Anyone into night vision?

[xelasnave]

I know I have various animals wandering around here at night and it would be nice to watch them given star gazing is so rare?

Any ideas guidance etc...I have no idea as I have never used anything..what got me I interested is I have this cute little bandicout? I got him with the flash light and he did not run off right away but how neat...only about 12 feet away outside the van.


Alex

[glend (Glen)]

There are the infrared critter cams that you can attach to fence posts or trees, which trigger on warmth detected. You can buy them online. I have seen one Bandicoot that seems to live behind my back shed and has a path into the neighbors property. More noisy are the possums that live in the bush beyond my back fence, and their eyes reflect the light from my astro head light. They growl at me from time to time but at least they have never tried to get into the observatory.

[leon]

Alex I have and Use a Ridgeline Digital Trail Camera, they are excellent and will capture the smallest critter at a reasonable distant in pitch darkness, you can also do video with it.

There are many different sorts around and you can get them on line easily.

Ours cost just under $200.00.

Put it on a tripod or strap it to a post or tree, they are very sensitive.

We had a noise in the ceiling some time ago and stuck it up roof, and sure enough it was a Rat.

They are great fun.

Leon

[RB (Andrew)]

Alex, I have a night vision unit which I bought from ALDI a few years ago.
I paid $149 but I don't think they're available anymore.
For the money, it's a fantastic little unit.

Here's a look at the unit (not the best review but you get the idea)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-DYc83NSkk&t=1s

I did a search and found this:
Anaconda has a similar unit for $249 but I don't know how good these ones are.

Hope this helps.

RB

[xelasnave]

Thanks very much gentlemen.

I do have two "trail cams" and the results from those is what got me thinking actually.

There are a nice pair of binos just under $6000 I noticed ...that made me take a big step back. Fancy spending that sort of money on something that you will only use at night

Alex

[leon]

I see now Alex you want something that you can use in real time, like the stuff the army and others use at night.

Leon

[xelasnave]

Given that this gear seems more expensive than I was expecting, and on the positive assumption I get back out there etc, I am thinking I can set up one of the security cameras ( or both of) that I use to check meridian flips,that I can watch the subject live on my tablet..they work in total dark....and if I really want to I could set the camera up on a mount to pan...mmmm thinking about it I have four cameras that pan but I have not got them running ..they go in a light socket but as I have no light sockets I need to make cords with light fittings sockets to get these cameras to work...so problem solved in effect...

Why these four additional cameras?..I set out to buy one but they had an offer buy one get one free and somehow I screwed up and ordered twice but happily the four were still cheaper than just one of the original two I purchased to watch the scopes in the observatory.

Sorry to waste everyones time when the solution to achieve my desired outcome was already in my hands..well at least in a box on the work bench awaiting work to be done.

Alex