Carson MiniAura Digital Night Vision Monocular with Carry Pouch

INFORMED REVIEW: Im calling this an "informed" review due to the number of reviews i have read on this monocular and similar products. Now that i have it and have used it, i can compare that to what ive read. From what ive read, alot of people want much more out of night vision, at this price point, than is realistic. Now, hold your horses on that thought, this little monocular is fantastic by any measure. For 95 dollars i am now able to see up to a hundred yards through my yard with great detail. And i asked myself the important question i think many of us on here wonder when looking for night vision devices. "Can I use this to see people or animals a solid distance in front of me, in complete darkness, with enough detail to make our who or what they are, and what they are doing?" Yes. Yes,yes,yes. Anyone who says otherwise has gotten a defective unit. Because for 95 dollars im able to use this stupid thing to pick out the details in the bark of a tree a solid 150 feet away from me. That is p-lenty enough for me. Now im not the owner of a large rural property, in which a more powerful device would be needed. Im in a suburban area with a fairly large yard, enough for this small device to show me whats going on at night, and i am usually able to scan about 1000-3000 square feet of space in front of me at any given angle of view. Thats assuming i can clearly see about 20-40 feet wide and about 100 deep.Additionally, this thing performs wonderfully in tight spaces, so that review about it not being suited for attics and crawl spaces, they are completely wrong. Remember, this thing fits in my pocket without much trouble at all. So all in all, this device is very effective for how cheap and small it is. It has a surprisingly solid construction of what appears to be ABS plastic and hold three normal AAA batteries. I love that. My only question is how battery life holds up, but since it runs off AAA it can be replaced and as much as I need can be carried on me at any time of course. So it's designed for you to keep powering it wherever you need it really. This appeared to be cheap and dodgy when i ordered it. What i got was far from that. This monocular is seriously worth the money. 9/10

I had one before, and left the batteries inside. Found it 2 years later, and it had corroded. Couldn't even get the battery door open. I got this one, because I had the last one when my mother was still alive. It works just as good, and is the best night vision monocular I have. I won't make the same mistake as before, and lose it with the batteries inside.

I had a gift card and always wanted to buy this thing. In short I would have gladly paid full price. I had a gen1 device about 10 years ago.... this thing blows that out of the water by 1000%. The picture quality is about what you get from a modern baby monitor. Pro's: -uses typical batteries and not the expensive CR123 or whatever that my gen 1 needed -picture quality is exceptional compared to my old gen1 device.... not even close. Larger field of view, no distortion at the edges. The old gen 1 device I had was literally looking through a tiny hole with massive "fish eye" effect. This has no fish eye and can scan larger areas quickly. -Super light compared to the clunky gen1 device I had, powers instantly, you can't accidently fry a tube if a car drives by Pro/Con: -1:1 magnification. I personally like this but some might find this to be a con. My previous NV Gen1 device had a 3-4x mag.... didn't care for it since it reduced the field of vision greatly for how far you could actually use the device. -Its extremely small. I was surprised even after reading all the reviews. Its tiny! I like that compared to my Gen1 device which took like two hands and a backpack to carry (like the size of a old school camcorder). Con's: -The IR is visible, and usually needed. its not always needed if there is enough ambient light (i.e. suburban environment). I'm not trying to use this as a self defense / mil style application so if the red dot happens to be spotted I'm not worried. The spotter would have to be fairly inline with the device to spot it. Its not super bright but would be noticeable at closer distances and if it was very dark. -You can't see through windows.... I think this is very typical for any NV. My GEN1 device always had window glare whether trying to see out of a window from your house to spot something in the backyard, or trying to look through a window from a distance (i.e. backyard / into your house). Again I'm not trying to use this thing as a survival tool, or anything pervy so I'm not really that concerned and I'm not convinced that higher GEN devices can do this effectively all the time. -I wish the IR emitter could be dialed back a bit (i.e. lowest setting could get lower). -I do have 1 horizontal line through my display.... very not noticeable or annoying but its there. Again, picture quality is completely insane compared to my old Gen1 device. completely satisfied for this price.

This little guy is small. It isn't the most fantastic night vision, it doesn't have the longest range, but really im comparing it to devices costing hundreds to thousands... as it stands by itself I've used it to watch wildlife, catch people where they weren't supposed to be (although a powerful flashlight is just as effective, this thing is still fun), looked over the landscape on a crescent moon, etc. To be fair, the downside's are: -The range is limited without external light. as it is basically an invisible flashlight attached to a camera that sees it. But any ambient light is amplified, so it will surprise you sometimes. -With the illuminator is on the batteries drain in about 20 minutes. For real though, if you're looking at this you're either looking for something REALLY small (1/2 shirt pocket sized), affordable, fun, and effective enough for kicks and giggles... or something else.

For the price this is s cool little device. I've owned pricey night vision in the past and granted this doesn't perform like true night vision, but still can be fun. My biggest complaint is the obvious red light when it's in I.R. mode. The mode without it is virtually useless. You would need so much ambient light to use it without the I.R. that you'd be able to see with your own eyes without the device. It has a small field of view also. It works great with the I.R. on high, provided you're not trying to be sneaky because the red light gives you away. The magnification is basically zero, it's real time view. Again, for the price and a backyard toy, it can be fun, but if you want serious night vision, spend serious money.

This little devise turned out to be far more than I expected. I use this night vision tool every night while I walk my dog around our property in a rural area. The dog is large and of a sporting breed and it is important for me to see wild animals before the dog does and takes off after them and potentially pulls me off my feet when it gets to the end of the leash. A flashlight will do the same except that I will see the animal at the same time as the dog. This devise allows me to see them before the dog does. The viewing lens is very bright and if you look through it for any time at all your pupil will contract to its smallest diameter making that one eye night blind, until it recovers. What I have found is if I look through the lens while holding it a few inches away from my eye it does not have as severe an effect. The specs report the viewing range as 82 feet. The box it came in says 146 feet, I say it is closer to 100 feet depending on what you are looking and the atmospheric conditions. I was concerned about weather resistance and the manufacturer states that it is not weather resistant. However, I have used it in the rain (moderate) and due to the fact that the unit fits entirely in my hand I was able to keep it shielded and not have a problem, so far. Use in heavy rain is almost a moot point as the rain bounces back the IR and you can not see much at any rate. One of the best features of this unit is the small size and one of the worst features is the small size. Compact and easy to carry anywhere but the small controls can be a challenge for my big fingers. A challenge but not an impossibility. This is a very worthwhile night vision devise, great cost, very user friendly.

The reason I this product, my wife and I are doing a lot of traveling hotels, airbnbs, and I watched a lot of videos on hidden cameras in these places. I was looking for something to pick up those hidden cameras out of all the videos I watched. This product worked like it should have and would pick up any infrared. Hidden camera at night.That's the reason I purchased this item.

I'll start with why I had to only give 4 stars. There is something in the lense, I actually think its a dead bug. Its very small and doesn't effect much, in fact I didn't notice it at first. But its there and it shouldn't be and its inside so I cant clean it. Otherwise this is amazing. Picture quality is like looking through a 90s black and white digital camera (except you can see in the dark), but that's a lot better than the 90s Russian surplus NV I had previously. There is no green tint which is great and the focus works well to keep the image sharp considering what it is. Also the infrared spotlight is impressively bright. Its not just a little led its a real emitter. My old NV I found myself having to supplement it with an infrared flashlight but I dont feel the need with the Carson. Because of the infrared you can use it in pitch black as far as the IR light will throw which is a few dozen yards. This thing isn't the greatest as far as image quality or light amplification. But keep in mind it is TINY and CHEAP (in a good way). Its a pocket sized spy gadget/toy and for $100 its a lot of fun. For the size and price I'm truly impressed. Im gonna use it watch the raccoons make a circus out of my back yard.

This is an awesome device. It's not intended for military use and the cost is not comparable with military night vision stuff so I wouldn't compare this little guy with top dollar night vision solutions. However, there is at least one parameter of this device that beats any competitors - the size. It's very small and it does exactly what it's supposed to do, so what not to like? Even with IR illumination turned off it actually helps to see in low lighting conditions just as advertised (not in all cases but in many cases). With IR illumination it produces very sharp and contrast image just as advertised. The surface of the device is "soft-touch" kind of polymer, feels very nice. The device actually allows you to do what you need in total darkness without drawing too much attention or waking your family up (unless you're doing too much noise). For the price it performs very well and I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in inexpensive night vision solution. If slightly visible IR illumination LED is a problem for you, you can easily upgrade your device by covering the LED with IR filter cut to proper dimensions, it won't cost you much. UPDATE: 3 years later it still works like new. Never had a problem with it, other than taking batteries out of it sometimes was a challenge.

nul

Ich war schon beim Auspacken von dem geringen Gewicht dieses Gerätes überrascht. Als nächstes beeindruckte mich die tolle Haptik, denn das Teil liegt dank der guten Oberfläche wirklich gut in der Hand. Der erste Praxistest in einem absolut dunklen Raum verblüffte mich total. Man sieht wirklich alles. In manchen Rezensionen wird von einem hohen Batterieverbrauch geschrieben. Dies kann ich nicht bestätigen, denn in den meisten Fällen ist es gar nicht notwendig das IR-Licht zuzuschalten und schon gar nicht auf voller Leistung. Das mitgelieferte kleine Aufbewahrungsbeutelchen finde ich super um das Nachtsichtgerät zu schützen. Ich hätte mir gewünscht, daß die zuletzt gewählte einstellung des IR-Lichtes gespeichert bleibt, aber es ist auch kein Problem, denn man kann es mit wenigen Knopfdrücken umstellen. Überhaupt ist das Gerät sehr intuitiv bedienbar und man findet sich sehr schnell rein. Ich habe es einem Freund sofort weiterempfohlen und für ihn bestellt. Absolute Kaufempfehlung.

Received the product today and tested it around the house and nearby parks. Great little device for the price. Will definitely be using it for hunting. Can see in total darkness up to a fair distance and under some good ambient light does really well in outdoors. The IR illuminator that comes installed in it is quite strong and does the job however will look into buying something more powerful to allow greater results. Highly recommend.

Great product, does exactly as it says and easy to use it.