Pros / Reasons to Buy
- Affordable night vision
- Roughly the same size and weight as average general-purpose binoculars
Cons / Reasons to Avoid
- Image quality of captured stills and video could be a lot better
- Camera shutter release can introduce camera shake/movement, spoiling images
The Warmtuya Night Vision Goggles offer an interesting alternative to binoculars. This digital device not only broadly matches the magnification of 8x binoculars but also lets you zoom in a further 10x on top of this – putting its magnification into the same realm as more specialized spotting scopes. On top of this, it has a night vision mode, allowing you to see in pitch darkness and allows you to take still photos and videos of what it sees. The price point – below US $100 at the time of writing – is also frankly remarkable given the feature set. Whilst there are some compromises, mostly in terms of image quality, the Warmtuya genuinely adds something new to my kit bag. If you like spotting wildlife on the trail or whilst camping, these are a very interesting product and, I think, well-worth considering.
Analysis and Test Results
Whilst they’re referred to as binoculars, and look like binoculars, the Warmtuya Night Vision Googles are more accurately a digital monocular as they only have a single light capturing lens (the second ‘lens’ on the front is actually an IR illuminator for the night vision function).
Whilst many people will compare these directly to binoculars, they are actually quite a different type of device: The Warmtuyas are electronic. You view the image they capture on a screen rather than through an optical eyepiece. They don’t just magnify, but also zoom, offer a night vision mode – allowing you to see in pitch dark thanks to an infrared illuminator (which is essentially a torch that emits light that’s invisible to the human eye – and critically, to many animal eyes too) and, to top it all off, they can capture digital stills and video of what they see.
So, whilst they may look like binoculars, there’s far more to them! As we’ll see, there are limits to the tech in these. For observing distant things in good daylight, optical binoculars still give better image quality, and I’ll also say straight up that I wish the image quality from the camera was better. But, none the less, they do provide a lot of useful features and, more importantly – for me at least – allow me to continue wildlife watching long after the sun has set, something that I simply couldn’t do before I assessed these.
Performance Comparison
Magnification
Magnification is an important quality for any scope or binoculars, as this dictates what the product is most suited for. Warmtuyo don’t quote a starting magnification level for these, but they offer a very similar field of view to my 8x optical binoculars.
8x is generally considered to be a good all-round magnification for hiking and wildlife spotting (though a few experienced bird-watchers I know say 10x is a better starting point if you want to look at small birds). If you’re coming at this product from a photography background, 8x magnification is very similar to the field of view of a 400mm lens on a ‘full frame’ (eg. 24x36mm) sensor camera.
In practice, I liked the starting magnification very much: I allows you to see things noticeably more clearly than your unaided vision would without being so high that you can’t easily find the subject you’re looking for through the scope.
One big advantage of the Warmtuyo goggles is that they offer a further 10x zoom above the base magnification – putting them well into the magnification range of more powerful spotting scopes. This is a digital rather than optical zoom, so the image quality does suffer. However, even at full magnification, image quality on the screen doesn’t deteriorate too badly and I found the digital zoom to be very useful.
Of course, there’s also the night vision mode – and for me, this really is the key feature of these. Binoculars get less useful as light levels drop and beyond a point, they simply aren’t useful at all. The night vision mode is a great feature to have if you want to, say, keep observing wildlife as the sun drops.
Image Quality
The obvious comparison to make is between the Warmtuyo goggles and binoculars. In some ways, this isn’t a very fair comparison, as they are quite different devices in terms of their functionality, but none the less, they are used in a similar way and we think that for many people, optical binoculars will be the logical alternative to these. So, let’s compare them!
Assuming the optics are good – and this is a big assumption as there are some dreadful binoculars out there – and also assuming the light is good, the direct optical system in binoculars will outperform the digital imaging system in the Warmtuyo. Put simply, you can get exceptionally sharp, detailed and contrasty results from good binoculars in good light. As you’re dealing with a direct optical system, there’s also no lag, rolling shutter distortion or banding – all of which can be apparent in a digital viewing system like the Warmtuya uses.
However, things change as light levels start to drop and the image from optical binoculars will start to dim and eventually become too dark to be of any use. In this case, the digital viewing system shows its advantages and, as light drops further you can switch on the IR illuminator to put the Warmtuya into night vision mode (there are nine levels of IR illumination – and you can adjust these based on the level of ambient light and distance from your subject).
At this point, optical binoculars would be essentially useless. If you want to keep observing distant subjects as the light dims and vanishes – which I think is a very valid real-world use case – then the Warmtuyas clearly win out!
The other huge advantage these Warmtuyo goggles have over regular optical binoculars is that you can capture both stills and video of what you’re seeing. Now, to be clear, the image quality is not stellar. If you are used to modern mirrorless or DSLR cameras, or even a mid to high end cell phone, you’re likely to be dismissive of it.
But again, there’s context to this. The Warmtuya’s image quality won’t look great next to a DSLR with a 400mm lens in daylight, but that same camera won’t be able to make usable images in pitch dark. The Warmtuya’s image quality may not be as good as any recent iPhone, but it also offers much higher magnification. To put all this simply: The Warmtuya may not make great images, but it lets you keep taking photos and recording video in situations where other cameras would not be able to capture an image at all.
There’s a tripod screw on the bottom of the unit and, as there’s no image stabilization it would make sense to mount the unit on a tripod for the best image quality. The shutter release also takes a fair bit of force to activate. This can introduce camera shake into images you take. You’ll need to experiment with your grip and triggering technique to find a way of taking photos whilst minimizing shake.
Still images are recorded in JPEG format with a selectable maximum resolution of 36 megapixels (the usable resolution is, I’d say, a good bit lower than this), and video is recorded in MOV format at up to 4K resolution – though again, the true resolution is lower. When you use the digital zoom, images are still recorded at full resolution – so they are clearly up-scaled in camera. Images are stored on a cheaply and widely available microSD card (the manual refers to this as a ‘TF Card’ which was the original name for microSD cards).
Durability
This product is made from chunky plastic and features rubberized sections around the grip surfaces and a rubber cover for the memory card slot appears to be designed to keep dust and moisture out. Whilst the product does not have an IP water resistance rating, it does feel durable and tough, and I’d be confident to use it in light rain.
On the subject of durability, as with many electronic goods these days, the battery is built-in and not user replaceable. However, it’s rated for up to twelve hours of use per charge and given the number of recharge cycles modern batteries can take, I’d imagine the battery will last for many years.
Ease of Use
Binoculars and spotting scopes are purely optical devices, but these are different: they are essentially a digital camera and instead of having an optical eyepiece, you view the image they record on a screen that’s recessed in the back of the device. In use, they are pretty similar to binoculars – you hold them in essentially the same way – but a big advantage of the screen is that you can hold this product further from your face and still clearly see the full image on the screen.
That’s great if you’re wearing bulky sunglasses or ski goggles, which often don’t work too well with binoculars. The screen is well-recessed, and in use, I haven’t experienced any issues with stray light making the screen illegible (you can always hold the unit closer to your face to block stray light). I also tested the screen whilst wearing polarized sunglasses and it remained perfectly legible – something I certainly can’t say about every screen we’ve encountered!
The rest of the unit is very straight-forward. There are eight buttons on top and their purpose was all pretty straight-forward to understand, even without reading the short manual. The buttons all fall easily in reach of your fingers whilst holding the device. I would have liked to have seen the shutter release button differentiated somehow – maybe by being taller or having a different texture – as there were a few instances where I entered the menus rather than taking a photo.
The buttons are illuminated and one of them is dedicated to switching this on and off – handy in very low light. Speaking of which it’s worth bearing in mind that the IR illuminator causes a red light to come on at the front of the device. It’s not very obtrusive, but it also means you can’t operate the device invisibly at night – which may be relevant if you are spotting wildlife.
There’s also a focus dial on the underside, which fell by my left thumb and was easy to use, even with gloves on (though it might be a bit tricky to use with thicker insulated or ski gloves).
My goggles arrived with the menus set to Chinese and I did need to refer to the manual to work out how to switch them to English. This only took a few minutes and after that, the menu system was all very easy to understand.
Size
Measuring 17x13x7cm/6.7x5x2.7in, the Warmtuya goggles are very slightly larger than the 8×42 binoculars I regularly carry. They’d likely also be slightly smaller than many 10×42 binoculars. Size wise, I think they are very reasonable and have no issue with popping them into my hiking pack.
Weight
The Warmtuyas weigh in at 633g/22.3oz – that weight includes the built in battery (of course) and memory card. That’s essentially the same as the 8×42 binoculars I often carry which weigh in at 638g/22.5oz. If you’re the kind of hiker who counts every last gram or fraction of an ounce in your kit bag, then you’ll probably balk at this, but if that’s you, you probably wouldn’t consider carrying a device like this anyway! I personally don’t think the weight is unreasonable and on long hikes, having a device like this is, I think, very handy and well worth the weight!
Price
At the time of writing, the Warmtuya Night vision goggles cost $159.99 – and that includes a 32GB memory card. I think this price is remarkable given the technology they include. Some years ago, I investigated purchasing night vision goggles for wildlife spotting and was quickly put off by the cost. This product really shows how the technology has become much more accessible cost wise in a relatively short period of time.
Conclusion
You might be considering buying binoculars to add to your hiking bag, seen the Warmtuyas and are wondering if they make a good alternative. Whilst they do look a lot like binoculars and serve much the same purpose, they are quite different things and, on paper, at least, offer so much more.
The question then is, are they worth carrying when you are hiking and are they worth carrying instead of or as well as binoculars? If you’re serious about spotting wildlife, then I think they Warmtuya’s are a very useful addition – simply because of their night vision feature, which will allow you to keep spotting long after you would have had to give up with binoculars – and in situations where your unaided eyes would not be able to see a thing.
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