The night vision goggle technology used by consumers today has its birth in the armed forces. Other things that got their start in the armed forces are the Internet, frozen dried food and the GPS just to name a few. When it comes to night vision technology we are not refering to the toys that our children may play with, but the real deal.

In the past, fighting battles at night was preferred to fighting a battle in daylight hours so that the soldiers remain stealthy under the cover of darkness, belaying their position until the final moment of attack. In the past this had been very difficult, because the human eye has a limit to what it can see in the dark and there had to be a better way than using the light of the moon and stars or blowing your cover because of the use of search and flashlights. The US Army have made use of their engineers and are constantly researching to find new ways and expand upon current technologies to procure optimum operational environments for their soldiers.

Today's night vision goggle devices gathers any available light by using electro magnetic radiation that is unviewable to the human eye. By making use of this kind of light equipment like night goggles, binoculars and scopes is able to give our eyes vision in the dark helping you to move around normally in almost complete darkness.

The market today is flooded with many versions of night vision goggle optics and you can become overwhelmed when shopping for a device. There 2 common types typically used 1.Image intensifiers 2.Thermal devices. Thermal devices work by looking at and scanning the differences in temperature in the direction they are pointed at. Commonly refered to a sFLIR's (Forward looking infrared).

Using light intensification and available light, the image intensifiers can amplify this light 2-5000 times greater than what the human eye see's. This light intensification uses phosphorous screen technology (similar to that used in a TV)encased in an eye piece to give a soldier as close to normal vision as possible. When this eyepiece is in place, it makes it possible to amplify the images for much better clarity when viewing. The phosphorous monitor or screen is green in color. The human eye can recognize more levels of green than any other color in the visible spectrum allowing the soldier to see better in the dark.

As I mentioned earlier it is easy to become overwhelmed with the many different ranges of magnifications and models out there in the market today. Different things work for different conditions and situations and this is something the armed forces had to deal with also. Although a soldier needs the best equipment possible other things like portability, weight and cost had to be taken into account. So by using a night goggle with image intensifiers only the weight was kept to a minimum and soldiers could carry out there missions in low light. conditions while the armed forces kept their cost down.

One point to remember as you wear the night vision goggle, you can and will experience some sort of tunnel vision since all peripheral vision is cut off within the eyepiece. Moving constantly will aid you in detecting your surroundings but judging distances accurately can become tough, as larger objects will seem closer than they really are and vice-versa. Your vision can go from 20/20 to 20/25 but the good news is that you are able to see. The Armed forces have the ability to work under the shroud of darkness, much like their enemies, allowing for a better chance to capture and defeat when necessary. The FLIRs really do help in locating human energy from within a heavy cover, allowing for the directing of soldiers to a certain area to carry out missions. Rescue missions also have a higher probability of success with the use of the Night Vision Devices.