"Night Spy" Night Vision Scope
Written: Jul 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Inexpensive, works well enough for non-critical usage
Cons: Infrared illuminator only goes out to about 6-1/2 feet
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| NZ9E's Full Review: Moonlight Safari w/ Illuminator |
"Night Spy" Night Vision Scope - Model VISIR N - by LOMO PLC
The model Model VISIR N "Night Spy" Night Vision Scope made by LOMO PLC of St. Petersburg, Russia comes from an optical company originally founded back in 1914. They've grown a lot since then, and have produced world-class optics for telescopes and other uses for many decades. They're said to employ over 2,500 designers, engineers and technicians, within the largest optical R & D design center in the world.
Though on the very low end, price-wise, of the night vision scope market, the LOMO VISIR N "Night Spy" performs quite well. It's solidly made and nice looking to boot, not typical of what many think utilitarian Russian equipment normally looks like. The Russians are apparently coming into the 21st. century, aesthetically speaking.
A night scope is effective for two basic reasons. First, it's sensitive to extremely small amounts of ambient light, far smaller than our eyes could ever detect. So even though we may think that it's totally dark, the night scope can often still "see" people or objects within that darkness. These very tiny amounts of light are captured by the night scope's photosensitive target cathode, accelerated and amplified, and then displayed on a phosphorescent display screen. So unlike ordinary binoculars or an optical spotting scope, you're not actually looking "through" a night vision scope, but rather you're seeing an electronic display of those tiny amounts of light energy. But then secondly, a night scope can also see infrared light, which are wavelengths beyond our visual capabilities. As an example, a night scope can see a TV remote pulsing on and off, but yet we can't. And it's because of this fact that a night scope can have an infrared illuminator on it (a kind of infrared flashlight), but to our eyes, there appears to be no light at all. Most animals can't see in the infrared region either. This phenomena allows you to bathe an area (out to about 6-1/2 feet) with infrared light, yet not have that light seen by most creatures. It's not dificult to imagine the advantages of that.
The LOMO PLC "Night Spy" has a focusable (from 10" to infinity) hefty front lens for image pick-up and a diopter corrected (+3 to -3) rear eyepiece for viewing. There is a side mounted (can be mounted on either side) adjustable hand strap for easily holding the unit securely with
just one hand. While it's not "light as a feather", it's not particularly burdensome either. The "Night Spy" uses two standard "AA" alkaline batteries to power both the unit's electronics and its single IR LED (Light Emitting Diode) illuminator. Actual running time for the batteries will depend upon how extensively the IR LED illuminator is used and how often and how long the electronics are run. Good quality, name-brand alkaline "AA" batteries should be able to run it for between 10 to 20 hours. In fact, you can actually turn the unit off and still keep viewing for a couple of minutes on the retained phosphorescence, something that even the manual mentions in order to save battery energy.
Speaking of the manual, it's a riot. It's understandable, but written in true Russian-based pidgin English. Here's an example ... they're trying to explain how to use the little band that goes under the batteries so that you can simply pull on the band and the batteries pop out ... this is good! "Flexible band is useful to take out the batteries, it should be under that ones, and one its end should be protruded outside." Got that? The little 5-page "manual" goes on and on like that, but as I said, it's understandable ... partly because there is really nothing all
that difficult to know about operating the "Night Spy". It's pretty intuitive. There's a 3-position power switch ... OFF, ON, ON WITH IR ILLUMINATION. There's a lens cap, a front lens focusing ring and a rear viewfinder diopter focusing ring. That's it.
One thing that you do want to know about if you've never owned a night scope, however, is that extreme care should be exercised to keep the front lens from "seeing" too much bright light ... ever. The life and usefulness of the imaging tube depends upon NOT exposing it to any
unnecessary light, especially bright light. Since the front lens cap has a tiny hole in it (for use in testing under lighted conditions), it's even recommended that the lens be deliberately thrown out of focus when not in use (so that any focused light will not fall on the tube's
sensitive photo-cathode. Don't ignore the warnings and don't let the kids play with your night scope. It's not an appropriate toy, and they're bound to point it at a bright light source "just to see what happens".
Something else to keep in mind, night scopes have basically 3 differently rated target areas. The "Central" area has the best focus and least number of defects in the tube. The "Marginal" area starts getting somewhat optically distorted and may have spots. The "Peripheral" area
will have even more optical distortion and potentially more spots. In other words, the image that you see through a night scope isn't necessarily a picture perfect image. If it were intended as a camera, you'd throw it away! But it isn't, it's intended to be able to see
infrared images in the dark, and the central area should be reasonably good focus and free of defects. A night scope is a utilitarian device, not a perfect image across its viewing area, and as such, the LOMO VISIR N "Night Spy" performs amazingly well for its price. If you demand
something better, then there are much, much more expensive units out there for the asking, but for a casual, fun, night viewing scope, this one is quite acceptable.
Here are the full specifications:
Note: Complies with Russian standards GOST 12.1.019-79 and GOST 26104-89
for safety.
Magnification - 1.7X
Field of View - 22 degrees (free of optical distortions - 10 degrees)
Focal length - 50mm
Relative aperature - 1:1.6
Max Viewing Distance - 150 meters (492 ft.)
Accuracy in distinguishing objects (max.) - 8 to 10 meters (26 to 33 ft.)
Focusing Range - 0.25 meters to infinity (10" to infinity)
Built-in IR light source range (max.) - 2 meters (6-1/2 ft.)
Eyepiece:
Focal length - 15mm
Diopter correction - +3 to -3 diopters
Apparent magnification - 16.7
Power - two (2) "AA" 1.5 volt cells
Operating voltage - 2.3 to 3 volts DC
Operating current:
Electronics only - 30 mA
Electronics and IR LED Illuminator - 130 mA
Overall size - 182mm x 100mm x 68mm (7.1" x 3.9" x 2.7")
Weight - .7kg (1.55 lbs.)
List price: $250
Average street price: $170
Can sometimes be bought for as low as: $120
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
NZ9E
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Member: Dave Miller
Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Reviews written: 17
Trusted by: 3 members
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