Using Night Vision, Flashlights and other Cool Stuff

By JOracle
March 29, 2005
www.specialopspaintball.com

Night paintball is one of those great ideas that has struggled to become a practical idea. Now, with the rise of scenario paintball and the development of economical night vision, night paintball has become a radically cool aspect of woodsball_™.

If you don’t think about it too hard, night paintball sounds like a kickass good time. The devil, as they say, is in the details. How do you see another player at night?  How do you tell one team from another? How do you check a hit?  How do you know that you eliminated the other person?  These, and several other concerns, have made night paintball quite a technical challenge.

Night paintball games of the past have been exercises in extreme chaos. These days, we pretty much have the problem licked – not to mention giving gear-hungry paintballers a whole new line of (expensive) equipment to drool over.

 

Night Vision

Prior to the last few years, night vision equipment was so expensive that nobody in their right mind would risk letting their night vision gear get shot with a paintball. Today, the highest quality night vision is still fairly costly, but many paintballers are saving up and adding these incredible toys to their arsenal.

Night vision quality is rated by the “generation” of the night vision technology. First Generation (“Gen One”) night vision is very basic and provides only rudimentary night vision ability. Second Gen is significantly better than First Gen and Third Gen beats Second Gen by a lot. If you’re trying to figure out if “Gen Two” is all that much better than “Gen One,” the answer is “Yes!”  If you want to know if “Gen Three” kicks butt on “Gen Two,” again, the answer is “Yes!”  Most serious nightballers save up, buy Gen Three and they love the advantage it gives them. Bottom line – spend as much on your night vision as you possibly can without having a heart attack every time you get paint on it.

Most night vision devices come with an IR illuminator. This is a fancy name for an infra-red flashlight. The illuminator comes in the same housing as your goggle, monocular or riflescope and, when you turn it on, it shines a beam of light much like a flashlight beam. But, unlike a flashlight, Infra-red light can’t be seen by the human eye. The illumination can only be seen through a night vision device. When you’re moving through a forest, your night vision device by itself will not penetrate deep shadows. Much like your normal eyesight, night vision adjusts to the brightest part of the scene and leaves shadows less-visible. The IR illuminator can penetrate those shadows, like a flashlight, and expose hidden dangers.

There are a number of factors when considering night vision, such as line pair, light gain, and signal to noise ratio. “Line pair” describes the level of detail that your night vision image will show. Gen One night vision employs around 12 line pairs and Gen Three employs 64 line pairs. Obviously, you can see much more with a Gen Three device.

Night vision takes a seemingly dark scene and amplifies the tiny amount of light already present. This function is called light gain and it is also a very important indicator of night vision quality. Gen Three devices generate about thirty times the amount of light gain that you’ll see in a Gen One device. Again, you pay much more for Gen Three, but you get to see much more too.

The last important index of night vision quality is signal to noise ratio. Just like on a TV, your night vision will show snow or static. This is called “noise” and it is cancelled out by superior “signal” strength. A Gen Three device will cancel out noise about twenty-two times better than a Gen One device. Basically, Gen One is like a ranch-house television set using an antenna that’s 400 miles from the TV tower – there’s plenty of static. Gen Three is like having cable – virtually no static.

Here’s what you need to know:  when buying from a reputable dealer, you get what you pay for. More money will get you better quality. The higher the Gen level, the better the picture quality and the more it will cost you. There is no shortcut to night vision. Spend your dough on quality and you won’t be disappointed.

If you’d like to experiment with night vision and you can only afford an economy product, you may want to try a Russian-made Gen One or Gen Two device. Just remember, you’re buying a device that will give you an improvement over darkness, but you can’t expect it to deliver Gen Three quality. In most conditions, looking through a Gen Three device is like seeing daylight.

Playing Paintball with Night Vision.

A small percentage of paintballers have made the leap to night vision. So, night vision can amount to a huge advantage when playing night games. If you’ve ever dreamed of being the “Predator,” where you can see them and they can’t see you, night vision paintball can be a thrilling experience.

Even the smallest amount of artificial light, such as the LED on someone’s Revvy hopper, will act as a homing beacon when you view him through night vision. Even dim flashlights show up as blazing starbursts.

At the end of the night game, most would agree that night vision – especially in Gen Three form – rocks night paintball. Let’s take a look at a few night vision configurations.

Night Vision Goggles.

Your eyes automatically focus both close and far. When you look at your hand, your eyes “zoom” out. When you’re looking down the road at some guys coming your way, your eyes “zoom” in. Night vision goggles don’t have this ability, so you’re constantly focusing manually as you look near and far. This problem becomes noteworthy when you occupy both eyes with a night vision goggle.

To make matters worse, your paintball goggle holds the night vision reticules out from your face, sometimes giving you uncomfortable tunnel-vision.  Night vision goggles were not necessarily designed to accommodate the “eye relief” that a paintball mask creates. In other words, your lens will hold the night vision reticule an inch or so from your eye. The device was designed to sit a little closer to your eye than that, so this “eye relief” issue cuts in to the device’s effectiveness. It bothers some people and doesn’t faze others at all.

Despite the challenges, paintballers use Gen Three night vision goggles, often costing over $2,000. A PVS-7 goggle, like you see special forces wearing, is a great device for a player who will be manning a fixed defense. A goggle will give you better night vision than a single-eye monocular, but the goggle occupies both of your eyes and that becomes a problem if you’ll be working your way across varied terrain.

As mentioned above, a goggle forces you to focus near or far. If you’re walking with a goggle, you will be looking down the trail for enemy players. That leaves you virtually blind to the terrain immediately in front of your feet.

If you’ll be doing a great deal of stalking, you will probably prefer a monocular.

Night Vision Monoculars

A monocular can be made to work outside of the paintball mask and can provide a level of practical night vision. While a monocular still must focus near or far, you have your free eye to watch your step. By using the night vision to look down the trail, and your free eye to keep track of your foot placement, you can move freely and use night vision at the same time.

Monoculars can be purchased so that they attach to a headband, like night vision goggles. Getting the headband and the drop-down mechanism to function with paintball goggles can be a challenge. Many modify their mask or the night vision headband bracket to get a good fit.

Still, the eye relief isn’t perfect, but it tends to work out once you get used to it.

Drop-down style monoculars run between $350 and $3,500.

Night Vision Scopes and Sights

According to some, the most practical night vision apparatus is the night vision sight or scope. With a night vision scope attached to your paintball gun, you can scan areas as you walk – raising your marker and panning through your sight to find hidden opposition. Look for a scope with low magnification. You don’t need zoom when you’re scanning the area immediately around you.

While you’re scanning, you can use the illuminator found one your night vision scope or you can add a more powerful illuminator as well.

The good news about using a night vision scope is that, when you see a target, you’re ready to rock and roll and you know where your paintgun is shooting. The bad news is that you have to look through your scope to see anything. Common sense would say that you will use your gun-mounted night vision less than you would use a goggle or monocular. After all, you can’t spend all night with your paintgun held up to your eye.

Night vision scopes will cost you somewhere between $400 and $3800.

The downsides of night vision, other than the focus problems discussed above, aren’t related to image quality. Night vision definitely works. However, bright lights (such as others’ flashlights, city lights, and the starburst rounds sometimes used at night games) can temporarily blind or reduce the effectiveness of your night vision device. Also, unless you’re using a night vision scope, you’ll have a hard time looking down your paintgun sights at night. Many overcome this problem by using illuminated “holographic” sights (another $250.)  There are even some holo sights that use IR light instead of laser light to indicate your target.

Glow-in-the-Dark Paintballs.

Another technical advance that has greatly aided night paintball is the glow-in-the-dark paintball. By using these glowing paintballs, you can see the trajectory of your paintball as well as see hits more easily. Used in conjunction with a night vision scope, these paintballs make it pretty easy to “walk” your shots in.

Glowing paintballs also paint a trail right back to your position. Many night paintballers mix glowing paintballs with regular paintballs to give a tracer effect to their shots. Every few paintballs glow and, if you’re shooting in streams, that’s enough to give you an idea of shot placement.

Many scenario games require that you use field paint only. In these cases, you probably won’t have the opportunity to use glow-in-the-dark paintballs. Not to worry, with even a small amount of moonlight, you can usually see your normal paintballs flight path through your night vision device.

Flashlights.

Probably the cheapest “night vision” device is a flashlight attached to your paintball gun’s weaver rail. Many such flashlights are powerful and compact. They are superb for finding opposition on a nighttime battlefield.

The obvious downside is that you also give your position away the moment you turn on your personal searchlight. Many times, your light will be met with a hail of paint. Still, there are times during night games when it makes sense to use your flashlight and there’s no reason to go into a night battle without one.

A small, red-filtered or dim flashlight is a must. This light attaches to your vest and not onto your gun. With a dim light, you can clean barrels, check air pressure or fiddle with gear without giving away your position.

Laser Sights.

Most scenario games prohibit the use of laser sights because they can damage the retinas of opposing players. Still, if your game allows their use, laser sights are ideal for finding a target, especially when used in conjunction with a night vision goggle or monocular. Still, you should be aware of the inherent danger of laser sights – they can damage other player’s eyes and extreme caution should be exercised when considering a laser.

Now that you’ve been introduced to night paintball basics, gear up, suit up and get in the action. Night games can be some of the most technically challenging, and memorable, games of your paintball career.

copyright 2005 Special Ops Paintball