Binoculars,monoculars,telescopes,night vision scopes

[Lucky Jim]

This is my cheap monocular which I've used on all camping trips.
Basically a monocular is half a binocular and is therefore half the weight and half the price..
Astronauts carried them on the Apollo missions. Mine is 8X magnification which is fine.




Mine is kinked in the middle because there's a prism in there, but you can get smaller un-kinked ones like these at about £10




Alternatively a cheap pocket telescope like this would do to let you know if the distant dots on a hillside are cattle or zombs-



NOTES:- Like I said, my monocular is 8x magnification which is fine, but if you buy anything more powerful (whether it's a monocular, binoculars or telescope) you run the risk of not being able to hold it steady enough to get a clear image.
At a guess, I'd say the problem begins to kick in around 15x, and by 35x it'll be much worse.
Also the higher the mag, the dimmer the image will be.

[Lucky Jim]

Night vision devices are useful because if you can see in the dark and the gangs can't, it kinda gives you an edge..
I keep meaning to get one myself-
"Learn to reverence night and to put away the vulgar fear of it.."- Henry Beston


There have been assorted small hand-held night vision devices on sale to the public for many years at affordable prices, I haven't got one myself but they're certainly worth considering for gang-dodging or whatever, ha ha!
There are three basic sorts, image-intensifiers (greenish image), and much more expensive thermal imagers (infra-red black/white), plus fusion types which sort of incorporate both methods.
Here are an assortment of net sites-

USEFUL DISCUSSION FORUM- Night Vision - OpticsPlanet Forums - Reviews, Discussions, Feedback, Ratings

LIST OF STOCKISTS- ATN: Where To Buy - Night Vision Goggles, Night Vision Scopes, Binoculars, Riflescopes, Laser Devices

TECHY STUFF- How Does Night Vision Work? We answer Your Night Vision Questions!

[VSAINT]

Hi , a cheap alternative to night vision is found on ebay , a 12v lcd screen of 3 to 4 inches can be bought for under £10 .Add a £10 colour cctv camera with infrared illumination and you can see in total darkness , add an aditional infra red illuminator for £5 and you can see for around 50 to 100 mtrs in total darkness .So for £25 plus a 12v battery pack you are equiped with a potent weapon that will give you the edge .Plus you can use a telescopic fishing pole with a bung araldited into the end , so that you can screw a braket to it and you have a pole cam that enables you to see over / under / around things without being seen . This is best implemented in urban situations where electricity has been cut off and you can stay concealed whilst keeping an eye on whats going on around you .Or in a rural bug out situation you can remain concealed in a fox hole with the camera only needing to be above ground level .
Wireless cameras and receivers are also available that can be run directly to a mini lcd monitor , again using 12v power supplies that can be recharged from a solar panel iff need be .

[Attack Warning Red]

Cool. I have a good pair of Nikon binos that were a birthday present 20 years ago, still going strong. A couple of years ago I got a Vortex monocular which is slightly more powerful, and obviously smaller and lighter. I add the monocular to my EDC when certain situations are developing or expected, although I don't carry it around in general.

About nightvision - I looked into that kit a few years ago, and decided against it when I discovered that you really have to spend thousands of pounds for a half-decent one. It's down to which generation of NV you get. At the cheaper, affordable end for you or I, you'd get a pretty poor, grainy image. To get the military/emergency services-grade image, you'd need a higher generation, and much more money.

I can't remember the exact details, but look up the different generations of NV kit and their image quality. There are big differences!