ATN Night Scout 1st Generation Night Vision Binoculars

These night vision binoculars (NVB) may look like your conventional binoculars that you take to the ballgame, but they're a different thing altogether. Regular (daytime) binos are intended to allow the user to view things at a long distance. NV binos are intended to allow the user to view things in the dark, but no far away. With regular binos, the viewer actually sees through the instrument when looking at a distant object. With NV devices, what you see is a green TV-like image that's projected onto the eyepiece. The viewer doesn't see though the NVB at all. Rather, the NVB takes in low levels of light and amplifies that light thousands of times through an intensifier tube thnt projects the green image the viewer sees in the eyepiece. So, the tube is the single most important factor in the quality of a night vision device. This particular model from ATN, the Night Scout, uses a pair of 1st generation NV tubes. Please see my entry below for more info on night vision "generations".

As a first generation device, the Night Scout is rather limited in its night-time performance, but it has the important advantage of letting the viewer use both eyes, allowing much improved depth perception and lowering the fatigue factor involved in looking through a monocular NVD for more than a few minutes. To their credit, ATN uses only high quality Russian made tubes in this model. The edge distortion (fisheye effect) that's so evident in many 1st gen units is minimal in the Night Scout. To be effective in truly dark environments, it relies on the integral infrared (IR) light. IR is invisible to the naked eye, but it shows up clearly in NV scopes. With the IR illumination the Night Scout gives a nicely detailed image of whatever's within about 20-50 yards in the dark. On a moonlit night, it will be able to see clearly at two or three times that distance, sometimes even without the IR. The image quality is quite good for a 1st gen scope, too. The 5x magnification enlarges distant objects within its field of view nicely. The trade off is that anything under 20 feet away won't come into focus.

The Scout itself is a big, hefty unit, weighing over three pounds and requiring two hands to use it. It has "smart" technology, which is a proximity sensor that automatically turns the binos on when they're brought into viewing position and turns them off when they're lowered. This saves the batteries and is a good feature, since the batteries are a pair of 3 volt CR123 camera cells and are expensive.

The scout comes in a sturdy carrying case and also includes a wide nylon neck strap, which you'll appreciate.


NV Generations Background

Night vision equipment (usually abbreviated "NV") is vastly different from what most of us use as daytime optics, such as spotting scopes, telescopes, binoculars and rifle scopes. The magnification is usually low, less than 5x in almost all cases, and rarely above 3x. And few, if any, NV scopes offer zoom magnification which is popular on daytime optics. What's important in NV is not how large the viewed object is, but how clearly you can see it in dim light. The single biggest factor in NV performance is the intensifier tube. NV optics work by amplifying light through the intensifier tube and then sending the amplified image to the eyepiece. Most NV scopes are powered by 3 volt camera batteries or a pair of AA cells. Some have an additional battery for an attached infrared (IR) lamp. But, be aware that the tube is very sensitive to bright lights and should never be turned on during daylight hours without the protective lens cap in place. These intensifier tubes are available in four different levels of performance:

A) 1st generation, which is what was used in Vietnam in the 60's and early 70's. This is the lowest priced, most readily available NV. Those on the market are usually Russian made, and quality varies greatly. If you're thinking of buying a "1st Gen" NV scope, you'll be much better off if you can actually look through the scope you're buying before you
purchase it. There are quite a few poor quality 1st gen tubes out there. "1st Gen" allows you to see well in places where it's not all that dark to begin with. The image is usually slightly distorted towards the edge of the field of view. These NV scopes benefit greatly from infrared illuminators, which are usually built into the scopes. The IR light is invisible to the naked eye, but shows up very well in a NV scope. Without an IR illuminator, most 1st gen scopes are very limited in what they can see.

B) 2nd generation, developed in the 70's and issued to the military in the 80's, is a big step up from 1st gen equipment. The image is much brighter and more well defined than anything in 1st gen. The distorted edges are gone. They allow you to see considerably further in less light than anything in 1st gen. 2nd gen scopes are also much less
dependent on IR illuminators, but most include them for use in pitch black conditions, such as inside unlit buildings at night. Accordingly, 2nd gen scopes cost about three or four times as much as 1st gen. Most 2nd gen scopes have US made tubes.

C) 3rd generation, developed in the 80's for the military, is currently the best that's readily available to the public. The 3rd gen scopes are much more efficient than 2nd gen and cost two to three times what a 2nd gen scope will. These scopes offer a very clear view in even very dim conditions. In fact, under most outdoor conditions, the use of the IR illuminator is unnecessary. Even in unlit rooms at night, the IR only needs to be used for seeing details unless the room has no windows. Lighting up the IR illuminator of a 3rd gen scope is like turning on a
bright light when you get up in the middle of the night: it's uncomfortably bright at first.

D) 4th generation, developed in the 90's. These scopes are available to the public on a limited basis. They represent the state of the art in civilian night vision scopes and are a step up from 3rd gen by providing an almost daytime view, even in the middle of the night. However, these scopes are not easy to find, and those that are available will cost thousands of dollars. This makes them out of reach for most potential users. But 1st, 2nd and 3rd gen scopes will do the
job quite well for most of us.