KIT & GEAR
NIGHT VISION
SIONYX
AURORA
SPORT
AS THE “AIRSOFT ACTION LEGION” BEGINS TO HAVE REAL INPUT FROM AROUND THE GLOBE,
CONTRIBUTOR ROB BRINGS IN A GREAT REPORT ON GEAR HE WISHES HE’D HAD “IN THE DAY”,
TYING IN NICELY TO OUR CAGE FEATURE THIS MONTH!
“He was talking too loudly when
I tapped him on the shoulder and
whispered: “Shhh! You stupid
American!” We were on watch
and, as per normal SOP, we were to
record what we saw and report back.
Stealth was the name of the game.
Two guys went by and I hit record.
Wait, they had red arm insignia on
not blue badges? Ah confirmed those
are the special units we heard about
but no way we could tell with the
monochrome NV sets we normally
used.
“It was 0 dark 1/8 moonlight, not
enough to see your hand in front but
with any decent NV it looked almost
daylight outside of the canopy. I
slid away having what we needed,
and we picked our way through the
dense cover, not afraid of using our
illuminators now as they were 1065nm
and traditional NVGs don’t see in that
range …but this SiOnyx colour NV
camera did. Earlier I was arguing with
my teammate about these low-cost
cameras; yeah I’m a fool and now I
saw their value was far above what
I thought. He had laughed and said:
“Colour is information and information
is good”. Yeah mate, it is!”
I
recently received a SiOnyx Aurora Sport
IP67-rated action night vision camera
and was asked if we needed these for
our team. My first reaction was “We all
have PVS14s and FLIR, so why would
we need that?” Well colour is indeed
information and more information is
indeed good. Jumping ahead though, this
is now in my go-bag and most likely should
be in yours as well.
Before we get off to the camera lets
cover a few details.
Seeing in the dark is important, so
much so that man has used fire, flashlights
and more for ages. Then the military
developed light intensifiers, owning the
night and these evolved into our current
NVG tech, but it sees in monochrome.
So why is “Seeing Colour at Night”
so Important? The answer is pretty
straightforward… Seeing colour enhances
situational awareness, resulting in faster
and more accurate decision making. It
allows for a better understanding of the
terrain and the surrounding area and can
reduce fatigue and disorientation that
has been associated with conventional,
monochrome NVG.
Seeing in colour is just what the
human body is used to and so a typical
individual can mentally process what
they’re seeing faster with these systems.
Seeing in colour aids reconnaissance and
target identification. Colour night vision
can provide important missing data (the
colour of a target vehicle or clothing, etc.)
allowing positive identification faster,
and positive identification further. Night
colour vision aids in night-time search
and rescue and recovery operations more
efficiently and with greater safety. Colour
can be crucial for rapid and accurate
wound assessment and treatment, as
with monochromatic night vision, blood
can look the same as water. This system
enables the user to differentiate arterial
from venous blood. Colour also can allow
bomb techs to see red, green, blue, and
different colour wires, components, and
more. And then there are maritime uses
(IP67 rated remember) where colour may
be the key to “knowing” rather than
“guessing”. Wreck that $50k skiff and see
how much your boss wants to pay you!
SIONYX
So what makes this system what it is?
Cost? MSRP of US$399 as of Nov 2019.
A typical Gen2+ sees less and can cost
over US$1,000+, then at Gen3 we get
into 3 to 5 thousand US dollars and it is
“SEEING COLOUR ENHANCES SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, RESULTING IN FASTER AND MORE
ACCURATE DECISION MAKING. IT ALLOWS FOR A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE TERRAIN
AND THE SURROUNDING AREA AND CAN REDUCE FATIGUE AND DISORIENTATION THAT HAS BEEN
ASSOCIATED WITH CONVENTIONAL, MONOCHROME NVG.”
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APRIL 2020