Last year, Duovox launched a successful Kickstarter for a compact full-color night-vision camera built around a custom Sony sensor. Now the startup has returned to the platform with a military-grade monocular rocking full color and IR night vision capabilities.
Aimed at after-dark explorers, nocturnal wildlife lovers, outdoor adventurers or anyone curious about the secret worlds beyond our visual capabilities, the Duovox Ultra digital night-vision monocular improves on the low-light performance of the Mate Pro for the promise of brighter images and video.
It’s built around a high-sensitivity Starvis CMOS sensor, and at light levels down to 0.001 lux – which approximates to a moonless, clear night sky or dark room with a faint light source – users can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second or 5-megapixel stills in full color. When it’s pitch black, the device can be switched to infrared mode for seven levels of 850-nm IR illumination at a viewing distance of up to 500 m (1,640 ft) via the F1.2-aperture, seven-layer glass lens.
Handy controls to the top cater for one-handed operation, a high-contrast 2-inch TFT display surrounded by a shield lets users see what’s in the darkness out front, there’s 5x optical zoom and 10x digital available to get closer to subjects, and the unit supports up to 128 GB microSD cards to store captured content.
The 4,000-mAh battery is reckoned good for up to 10 hours of continuous use (or 5 hours with the IR illuminator activated), and the recharge time is around 2 hours over USB-C. Built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi allows for streaming to a companion app running on a smartphone, though there’s no mention of whether remote operation is possible, and a tripod mount has been included for hands-free setup.
The Ultra monocular is made from aviation-grade aluminum alloy and ABS, has pocket-friendly dimensions of 10 x 8 x 4 cm (3.9 x 3.15 x 1.5 in), and weighs in at just 280 g (9.8 oz). Its IPX4 rating also means that it should survive light water splashes.
Kickstarter pledges for the Duovox Ultra start at US$129, the expected retail price will be $399. If everything goes according to plan for the already-funded campaign, shipping to backers is estimated to start in June.
Duovox improves on the full-color night-vision formula for Ultra monocular [New Atlas]