Carson MiniAura Digital Night Vision

This is an awesome device. It's not intended for military use and the cost is not comparable with military night vision stuff so I wouldn't compare this little guy with top dollar night vision solutions. However, there is at least one parameter of this device that beats any competitors - the size. It's very small and it does exactly what it's supposed to do, so what not to like? Even with IR illumination turned off it actually helps to see in low lighting conditions just as advertised (not in all cases but in many cases). With IR illumination it produces very sharp and contrast image just as advertised. The surface of the device is "soft-touch" kind of polymer, feels very nice. The device actually allows you to do what you need in total darkness without drawing too much attention or waking your family up (unless you're doing too much noise). For the price it performs very well and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in inexpensive night vision solution. If slightly visible IR illumination LED is a problem for you, you can easily upgrade your device by covering the LED with IR filter cut to proper dimensions, it won't cost you much. UPDATE: 3 years later it still works like new. Never had a problem with it, other than taking batteries out of it sometimes was a challenge.

INFORMED REVIEW: Im calling this an "informed" review due to the number of reviews i have read on this monocular and similar products. Now that i have it and have used it, i can compare that to what ive read. From what ive read, alot of people want much more out of night vision, at this price point, than is realistic. Now, hold your horses on that thought, this little monocular is fantastic by any measure. For 95 dollars i am now able to see up to a hundred yards through my yard with great detail. And i asked myself the important question i think many of us on here wonder when looking for night vision devices. "Can I use this to see people or animals a solid distance in front of me, in complete darkness, with enough detail to make our who or what they are, and what they are doing?" Yes. Yes,yes,yes. Anyone who says otherwise has gotten a defective unit. Because for 95 dollars im able to use this stupid thing to pick out the details in the bark of a tree a solid 150 feet away from me. That is p-lenty enough for me. Now im not the owner of a large rural property, in which a more powerful device would be needed. Im in a suburban area with a fairly large yard, enough for this small device to show me whats going on at night, and i am usually able to scan about 1000-3000 square feet of space in front of me at any given angle of view. Thats assuming i can clearly see about 20-40 feet wide and about 100 deep.Additionally, this thing performs wonderfully in tight spaces, so that review about it not being suited for attics and crawl spaces, they are completely wrong. Remember, this thing fits in my pocket without much trouble at all. So all in all, this device is very effective for how cheap and small it is. It has a surprisingly solid construction of what appears to be ABS plastic and hold three normal AAA batteries. I love that. My only question is how battery life holds up, but since it runs off AAA it can be replaced and as much as I need can be carried on me at any time of course. So it's designed for you to keep powering it wherever you need it really. This appeared to be cheap and dodgy when i ordered it. What i got was far from that. This monocular is seriously worth the money. 9/10

nul

Ich war schon beim Auspacken von dem geringen Gewicht dieses Gerätes überrascht. Als nächstes beeindruckte mich die tolle Haptik, denn das Teil liegt dank der guten Oberfläche wirklich gut in der Hand. Der erste Praxistest in einem absolut dunklen Raum verblüffte mich total. Man sieht wirklich alles. In manchen Rezensionen wird von einem hohen Batterieverbrauch geschrieben. Dies kann ich nicht bestätigen, denn in den meisten Fällen ist es gar nicht notwendig das IR-Licht zuzuschalten und schon gar nicht auf voller Leistung. Das mitgelieferte kleine Aufbewahrungsbeutelchen finde ich super um das Nachtsichtgerät zu schützen. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, daß die zuletzt gewählte einstellung des IR-Lichtes gespeichert bleibt, aber es ist auch kein Problem, denn man kann es mit wenigen Knopfdrücken umstellen. Überhaupt ist das Gerät sehr intuitiv bedienbar und man findet sich sehr schnell rein. Ich habe es einem Freund sofort weiterempfohlen und für ihn bestellt. Absolute Kaufempfehlung.

Received the product today and tested it around the house and nearby parks. Great little device for the price. Will definitely be using it for hunting. Can see in total darkness up to a fair distance and under some good ambient light does really well in outdoors. The IR illuminator that comes installed in it is quite strong and does the job however will look into buying something more powerful to allow greater results. Highly recommend.