Nightfox Red HD Infrared Night Vision Goggles | 1x Magnification, Extra Wide FOV | Covert 940nm IR | Records 1080p Video + Audio | USB Rechargeable
| Dimensions: | 23.2 x 19.7 x 13.6 centimetres |
| Brand: | Nightfox |
| Part: | NF-RED2 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium ion batteries required. (included) |
| Reference: | NF-RED2 |
This is NOT a combat ready optic by any stretch of the imagination, but it clearly tells you so in its description. It’s more than suitable for nighttime hog hunting while hunting from a tree stand or ground blind, or just playing around in the dark for fun. It would be hard to use for home defense, but it would be better than nothing. It does have good indoor image quality, and it can clearly see an IR laser sight. The battery life is only a few minutes if you’re using the ir illumination at full power. I got around that by using an external ir illuminator ( IR flashlight), the battery lasted notably longer that way. All in all it’s pretty neat for the money.
This is my first foray into nightvision. But for the features, quality and value, you can’t go wrong. Just DON’T do the firmware update that you will find online. I had to return my first Nightfox Red because it corrupted the unit. According to the company, the new Red’s have the newest firmware. And will work with up to a 512 GB micro sd.
Overall is great, only 2 things to make it a 5 star.
Its not very comfortable for the nose and the screen can be improved just to not see blue lines on the edges and little bit bigger screen. Recomendation, buy solofish IR laser, works pretty good
These are a great unit if your wanting to get started into night vision. Granted these can’t compare to real night vision like gen2 or gen3 but they are still cheap easy way to have some type of night vision to be used for just around the yard or for say airsoft.
Own a haunted attraction and these work so much better than the other ones we have. Wish the battery would last more but we bought battery packs for them
For what I needed it, it worked. Definitely not a PVS 14. Can’t say it’s comparable to gen 2 analog night vision.
We do dark adapted research and these night vision goggles cost about 1/10 as much as our other goggles and the images are much more clear.
Pros:
– Fairly lightweight for the technology on your head. Though obviously does feel heavy without something such as a counterbalance on the head-strap.
– Provides I’d say 8/10 night vision. Works well, and it can see a bit farther than most reviews say. I’d say to about advertised range.
– Decent battery life.
– Resolution! Super good! The 1920x1080p is actually very crisp for a camera when adjusted with the focus dial.
– Refresh rate? Solid 60hz. I cannot reasonably complain. Very solid.
– Design? 6.5 or 7/10. Nightfox logo is clean. From an outside perspective, you look like a dork without any face coverings while wearing these. They don’t look horrible, but not great by any means.
Cons:
– It’s essentially a $300 toy. Unless you frequent urban exploring and want to be hidden, or want to look like Splinter Cell, these goggles essentially have no typical use. These aren’t useful for hunting either in my opinion.
– Disorientation while walking. I wish there’d be something closer to a 0x magnification, because walking with these feels very weird. The camera is obviously in front of where you actually are.
– No SD card. The description and website for this product DOES state you do not get an SD card. The information booklet however doesn’t make that so clear. The wording in the manual insinuates there is a card included, but it’s just saying there is capability for a 32gb slot.
– Lenses aren’t protected. Not entirely useful for Airsoft as there aren’t covers on this model. Nightfox does this thing where they lock specific features behind specific products. It’s not, “Each product that costs more money gets more” it’s, “Each product that costs more gets improved features, but we’ll actually remove some as well. For example, while the Nightfox Cape can be considered a direct predecessor to the Red, and it features a lens protector while the Red does not. It’s just odd to me that these aren’t included, as that may help justify the price range.
– The charging port. I have a fairly big head comparatively to others. While wearing the Red and having it charge, I can feel the USB cable pushing against my head. It’s uncomfortable, and I know I’m bending the cord while doing so.
– The buttons. They work and work well, and it’s not like they’re broken. But why is the unit advertised to be silent when the buttons are like clicking a CRT monitor? It’s very loud, and defeats the whole “Covert Operations” spiel it’s advertised for.
Things I haven’t Tested:
– Camera and Recording. I don’t have an SD card handy, and won’t be buying one to test this out. Cannot remember, but I believe it was either the Swift or the Red that slows down viewing refresh rate while recording and not plugged in. Do your own research though.
Hopefully this review was helpful. Will be returning these sadly. I wish I could justify keeping them, but the price is too steep to keep as a toy. I would rather but a FLIR monocular for double or more this, or save up for a PVS-14. Those cost FAR more, but they are far more versatile imo.
On sale for more than 33% off? These might be worth it as a cool gag to roam for hide and seek with friends or exploration. But for a typical buyer such as myself? Not worth the price tag. Overall 4/5 stars, the device does what is advertised, BUT, it does not fit it’s assigned store categories. Hunting and Airsoft? I guarantee you a bee bee will crack lenses with direct contact, and for hunting? You cannot move around efficiently. You would be far better off getting a thermal monocular for hunting, or ever airsoft. It can be improved in so many ways, but sadly at the moment this products justifies nothing more than the whole it burns in your pocket.
Weirdly, when you watch back on a laptop the image is much brighter/the object you were watching is better illuminated than it appeared when watching directly. Battery life is not great but overall these are a great bit of kit.
I honestly think this is the best digital nightvision goggles for short distance on the market!
Very light
Can record both video&sound
Using 18650 lithium-ion rechargeable battery which is not proprietary and just a standard and available everywhere.
Very user friendly and simple menu/buttons layout
Quick access to dim lcd light
Quick access to turn off/dim/turn on ir light
Quick access for day mode or night mode (in night mode the ir filter automatically remived from the camera sensor)
They really did a great job on this one!!!
If you can use with your own external ir flashlight 850nm or 940nm (dimmable 940nm flashlight is best for indoor and long battery life in my opinion).. battery literally gonna last forever!
The only cons:
Because camera is protected behind a glass/acrylic window (whatever it’s made of), light from outside doesn’t go thru the lens well enough.. just reflect out, so in very low light condition, this nvg is just not good enough!
As soon as u turn on the infra-red, it looks great, but the fact it’s so dependable on the ir light is just disappointing! I wish the protective glass will be automatically removed (together with the ir filter) too when u change to night mode (u can always just remove the protective glass yourself and lose the warranty just so u can get more light going into the lens in low light conditions)
Another thing to be improved is the amount of zoom-out, i know.. they wanted to give us better field of view which us great, but the way they accomplished this is with a big trade off, u basically look at your hand and it looks like your hand is 3feet away.. way too much zoom-out in my opinion.. there are better ways to get more field of view without making the picture so unnatural.
Another drawback.. the lcd is a bit too small and a bit too far from the eyes (or maybe u can fix it by fix one of this options?!)
Last thing to be improved, price is a bit too much for what u get in my opinion.. $200 i think is really the maximum i will pay for it!)
In general it is the best unit available to buy in 2022 and i really appreciate the amazing work they put into making this unit!
I did end up returning it and just building my own with fpv night camera and fpv goggles with 940nm ir flash light.
If you not into diy stuff.. just buy this one!
Quite impressed so far, tested in a dark building and the garden. Will be used for filming fire-breathing band instruments and urban exploring in very dark/dangerous/abandoned buildings. I like the ability to alter the intensity of the IR lamp, and the fact it records audio as well as video.
Bought for my adult son. He loves them! Picture quality is great, easy to use. Fair price. Highly recommend!
So these are great for sitting in the dark and seeing everything. Unfortunately the IR lights don’t go to the edges so you see a central lit areas but that’s probably due to the magnification being so wide, so the edges are further away. I don’t think anyone could walk in them, maybe with lots of practice but I was tripping over. Picture quality is good, I’d not want less pixels. Also it’s a bit awkward for users who are starting to need reading glasses, I don’t use glasses but I need +3x mag glasses to focus 30mm off my nose which is the screen distance, I expect anyone older than 20 would too. So if you put your fingers in front of your nose and you can’t focus on your third finger then you will need glasses to see the screen in focus. Night fox don’t have any solution for this as yet.