Night-vision monocular reveals dark secrets in "true full color"

Oct 18, 2024

Duovox has followed its successful Kickstarter for a military-grade night-vision monocular with a Pro version that promises to bring the hidden darkness into "true full color." The nocturnal adventure gadget is also joined by a teeny smartphone camera.

The latest handheld night-vision monocular from Duovox sports a 60% larger sensor than the Ultra before it. That shapes up as a 1/1.79-inch CMOS image sensor with 3.75 x 3.75 µm pixels that's paired with a F/0.8 "super aperture" glass lens – "capturing more light, reducing noise, and enhancing image quality."

Rather than employing AI to render the colors, Duovox uses proprietary "true-full-color technology" – though makes no effort to explain how that works – for a claimed 99.99% color accuracy, as well as "clear, sharp visuals in motion."

The system captures footage in 1080p resolution, and is able to reveal the secrets of a dark scene down to 0.0001 lux. It comes with the same 850-nm IR illuminator as the Ultra before it, with the option to dial in seven levels of illumination, and boasts an IR range of 800 m (more than 2,600 ft) IR range for human and animal subjects, though the shapes of buildings could be revealed as far as a kilometer (3,280 ft) away. Duovox reports that the Ultra Pro also benefits from 10x optical focus plus 10x digital zoom to help bring distant objects closer.

Opposite the business end of the monocular is a 2-inch IPS display for viewing the output at 480x360 resolution, though live footage can be streamed over 802.11n Wi-Fi to a smartphone running the Duovox app.

The monocular is powered by a 6,000-mAh Li-Po battery for up to 10 hours of per-charge use, weighs in at 700 g (24.6 oz), has physical controls up top, is reported dustproof and waterproof, and is fashioned from aluminum alloy and ABS for in-the-field durability. A tripod mount is included for steady shooting.

Launching with the monocular is the teeny Duovox Vision camera module that shares most of the key specs with the Ultra Pro, but is designed to plug into a smartphone's USB-C port to give the handset powerful night-vision capabilities. It features a 90-degree wide-angle glass lens with a F/0.9 aperture, is powered by the handset's battery, offers a night-vision range of up to 100 m (328 ft), and tips the scales at just 60 g (2 oz).

As before, Duovox is crowdfunding production of the Ultra Pro and Vision devices – though has elected to head for Indiegogo this time. Perks for the Ultra Pro currently start at US$99, which includes a protective case and lens cap, a 64-GB media card (up to 512 GB is supported) and more. The Vision camera is also currently pitched at $99.

The usual crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan with the already funded campaign, shipping for both devices is estimated to start from December. The videos below have more.

Source: Duovox