Monoculars are great for observing wildlife and scouting faraway trails, while being far smaller than binoculars. Problem is, they become useless at night, which is why some people prefer to carry night vision models as part of their outdoor tech stash. If you’re looking for night vision monoculars that will let you take in those same sights in full color in the dead of night, you might be interested in the Akaso Sight-300.
They call it “the most advanced AI night vision yet.” While we couldn’t be sure how truthful that is, this thing does bring some exciting things to your outdoor adventure.
The Akaso Sight-300 is a digital night vision monocular equipped with a 1/1.79-inch CMOS sensor that’s been fine-tuned for low-light performance and an ultra-wide F/1.0 aperture lens for maximizing light capture. Instead of using IR beams for illumination, it incorporates a powerful optical engine called AI-ISP Gen 2, which reconstructs textures, restores natural colors (the outfit claims 99 percent color accuracy), and sharpens details in the images it captures in real-time. According to the outfit, it does all this instantaneously, ensuring there’s no lag when tracking moving objects, no smearing when you pivot, and no blurry images, no matter how dark the night is.
The monocular can capture the footage in 4K at 30 fps or 2K at 60 fps, all of which is saved to a loaded SD card (it supports up to 512GB). There’s no optical zoom, by the way, with the device only offering 8x digital zoom, which makes the job of its optical engine even more important, since it will need to reconstruct those scenes to fill in any blurry details. It comes with a 60-degree eyepiece that, the outfit claims, enables excellent peripheral awareness, while the 120-degree capture field of view ensures smooth transition when panning on any direction.
The Akaso Sight-300 offers two modes of use. Observation Mode is for stationary viewing, which prompts the device to boost brightness, contrast, and detail to maximize picture quality. Action Mode, on the other hand, is for those times you’re using the device on the move, which activates electronic stabilization to reduce blur and minimize eye strain. The device can also adjust modes in real-time, so it can be in Observation Mode while you’re still then automatically switch to Action when it detects you’re on the move. If you want to preview any recordings, by the way, you can use the companion app, which pairs with the phone over Wi-Fi to let you watch the contents of the SD card.
The device draws power from a 3,250 mAh battery, which is rated to keep it running for up to four hours at a time. Need longer battery life than that? Just get extra batteries, as they let you swap to a fresh one any time the current cell drains out. Other features include a manual focus ring with a range of 0.1 meter to infinity, IP65 water and dust resistance, a helmet mount for hands-free use, and compatibility with third-party IR illuminators with wavelengths between 600 to 1200 nm.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Akaso Sight-300. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $159.
