r/NightVision • u/[deleted] • Oct 07 '23
Night Fox: Whisker - review
I would like to preface by saying this post is intended for beginners in the hobby.
Looking for devices that are inexpensive is an incredibly tough undertaking, which feels like an effort in futility when you are on a budget and professional devices are prohibitively expensive. However, I’m here to report to you about my mistakes so you don’t have to repeat them.
To put it bluntly the Night Fox Whisker is an absolute piece of shit device. The pros outweigh the cons which is why I’m going to go over the pros first. (Considering that it is a short list.)
The pros are that they have superb, magnification, and the company Night Fox also creates plastic dovetail adapters that are rugged and can turn any of their game/wildlife watching devices into hands-free nods. Aside from this and their design making them look like cyberpunk tech, that is where the pros end.
The cons of this device outweigh the aforementioned pros; to begin, this device is deceiving because it looks like a pair of binoculars however, they are not true binocular nods. One of its lenses is actually an infrared light with a magnification dial on the side. The problem with the light arises when viewing it through the device. It is incredibly bright when focused on its farthest magnification, and when widened to the full and closest magnification, causes the IR light intensification reflected off of lighter toned objects to reflect that IR light back to the user. This causes a blinding affect, which in some instances, may cause the device’s internal programming to automatically shut off to preserve the camera from any damage. This leads into a mind-numbingly frustrating issue with the Night Fox Whisker: it likes to automatically shut off when not in use. This device tends to do this, when it is not actively recording, which is a feature that is required for long-term use. The only solution to this problem which increases its price point, would be to purchase an SD card with the largest memory possible. The only one available is 1 terabyte which marks up the price by another $80-$100. This brings the overall price up to $350-$400. There are settings that I was able to access which allowed me to turn off the automatic shut off feature, however, this did not work, and the device felt the need to turn itself off anyhow, despite me, turning off the inactive power reserve feature. This would mean I would have to record in order to ensure full use of this device. when the device was on, in some instances simply using this device, and turning too fast, would result in a motion blur glitch, which would cause the screen’s LCD to bug out and display a static image akin to the TV color palette glitch, effectively making me blind. Because this is technically a monocular device, this means the field of view is reduced as well. The best way I can describe the FOV is like sitting at the furthest back seat in a movie theater, and the resolution on the theater screen is noticeably pixelated. Imagine this all while the screen automatically turns off every minute, or bright and flashy footage on-screen result in a glitching affect, requiring you to turn it off and back on again and again. To make matters worse, imagine you have to refocus a dial every time you turn it on to regain the original picture you had the dial setting to. Readjusting your site takes up precious time, and when one is training, gooning, or in a serious situation, that precious time could have been spent on target acquisitions, prep, or other important tasks. Because this device is poorly balanced too, expect to have a headache and major discomfort after about 10 to 15 minutes of wear-time. I have done everything I could to try and find a counterweight system that works for this, however, due to their lack of streamlined design and bulkiness in addition to the off-center angle, even the exact countered weight would do nothing to prevent slipping, loosening of the chin straps, and discomfort.
In conclusion, if you are on Amazon and you think you can cheap out and still consider yourself a serious professional regular of the hobby, you are fucking kidding yourself. Learn from my moronic mistake and avoid buyers remorse. The Night Fox brand might be good with their other products but I will never know because after this abysmal product performance, I wouldn’t think twice of avoiding their brand. When it comes to night vision, there are only 3 ways you can goon-out. Either you suck it up and save the $5000 or so to buy yourself a good pair of true nods, you use your tax returns to invest in some. Alternatively you can make your own using build kits available on etsy, tutorials on Youtube with links to the parts on Amazon, and open-source 3D print files. Seeing in the dark is a big deal when it comes to being an effective warrior. It is something you can’t cheap out on however. There is no way. Especially when quack products like the one in this review continue to pray on uninformed suckers like me, and lost beginners like you. Since I have decent financial management, I am in the process of investing in a professional pair of dual tubes and a battery pack for long nights on the range. But if you are just entering the hobby, my advice, don’t buy anything that is under $4000 unless it is digital. If they are digital NVGs, don’t go lower than $500-$600. If you have the knowledge to make your own and it’s cheaper to do so, go ahead and make your own. This concludes my review.
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u/Short-University1645 Oct 08 '23
Would this be cool for a GF loner for walks? Does it have 1x ?
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Oct 09 '23
They look cool. And if you can modify the internals like a professional C&E shop clerk, by all means blow $200-$300 on it. But I’m telling you rn, these nods are pure trash.
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u/Short-University1645 Oct 09 '23
I use these but handheld for camping and they rock, but I’m just investing noises and peeping on the campers down the way, but I never thought about helmet use. And trash? I paid 100 bucks the batteries 🔋 are the worst part.
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Oct 09 '23
Whatever tickles your pickle
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u/Short-University1645 Oct 09 '23
I mean you did write a Bible on them for some reason my ninja
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Nov 01 '23
I know this reply is weeks late, but your right. Maybe I got a faulty pair. If your work better than mine, I am elated Nightfox isn't as bad a brand as I thought based off of my one bad experience. But I won't be getting into nightfox for the foreseeable future until I get my hands on a pair of analogs.
Does your own pair turn off automatically when not using the recording function? Just curious because that was a consistent issue with mine despite toggling the options.
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u/AutonomicSleet May 20 '24
Whisker wasn't really designed to be tactical, it was heavily influenced by feedback from ecologists who use them to observe with a tripod and constantly record for later review. Just like a lot of the thermal scopes and bins are heavily influenced by hunters and the rest of thermal cams are influenced by industrial electricians/engineers, its the same for whisker but with ecologists.
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u/External-Freedom-857 Low SNR Oct 07 '23 edited Oct 07 '23
Does they have 1x magnification? If not we don't even need to talk about it. I think the Nightfox RED with over 54° FOV is the best digital unit at the moment for shooting and Navigation.
There a many people who do night shooting with the RED.
I'm Always interested in good budget digital options. If you don't need the stealthy image intensifier tube, it's perfectly fine. Buy a big 940nm IR light and you are good to go. The HD resolution on digital units is also very satisfying.
Edit: I looked it up. The whiskers could be the new digital budget NVG for everyone. But no. They fucked it up. 1080p sensor but 360p screen resolution... and the image sensor is on the left side instead of the right side. How dumb? 30 FPS lock and 20 fps in low light. Very sad.
Man, I was so excited. But the fucked it up. Heavily.
So the RED is still the best for the helmet.