As child we all had dreams of seeing in the dark like the heroes in our comic books. How many of us actually achieved this dream? Well, you’ll be pleased to know that now each and every one of us has the power to realise these dreams. Night vision goggles! Its a daunting task selecting the right pair but hopefully this manual will help you out.

First you need to decide what type of night vision equipment you want. You can have either image intensifying or thermal and they both have different advantages and disadvantages. There is also a big price gaps so picking the wrong type for your purpose could be very costly.

Thermal night vision goggles are adept at seeing the heat lines around the objects in the view finder. They assign differing heat colours to allow you to differentiate things. They usually work at their best when used to locate animals and living animals that let off a large heat signature. This variety is generally used by law enforcement operatives.

The other main style of night vision goggles are known as image intensifiers. These work through the use of electrons passing over a weird internal plate. They make it easier for the user to see by tracing another, clearer image around this darker light. This is a massively effective method although it does have a drawback. It needs a slight light source to work initially. They low tech will not work in complete darkness.

The shape of your night vision device will vary wildly depending on its primary role and purpose, hunting equipment for example will come in the shape of a scope. The military use eye mounted devices that fit onto the helmets of soldiers to enable them to locate the enemy without using their hands to see.

The resolution of the image is without doubt the largest factor to determine the price you pay. In brief the resolution is how many lines there are on the screen. The more there are the clearer and crisper the representation will be.

The mobility of your equipment is also an important factor. It’s no use at all having the latest and greatest state of the art equipment if it’s too cumbersome and unwieldy to use effectively. You may even find yourself leaving heavy equipment in its box at home, which ultimately means you wasted a lot of money on something you don’t actually use or need. Of all the varieties the monocular is the easiest to haul and fits easily into a long jacket pocket.

The effective range of your equipment is important to many users. Hunters in particular need an effective range that enables them to see their targets from a greater distance. You should be able to find the range on the box, make sure to check it’s sufficient before you part with your cash.

As you can see there’s a lot to think about when purchasing something as expensive as this and not a decision you can make lightly. Remember to try to pick your night vision glasses based on your needs and not because you want to look like Rambo!