Solomark Night Vision Monocular, Blue-Infrared Illuminator Allows Viewing in The Dark - Records Images and Video

This is my "pre-delivery" review, aka "why I purchased this unit over the several dozen others I looked at.First, I ruled out anything over $400 because of budget constraints.Next I ruled out Gen 1's, the only "image intensifier tube" technology that is available for less than $400. Those units are older technology, and do not provide the clarity, flexibility and features of new "digital" technology in that price range.Next, I ruled out Binoculars in favor of a Monocular unit for two reasons: 1) price. In this price range, binocular units (not true binoculars - the same single objective lens is seen by both eye pieces) are at least $100 more than an equivalent performing monocular, and 2) Using night vision equipment, it is alway best to keep one eye attuned to the dark by keeping it away from a bright eyepiece.So this left me with a handful of options.* The Bushnell and Bestguarder clones. I discounted these because the widest angle of view was 6 degrees which is fairly narrow. In my environment I don't have a clear line of sight beyond 100 yards or so with most being within 50 yards. And many reviews dinged them because the brightness of the eyepiece was excessive and could not be toned down.* The Nite Owl iGen 20/20. This was a serious contender because of its flexibility in lowering the frame rate to increase sensitivity and its many other adjustments. But at nearly $400 with no recording function (a "nice to have" non-essential), reviews no better than a less expensive unit, and an angle of view slightly narrower than my choice, I couldn't justify the >$150 premium over my first choice.* The Barska and Solomark and other clones. These intrigued me for several reasons: They had among the best reviews, reasonable price, among the widest angles of view, 7-step IR settings (more than most), and on-board recording.I chose the Solomark because it was $20 less than the Barska, was a better value than some of the other clones, it had a 2-year warranty, and it comes with a 4 gigabyte SD card.I'll update this review after some experience with the unit based on how much above or below my expectations. My expectations are based on the hundreds of reviews I've read for this and similar models. In the meantime, I provisionally give it 4 stars.UPDATE - October 8, 2017....After using this device for a couple of hours over the past 2 weeks, here are my observations.It does what it says; its quality is decent enough; you can see things 50 yards away in the total darkness.Here a a couple things that could be designed and implemented a bit better:The ocular adjustment is a plastic on plastic slide switch that is difficult to precisely resolve. It feels cheap and is difficult to adjust smoothly - much worse than a twist function as on a binocular, for example.The magnification is in 4 steps: default, step one, step two, and max. There is hardly any difference between step one and two, and then a big difference between step two and max. This strikes me as careless design and programming that has could have been easily improved.The plastic on the battery door "hooks" is quite thin and I suspect can be easily broken.As a low end device, this unit is OK. I would have gladly paid $10 or $20 more for the above 3 items to be remedied. I doubt that more careful design would have added more than $5 to the cost of production.In fact, if I had to do this purchase over again, I might have spent $50 more and gotten the 30mm Bushnell monocular. However, I don't know if I would use this device often enough to go through the trouble.

The media could not be loaded.  ORDERED = 10/25/2016 || SELLER = Solomark Optics || PAID = $150.99(Beware of Seller changes! That's when you may get burned!):: PROS ::1.) Does a good job for the money, feels fairly solid overall. - The budget was not flexible enough for Gen 3 load-outs.2.) It has been in use for a week, so far so good. It gets installed/removed daily into a vehicle steady-mount.3.) GEN 1 Unit - has lot of sensitivity if used right. (Foreground objects disrupt background sensitivity if illuminated.)4.) Illuminator works out to 100 meters no problem - My video shows that.5.) Works great with rechargeable AA's - Few hours of video easily. (Keeps the operation costs very low & battery storage simple.):: CONS ::1.) Camera mode is not very useful - it's OK, but you won't use it much.2.) The 1GB Micro SD it comes with is TERRIBLE - Only 12Mbps on my 100Mbps USB 3.0 Hub?3.) Had to buy  SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSDHC UHS-I Card with Adapter, Grey/Red, Standard Packaging (SDSQUNC-032G-GN6MA)  = Almost 10x faster then the 1GB provided...using on a true USB 3.0 HUB.4.) Sensor CAP is not secured to unit very well - EASY to loose the cap & that would be BAD!OVERALL :: Despite all the CONS - it is for sure worth the $150.00 we paid.MY 2 TACTICAL OPTIONS FOR 300+ METERS...(This unit will pickup the light, but the magnification will max out at that range either way.)ON A BUDGET >>  Evolva Future Technology T20 IR 38mm Lens Infrared Light Night Vision Flashlight Torch (Torch+Battery+Charger+Pressure Switch+Scope Mount) NEED MAXIMUM ILLUMINATION >>  Evolva Future Technology Lens Infrared Flashlight IR T67 67mm Night Vision Torch Light - Infrared Light is Invisible to Human Eyes (Torch+Battery+Charger+Pressure Switch)  <<< This is what I use for FLOOD & SPOT options...works great with this unit!FOR OUR TESTING = Purchased  ilauke IR Lamp 850nm Zoomable 5W Infrared Flashlight Night Vision Hunting Torch  to gauge the units SENSITIVITY, not extending illumination range.

Product arrived ahead of estimated date 👍Product on-off switch is cheap and poorly designed, causing "start up problems".Product eye- piece is very hard to use and feels like it's going to fail

The molecular works fantastic!, good quality easy to use. Great price

Mein Einstieg in die Nachtsichtgerätewelt sollte zunächst über ein bezahlbares Gerät der ersten Generation erfolgen. Nach gründlichen Recherchen fiel meine Wahl schlussendlich auf ein digitales Monokular, das ich eher zufällig bei Warehouse Deals für einen unwiderstehlichen Preis erwarb.Um es vorweg zu nehmen – ich bin angenehm überrascht. Dieses kleine und leichte Teil liefert erstaunlich gute Ergebnisse in dieser Klasse. Natürlich kann es sich mit neueren (und wesentlich teureren) Geräten nicht messen, ganz klar, aber für den ambitionierten Gelegenheitsbeobachter ist es durchaus geeignet und eine Option.In mehreren Nächten habe ich den kleinen Helfer auf Herz und Nieren getestet – hier die Ergebnisse:Positiv fiel mir auf:- Leuchtstarke Infrarot-Diode, die durchaus Sichtweiten bis 200m (und bei Restlicht auch mehr) zulässt. Häuser und Bäume können in dieser Entfernung noch klar ausgemacht werden, wenige Hindernisse und damit geringe Reflexionen im Sichtkanal bringen unverkennbar bessere Ergebnisse- Katzen, Füchse und andere nächtliche Wanderer sind bis 100m deutlich zu erkennen- das Nachtsichtgerät ist ein angenehmes Leichtgewicht- der Energieverbrauch (4 Mignon/ R6/ AA) ist sehr moderat. Ich verwende Akkus (Kostenersparnis!) mit 2300mAh und kann damit mehrere Stunden auf Beobachtungstour gehen.- der digitale Zoom ist eine nette Beigabe, das Bild pixelt ggf. hierbei aber schon spürbar aus- die siebenstufige Infrarotanpassung arbeitet im Zusammenspiel mit der Schärfeeinstellung sehr ordentlich, natürlich darf man bei der vorliegenden Auflösung des Bildschirms von 320x240 keine Wunder erwarten, die Aufnahmen erfolgen mit 640x480, also VGA. Insgesamt sind Details aber annehmbar zu erkennen, man sollte zu Beginn ein wenig experimentieren, um ein Gefühl zu bekommen.Nicht so überzeugend empfinde ich:- die Bedienbarkeit, zwar sind alle Tasten erreichbar, im Dunkeln wird das bei den flachen Anordnungen jedoch mitunter zum Suchspiel. Auch das Rädchen für die Scharfstellung könnte deutlich angepasster und weitaus gemächlicher auf Betätigungen reagieren; insgesamt aber antwortet das Gerät auf Eingaben recht passabel.Fazit: Ein anständiges Nachtsichtgerät für Einsteigen und Gelegenheitsspiogenten, das sich insgesamt ordentlich bedienen lässt und bei gefühlvoller Handhabung brauchbare Einblicke in die Dunkelheit gewährt. 135 Euronen sind in dieser Klasse derzeit normal, von einem echten Schnäppchen allerding kann man da nicht wirklich sprechen.Dennoch meine Empfehlung und ob des günstigen Warehouse-Preises auch fünf Sterne.

Having never owned a night scope before I was quite looking forward to trying one. I researched the intensifier tube v Cmos sensor argument and decided on Cmos. I also liked the video and picture option which is great for security use.Straight from the box things looked good. The Solomark night scope is not too heavy and has a rubber type coating. You have 4 buttons on the top which turn on the IR led spot light, adjust the zoom and allow you to take video and photos. The capture size is only 640x480 which is quite low. A 8GB micro SD card is supplied which will hold hours of video.There is a rubber IR filter for the objective lens which means you can use the scope in the daytime. Like most Cmos scopes the lens has a preset magnification which means you cannot view things on a one to one basis. Not a problem outdoors but to use in your garden you may find things are a little too close.The night performance with the IR LED switched on (it has 7 power settings) is very impressive and the image is clear and defined. There is even a little colour which I was not expecting. Whilst on my hols this scope was able to light up a whole large field so the 100 meter range is prob about right.I was not in love with the cheap feel plastic focus wheel which I found a bit awkward to use as it at the front directly under the main lens and this would be better placed on top, however it was smooth and worked ok.All good so far but there were issues. Straight from the box the eye relief adjuster was semi frozen and stiff so I could not use it. When I reviewed the night video I had captured I noticed a shadow on all the pictures and video which turned out to be a hair trapped inside the sensor. I felt that was unforgivable so I had no choice but to return the scope for a refund.It’s a shame because the scope did work quite well in total darkness. I made a full Youtube review where you can see the scope in both day and night action and the faults described above. Just search Youtube for SOLOMARK DIGITAL NIGHT VISION MONOCULAR REVIEW . The photo is the Youtube thumbnail.Without the faults (maybe i was unlucky) i would have been happy to give it 5 stars.

Cet appareil présente des avantages et des inconvénientsD'abord, notons qu'il est livré sans piles (il faut 4 piles 1,5V AA), avec une notice en Anglais (pas terrible), et avec une carte micro SD de 8 GB (très bien).Puis, rappelons que c'est un appareil qui est surtout conçu pour "voir" la nuit. C'est cette vision nocturne qu'il faut mettre en avant, avant de le considérer comme un appareil photo ou un camescope.Dans une zone très noire, il faut absolument enlever le capuchon en caoutchouc, et, SURTOUT, penser à appuyer sur le bouton IR pour activer la lumière infrarouge (choisir ensuite l'un des 7 niveaux de luminosité). Le résultat est assez bluffant.J'avais trouvé décevants mes premiers essais, mais c'était à cause de cette manipulation que je n'avais pas faite ("un homme averti en vaut deux").La nuit, si on veut prendre des photos, stabilisez au maximum l'appareil afin d'éviter d'avoir des photo floues, car l'appareil est sensible à vos propres tremblements. C'est un format 640x480, donc ne pas s'attendre non plus à une photo nette comme avec un téléphone, loin de là.La nuit (toujours), je considère que le rendu des vidéos est meilleur que celui des photos (mais pensez toujours à stabiliser l'appareil du mieux possible pour éviter les tremblements).Finalement, je ne regrette pas mon achat.Attention, il est assez gourmand en piles.Une bonne connaissance de l'utilisation de cet appareil est indispensable pour en obtenir les meilleurs résultats. C'est pourquoi, j'ai refait le mode d'emploi (en Français), et ce, pour les fonctions qui ne se devinent pas (voir les deux documents joints, en format "jpg").