Why Night VIsion Goggles?
With so many different night vision devices to choose from, why would one choose to use night vision goggles as opposed to a monocular or some other type of scope device?
There are several reasons. The first, and most not so obvious, is the that the army has traditionally trained many of their soldiers to use the goggle. With a head or helmet mount, the goggle allows for a hand-free operation, giving the soldier the ability to use a gun, operate a tank or vehicle, or fly a plane or heliocopter while wearing the goggles.
The second reason, and the stronger of the two, is eye-strain. Looking through goggles is easier on the eyes and produces less eye strain than looking through a monocular or scope type set up. If you are operating a tank, armoured vehicle, doing a ground survey, performing a tactical area search and rescue, or flying a plane or heliocopter the night vision goggle (aviator night vision - another article coming soon...!) would be the correct choice based on the minimal eye strain. Looking through goggles allows your eyes to adjust to the green color based vision without having to deal with the darkness of night poking in from your other eye. This can easily cause a headache, which you obviously don’t want when operating a vehicle or plane on an important mission. It is one thing to operate a vehicle or plane and another to concentrate on your aim through a scope, where you typically close one eye to get a better view of the target.
The view through NVDs can be a lot like looking down a tunnel. Your normal field of view is almost 190 degrees – but that is cut down to 40 degrees with NVDs. That side -- or “peripheral” -- vision you’re accustomed to, and from which you often see dangers, is just not there. To adjust for that you must constantly turn your head to scan for the dangers on either side of you that you can’t see in your narrow field of view. Not the greatest in ground battle situations, but what can you do? That's the price for being able to see in almost complete darkness.
There are several reasons. The first, and most not so obvious, is the that the army has traditionally trained many of their soldiers to use the goggle. With a head or helmet mount, the goggle allows for a hand-free operation, giving the soldier the ability to use a gun, operate a tank or vehicle, or fly a plane or heliocopter while wearing the goggles.
The second reason, and the stronger of the two, is eye-strain. Looking through goggles is easier on the eyes and produces less eye strain than looking through a monocular or scope type set up. If you are operating a tank, armoured vehicle, doing a ground survey, performing a tactical area search and rescue, or flying a plane or heliocopter the night vision goggle (aviator night vision - another article coming soon...!) would be the correct choice based on the minimal eye strain. Looking through goggles allows your eyes to adjust to the green color based vision without having to deal with the darkness of night poking in from your other eye. This can easily cause a headache, which you obviously don’t want when operating a vehicle or plane on an important mission. It is one thing to operate a vehicle or plane and another to concentrate on your aim through a scope, where you typically close one eye to get a better view of the target.
The view through NVDs can be a lot like looking down a tunnel. Your normal field of view is almost 190 degrees – but that is cut down to 40 degrees with NVDs. That side -- or “peripheral” -- vision you’re accustomed to, and from which you often see dangers, is just not there. To adjust for that you must constantly turn your head to scan for the dangers on either side of you that you can’t see in your narrow field of view. Not the greatest in ground battle situations, but what can you do? That's the price for being able to see in almost complete darkness.
posted by C.R. at 1:36 PM
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