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Different Types of Night Vision Goggles

Different Types of Night Vision Goggles
Written by Toby Daniels
Last Update: August 23, 2021

What could be more desirable than a pair of night vision goggles when you’re in a dark forest chasing a wild deer or stepping on the sly hoping to catch an unsuspecting prey? A flashlight? Sure, you hate to scare away your prey. Night goggles aren’t going to deprive you of the hunting pleasure, and instead, different types of them will help you see through the thick woods and detect the position of your target differently.

What Are Night Vision Goggles?

The night vision goggles are special electro-optical devices that makes sighting easier in darker conditions. The night vision goggles can amplify existing light to generate an image that is clearer. The image is then displayed to a greenish hued phosphor display. In simpler terms, the night goggles can enable you to see in the night.

What Are Night Vision Goggles

What Are the Different Types of Night Vision Goggles?

Although the use of night vision goggles is just the same, the technology used in these can differ from one goggle to another. Currently, there are two different types of night vision goggles that are available. These are image intensifier goggles and thermal imaging goggles.

Image Intensifier Goggles

The image intensifier goggles are the more sophisticated ones that you may find. It has a vacuum tube, called the photomultiplier tube, which absorbs very few photons that exist in a completely dark environment and can intensify the photons to generate a clearer image. In the tube, there is a photocathode plate that is charged. When light is illuminated on to the plate, the electrons disperse and are then emitted through a micro-channel plate. This is how the photons gain energy and can then generate clearer pictures.

The dark vision pathfinder and the goggles of night 5e are two such high-quality image intensifier night vision goggles that you may consider purchasing.

Thermal Imaging Goggles

The thermal imaging goggles are one of the most popular and budget-friendly night vision goggles that you can buy. These can detect the thermal radiation in the surrounding and can separate one object from the other. The differences in temperatures are visible on a screen. Due to the clear visibility that it provides, it is preferred by professional hunters.

The Phosphor Screen

The screen at which the image from a night vision goggle is projected is known as a phosphor screen. This greenish colored screen is intentionally designed because the normal human eye can detect larger variations of green than any other colors. This makes detecting slight changes in the atmosphere easier.

The Phosphor Screen

Which One Is Better?

This is a debatable concept. Many people prefer the use of image intensifier goggles over the thermal imaging goggles and vice versa. The image intensifier goggles can give accurate images with clearly visible silhouettes in a greenish phosphor screen. The thermal imaging goggles, on the other hand, can also give accurate results but lacks a visible outline of the objects. The thermal imaging can properly distinguish between the object and its surroundings, giving a brighter sight than that of an image intensifier.

Professional hunters often prefer using the thermal imaging night vision goggles over the image intensifier ones because of the brightly colored vision that it produces. These goggles can detect objects from a far distance, which makes it ideal for tracking down the animal from a distance.

Skilled soldiers prefer image intensifier night vision goggles because these goggles are lightweight and smaller in size than the thermal imaging ones. These goggles require lower power and provide a higher resolution image, which makes it ideal for detecting the closer environment.

Conclusion

Night vision goggles are great for looking in dark conditions. These highly sophisticated devices can help you in tracking your environment without the use of a flashlight. These night vision goggles can provide you with stealth, which is one of the essential things when you’re hunting or pursuing a targeted location at night.

Night vision goggles are of two main types, one being thermal imaging night vision goggles and the other being image intensifying night vision goggles. The thermal imaging goggles perform excellently well in hunting, whereas the image intensifier goggles are mainly used by soldiers when they’re on a mission.

If you’re looking for something that you’d add to your high-quality hunting equipment, you can surely purchase a high-end night vision goggles.

About the author

Toby Daniels

A Camouflage Hunter

This is Toby saying hello to biking dudes. A commuter and a stunt perforer (an amateur) best describe me. Although I’m not an MTB specialist like my buddy James, I tried every kind/style only to see what suits me and gives pleasure. Out of curiosity, I took a short course on biking mechanism, troubleshooting, and maintenance at Broadway Bicycle School. Thus, my experience combines my working knowledge to make me feel it right to share my expertise with others and cooperate with my fellow commuters. Let’s look at some of my articles.

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