Practicing with Night Vision

[kryptekman]

Theres just so many variables living in sub arctic conditions half the year, my guess would be that condensation would build on my skin from the edge of the goggles and eventually frostbite my cheeks, forehead and nasal bridge. I might give it a try but ive also tried the FogTech and it leaves a filmy residue on my screen.

 

[wigwamitus]

So you wear no eye pro and use no protection/covers on our lenses?

Wow, even here in "tropical" Kansas (I been out in -11F not counting wind chill - with 20 MPH wind blowing in my face) I would not be able to stay out long in the snow and ice and use my NV/Thermal if I used nothing on either my eyes or my eye facing optics. I guess Alaska really is a whole different environment!

 

[kryptekman]

lol once you live in sub zero weather, anything above zero is almost like 32F or a little warmer i suppose.

I wear a Beanie, and two HooDoo rags around my neck for a gaiter, they are made of cotton and very thin.

Once it drops below zero I wear the beanie and an Under Armor Balaclava that is not even designed for cold weather.

I let my face open to air mostly until I start to get cold and then ill move it to my lips, maybe over my nose for a few minutes until the moisture from my breath starts to freeze on the fabric.

Basically my face is almost always exposed, atleast my eyes and nose ridge are always bare even in -20.
Im more worried about hypothermia so I layer really well and often have to take a short break every 800-1000 meters so I dont start to sweat. When its colder out, I can go faster and longer, because the snow is more packed and im not constantly loosing my balance or trying to remain stealthy.

 

[wigwamitus]

Regardless of what I myself was wearing, I believe that in my environment, when it gets below about 20F, the PVS-14 rear lens, scope rear lens, etc. would fog and freeze if for no other reason than warmth and moisture coming from my eyes. That's why I use the fogtech. Apparently this problem does not happen to you?
It icing conditions, nothing works. Fronts and rears of glass ice over hard and worst case, you might be left with visible lasers at night or iron sights in the day.

 

[kryptekman]

Today was perfect conditions for the thermal.

I saw a moose with my eyes at 700-800m and I was able to see a slight thermal print from her on the predator, she was in a field with a wood line behind her, so her heat and the trees were competing. I was using IronBow1 so I may have been able to see more of her in different modes but I did not check.

Its pretty rare that fogging happens, we have very low humidity up here, the arctic is actually classified as a desert because we dont get much rain.

 

[wigwamitus]

So all that white stuff is just paint !!! ;)

I think we (certainly I) would really LOVE to see DVR of your excursions. There might be a Y-Cable you can get to allow the DVR and the Battery Pack to both be used at the same time. Doing so however, might require moving the battery pack to another location and putting the DVR where the battery pack is. Note, moving the battery pack inside one of your layers (in a pouch secured within one of those layers) might extend the battery life.
If you are interested, ask Armasight about this Y-cable. I might even have several of them - I'm supposed to! But I haven't sorted them out and used them yet. I still need to get a battery pack.

 

[kryptekman]

The battery pack has a port for video, I just dont have a working 2.5mm to RCA yellow as of right now, thats all i am missing


We got more snow than we normally do this year, but its abnormally warmer now, not enough to melt it, but we may get more snow because it cannot snow when it reaches a certain temperature of cold.

As for having the battery pack on my body or forearm, that just sounds like a disaster with the cable and things getting snagged or something.

 

[wigwamitus]

Yup life is full of trade offs ... regarding the cable ... in your case ... if having the batteries warmer would not help extend their life by much, then might not be worth the hassle.

 

[kryptekman]

Battery pack is working excellent, I have not noticed the battery even slightly get lower on the screen. So for now im pretty happy with its performance, it beats getting 20 minutes on CR123's

 

[kryptekman]

 

[wigwamitus]

Looks like -4F in our neck of the woods this morning ... must be -40F up there in "hotlaska"

 

[kryptekman]

Actually its only -1 today, with a High of 15 plus

 

[kryptekman]

Good news, I was able to obtain a DVR RCA cable, I can now film and show you all the wilds of Alaska in thermal. I will get some footage for you all tomorrow wish me luck

 

[kryptekman]

Thermal Video combined with GoPro 2k quality coming up

headshot btw

 

[Ratdog68]

Thermal Video combined with GoPro 2k quality coming up

headshot btw

View attachment 2979

Shot you one of the winter time mosquitoes, eh?

 

[kryptekman]

Shot you one of the winter time mosquitoes, eh?

Sorry i dont quite follow what you mean

 

[Ratdog68]

Sorry i dont quite follow what you mean

Squirrels are about the same size as Alaskan mosquitoes, and it's not 'skeeter season... and, that one's wearing a winter coat.

 

[kryptekman]

TEMP: 4F
TIME: 1pm~4pm
DIST: 4miles

First recorded kill with the DVR and Predator 336, (Video Below, Kill at End) sorry that I switched right to Black Hot before shooting, may have seen more details in Fusion1 palette. The islamic extremist squirrel was doing the death dance after the headshot, you can slightly tell from video, Im sure with a PRO series armasight you would have more definition and detail. But as you can see, animals with a heat source stick out very much so, almost blooming everything out of the scene.

I hope to edit videos better and get a clearer shot of the spot and stalk then the money shot.

 

[Ratdog68]

Question... was it about Nuc-time (resolution) when you took out the ISIS tree-rat?

Now you need to get you a squirrel cooker.

 

[kryptekman]

Question... was it about Nuc-time (resolution) when you took out the ISIS tree-rat?

Now you need to get you a squirrel cooker.

lol, im not sure, I had the thermal constantly on, and that was around the 1 hour mark. I heard it NuC several times before then. The poor image quality its probably due to the humidity today, the lack of thermal differences in the trees and snow and air, and the fact the thermal was running on constant On in almost zero degrees.