Night vision for boats has come a long way in the past few years. Actually, the views this gear can provide in the inky darkness is downright amazing, and what’s even more amazing is how much cost has dropped to get into this game.
The Newest Night Vision Tech – The latest goodie of interest for anglers, hunters, and others who may be running a boat at night is portable cameras that can be viewed on wireless displays, including your phone or tablet. Sionyx now has a camera that mounts to a standard RAM mount and requires no wires other than 12-V power. That means you can run a temporary power feed or a permanent power feed with a connection plug to the boat battery, and move the camera between boats, blinds, or whatever you’d like. Or, power can also come via a USB connection. You don’t need any sort of connection to a MFD or video device, because it broadcasts on WiFi and is viewed on the Sionyx app. We’re talking about an IP67-rated camera with a QXE1350 BSI CMOS sensor and 1280 x 1024 resolution that can see through starlight – and a complete system is less than $2,000.
The Least Expensive Night Vision Tech – A monocular may not be quite as convenient as looking at a big display, but it gets the job done and the FLIR Scout TKx can be found for as little as $399. This gets you a view through the darkness out to about 100 yards and since it’s a thermal imager with a microblotometer detector it requires zero light level to work. It has a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that’s good for seven hours of use, and is IP67 waterproof rated. Sionyx also has a handheld that runs for $399 on the open market, the Aurora, which is a light-gatherer that can operate in “near moonless” conditions. It adds wireless streaming and 720-pixel video capability up to 64GB storage into the mix. Bushnell’s Equinox X650 is even less expensive – you’ll see it for a shocking $169.99. It has a 650’ range, runs on AA batteries for up to six hours, has video capability up to a 64GB card (but no internal memory). Be careful to keep it dry on the boat, however, because it’s rated IPX4 for water resistance.
Remember when getting night vision on a boat meant you had to hard-wire a camera to the hard-top? When most systems cost $5,000 or more? Those days are over, and now we can all enjoy some level of night vision on the boat at price-points just about anyone can handle.