

Ask HN: Why are good night vision goggles so expensive and hard to come by? - puredemo

They are at least as useful as binoculars and most households have those.
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Dachande663
It's all down to quality. A high-quality pair of binoculars cost you £200 or
more, and I doubt most households would ever consider spending that much.

Then you move onto the actual differences between the two. Most binoculars
contain some lenses and other small components (admittedly the more expensive
ones now also include rangefingers etc). Even the most basic (true) NVG by
comparison require image sensor, processor and display.

Then you move up to the _good_ goggles. These are the ones with anti-flare
protection, more realistic colour and higher gain so you don't need an IR
source (which lights you up like a christmas tree).

At the end of the day, NVG aren't just binoculars with some fancy lenses.

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znt
While I was serving in my country's army, I had access to both night vision
and thermal goggles. When I asked about their costs they told me that although
most of the components (lenses, energy units & wiring etc) were produced
locally, the chips that converted light & thermal signatures to vision were
imported, and they cost a lot. So they're probably the reason that makes these
equipment so costly.

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sneak
Quora is that way ----->

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runjake
This question is better asked at Quora, but one reason quality NVGs are so
expensive are because the high gain/low noise components required for modern,
passive NVGs are quite expensive to 1) produce, 2) QA, and 2) buy.

