is what brought it down for me. But other than that, it puts up a fight. Budget friendly. In my humble opinion, it's about 6 steps behind the PVS 14. 1. The view takes a while to get it lined up with my eye if helmet mounted. 2. The focus needs to be automatic. I had to adjust it for a near and far view manually. 3. Battery life is decent, but I recommend having an auxiliary battery if you want the high light setting and in green, which tires your eye, but is the best setting if you really want to see someone giving you the middle finger in the dark. 4. I found that green setting is better than the black and white setting. It was decent but not quite there as the PVS-14. 5. Compass is not 100% accurate. Not needed, in my opinion, unless you are in the woods and need orientation. Again, it is not 100% accurate. 6. The mount is not heavy duty ment. Had to purchase the 3D printed mount, which worked great. Best adapter for this specific item, in my opinion, since the actual mount sucks donkey balls. Honestly, it's good to have if you really, really, really don't have the money to get a PVS-14, it puts up a fight which it will ultimately loose if compared to the PVS-14 in the end. But, my recommendation is to save your money to get the PVS-14, which, in my opinion, is the real first step into the night vision world. $3000 or $2500 as your closest option. In the end, I think its good practice to use it, in order to make it harder for you, and when you get your first PVS-14, you feel a lot more comfortable, and feel like you can do so much more. Kinda like a weight vest when running.

[@aaronnataren4861]

@mikey13b oh and by the way, it is true for this one. And I don't see anyone else mentioning this. It is x1, x2 and x3 zoom in. So what this means is that you can actually see something in front of you, and if you reach for it, you won't be grasping for nothing. It's actually there on zoom x1. It's not permanently magnified like the others. So that is a plus on its favor.

[@MrGriffo666]

I would definitely have used these when I was doing recon and surveillance patrols, if I could afford the price. looks about the same quality as the ones the army issued us with back then.

[@wesleymagill4993]

thanks for making these videos. i'm planning on getting the NVG10 and the kit to turn it 90 degrees, change the lens to the wide angle , and get the filter for the IR light. going to use it mostly for hunting, but also anything else that comes up.

[@dalewoods7308]

In the military they call that three d's distance direction description

[@DontDoDaylight]

Thank you for sharing that, sir! I hadn’t ever heard it referred to in that way and I like how straight-forward/easy to remember it is.

[@dragdragon23]

I have a ton of low budget gear and if I saved instead of going for the latest cheapie, I might of have a high level NV of therrnal by now. I do agree even the low budget is needed when its all you can afford, but either low or high budget stuff is useless if you just throw it on the self and don't train with it.

[@beefstew6512]

2:07 thats a funny way to say post apocalypse

[@alfredfree3]

The thermal vision is actually a tool designed to detect hotspots in electrical systems, cold/hotspot due to insufficient insulation windows or doors seal broken, hvac work and auto mechanics

[@musicteacher5757]

A job I worked at hired an A.C. contractor. He was using his thermal device. I complained about the new blacktop they put on the parking lot, that it made it hotter (it was summer.) He pointed his device at the blacktop and said "Holy cow, it's 120 degrees on that!"

[@alfredfree3]

@@musicteacher5757 go on out to tx in the middle of summer but make sure you have good tires because they are going to melt. If I was you I’d go paint a big white spot and then test it again and then compare them. Some people have claimed that the difference ranges from 40 degrees cooler to 15 degrees cooler

[@christophergreen2892]

Did you use the thermal add on for a phone for the possum footage? Cheap thermal with limited range has let me see what the dog barked at when I saw heat in a cedar, it still took me a few minutes to find the raccoon with a flashlight. He was only 7 feet up, too. Raccoons are well camouflaged for conifers. Tactically, some cheap night vision can be used to scan for active IR, which someone might use in heavy cover. Or set up a $10 ebay IR flashlight somewhere you are not observing from to light an area for observation with the cheap NODS and act as a decoy for any hostiles that see it.

[@DontDoDaylight]

Oh, man! I wish that I had mentioned that in this video. Absolutely true, about being able to scan for other IR sources with the digital night vision! Luckily, the footage did at least show the hunter using a flashlight and it was obvious how easy it was to spot from a distance. I ended up talking to the hunter and he said that Raccoons is what he was looking for! All of the thermal footage did come from the Infiray T2 Pro. I really like that thing. Of course, the video only does so much justice to the experience but either way, I find it quite impressive!

[@lililililililili8667]

The AGM StingIR looks pretty cool

[@DontDoDaylight]

You making this comment has brought the StingIR to my attention and after some research I must say… WOW! You’re spot-on with that. If anything, “pretty cool” is an understatement!

[@SpecOpsGear]

How sensitive is the nvg10 compared to sionyx aurora or aionyx opsin?

[@jimmyofthesea1883]

I hate all those different color pallets on thermals. I almost exclusively use white hot. If I see something warm blooded and I want to track it with the thermal I MIGHT switch to black hot. BUT all the other color pallets are just annoying.

[@DontDoDaylight]

Those are the exact ones that I realistically find myself using, except that I also use the setting that turns the hottest part of the image red. That setting (at least on the T2 Pro) doesn’t always work perfectly but most of the time it will perfectly highlight an animal over the more bland background, which is pretty nice. I have that demonstrated in my latest KZbin Short. I suppose you could get a similar/better result just by using white/black hot and then overlaying that crosshair that hovers over the hottest thing in the image, though! Yeah… the rest of the settings I don’t really find useful but I assume they were just designed for a different application such as a trade or some other use? Not exactly sure but most devices seem to have similar ones for whatever reason. I’d actually like to know if those other settings shine during different activities.

[@jimmyofthesea1883]

@@DontDoDaylight I've tried the red hot on my AGM ASP. It seems a bit distracting. I do like the green cross hair. The cross hair definitely will direct your attention in the right spot. Thermal is a LOT of raw data for human brains to take in. Its so completely different from normal light reflection based vision. Different as it may be there are times in 0 moon with DENSE foliage where PVS14's just don't have enough light to work right, but the thermals can. The only other reason I can think of for the different settings is in a muggy situation where you can get more contrast with the different modes. White and black might not offer as many shades as green, red, etc.

[@My_Alchemical_Romance]

What’s your take on the wide FOV mod for the nvg10? Also, the commonly paired with, 90 degree mount. Would you recommend gen 1tube compared to this, if it’s 100 cheaper?

[@TheMsdos25]

Get the Nightfox Prowl. It's the same price as the NVG10 but has a 54 degree FOV and SD card recording. The wide FOV lens gives the NVG10 a disorienting fish-eye effect and reduces the magnification well below 1x.

[@mentalcog2187]

I wonder,.. do any of these give off an IR signature that can bee seen easily by another with thermal or IR,... giving your position away? Kind of important to know.

[@philb5]

Could you please share what software do you use for streaming the Wi-Fi to the computer

[@out2burn]

Running these next week. Gone find out.

[@mikey13b]

How did you go?

[@out2burn]

Real bad weather last 3x. Event got canceled.

[@weberismail1076]

Black & white is Thermal mode? or need to add some accessories ??

[@scottstratton9470]

Frickin subbed

[@DontDoDaylight]

Awesome! Thanks & I’m glad you’re here! Appreciate the comment! Hope all is well.

[@Soldier1287]

It records 2008 YT quality. Night vision though.

[@dangubas]

Really nice video 😊 since thermal is also a digital camera, could you use digital nvg as a processing unit and screen to pair both cameras in one?? As much as I know about it, thermal plug in picture quality depends on phone you're using

[@153SCORN]

Hey DDD, I defiantly think you on the right track when it comes to the advantages of T2Pro. I'm looking to buy the T2Pro and use it with a Gimbal, then attach it below a Fixed wing Glider 2.5 - 3metre wing span. Due to the 13Degree angle of view (Some say 19 Degrees) of the T2Pro, the RC glider will need to be 300 meters to 500 meters in altitude to get 67m long side to 112m long side view of the ground. Perhaps you can assist with some tests. 1. Will the T2Pro run as a normal webcam on a windows PC. (I believe that it will run on the camera app). This means that I could import the video feed into a program like python or processing3 which allows you to overlay the thermal image (with some ghosting) over a larger low light camera image. In this way I'll have a fairly large image for low light with a Thermal image in the Centre. I could also enhance the thermal image resolution with an overlay, so long is I get the correct focal length and size the images correctly. 2. Due to the camera being on a drone, I would like to see if I can get it to work with a Raspberry Pi4. If its a USB / Web cam it should be detectable on the Raspberry Pi4. I would then attempt to run something like discord and stream the Thermal Camera image over discord. This will allow multiple personal on the ground to view the thermal images in real time. (The issue is that while discord may work on the Pi4, The "lite" version might not stream the camera). 3. The alternative is to use an fairly good android TV stick (Most are not up to streaming). But If it registers the thermal Camera in native black hot, then it should be able to stream with the discord app. (You should be able to test this on your phone, However the TV stick may allow for normal USB protocol, your phone may require an app and the app will not have stream capability) Anyway you could plug the T2Pro into your Windows PC and let me know if it shows black hot on the screen. (You also might find an inexpensive 2 Axis gimble on Ebay +-50$. If you can find a flexibly USBC cable, it will be possible to take some steady footage while walking in the forest) 4. One more test, Can the T2Pro see through thick smoke and fog?

[@153SCORN]

Did a TEST with streaming a USB Action Camera over Discord using the PI3 with a 4G signal. Image is good, Latency is less than 1 second. I would like to know it the T2Pro will work in the same way over discord.

[@musicteacher5757]

I was thinking about walking at night for exercise. Night vision would increase my safety 100x.

[@212caboose]

The problem with digital stuff (which is what cheap NV is), is that almost all of them need IR lights to work well. Which can be seen by enemy troops (whether that be a foreign or domestic military or domestic police units), which would render any advantage moot.

[@thelonewolf1159]

Hey new subscriber here I wanted to ask, is the digital nvg10 better for stargazing or the digital nvg14? I am really struggling to see if there is a difference stargazing wise.

[@perpetualconfusion5885]

I think the nvg10 is a better unit

[@philb5]

Do you know what software do you use to live stream the Wi-Fi to the computer​@@perpetualconfusion5885 Do you know what software do you use

[@yoinky]

Is this gen 1?

[@travislupum]

It's a digital unit I'm not sure their is really generation's to it like analog stuff

[@burtburtist]

400 still expensive. The really expensive stuff just makes it look cheap in comparison

[@BushMasterThermal]

Do you have an instagram page??

[@DontDoDaylight]

Hello and thanks for the comment! I don’t currently have an Instagram. I’d consider it if I started taking night vision photography more seriously, which may be in my future! I haven’t hardly considered it. I’ll think it over! I appreciate you bringing the idea to my attention!

[@djimini254]

Shit should be plug and play in the usb-c on a drone... but it aint!

[@Nick1921945]

400 is not cheap. I don't care what the comparison is. It's barely fair to call 100 cheap.

[@cam.b3411]

compared to thousands for military grade, buddy, it's pretty affordable so shut up

[@stnicgglemploy2794]

Speaks in 7.99 minimum wage

[@racecreek2017]

For thermals/night vision gtfo. You do realize real military thermals/nvg is thousounds apon thousands of dollers

[@missouripatriot6926]

Hmm pv14 being 3 grand

[@N_-pp2cf]

True, but for night vision it is cheap. A $400 sandwich is not cheap but a $400 car is

[@My_Alchemical_Romance]

3:33 (pooing)