Merging Night Vision and Thermal

• November 3, 2023
• By Brenton

Merging Night Vision and Thermal

When first diving into the world of night vision and thermal many people wonder if merging night vision and thermal is possible. Our short answer: no… but also yes. Allow us to explain.

Why would anyone merge night vision and thermal?

The concept of merging night vision and thermal may seem a little bit odd to many of you. We get it, but there is a solid benefit to doing it. Though night vision and thermal can both see in the dark, there is a huge benefit to having the navigational abilities of a night vision device while having the heat seeking abilities of thermal. Where night vision lacks, thermal excels… and vice versa.

While night vision makes it easy to see your surroundings and navigate, it also is not the best tool for seeing details. This is because of the lack of color and contrast in the image. Anything that can be hidden or concealed during the day can also be hidden at night. On the other hand, thermal will highlight anything that contains a heat signature… which is essentially everything. Even though it could be a cold night, everything cools at a different rate, causing the thermal to see details in the surrounding terrain. This also allows heat signatures from animals and humans to stand out, making for a very quick identification process.

How to (not) merge

As we alluded to further up… merging night vision and thermal is not really possible in your brain. Having both bridged will most likely cause headaches, eye strain and fatigue… but that doesn’t mean you should throw the concept out the window.

In a recent video, Ethan discusses how to successfully use a bridged unit. Let’s say you have a PVS-14 (night vision) over your right eye and an RH25 (thermal) over your left eye. If you were going to use your right eye to navigate, you would close your left eye so you could focus solely on night vision. Over time, you will most likely finding yourself not even closing your other eye. Your brain should naturally be trained to start focusing on one or the other.

If you want to get a more in depth description, watch the video here.

The best way to merge

So, no… you cannot merge thermal and night vision in your brain… but you can utilize both to accomplish tasks. There is a way to truly “merge” night vision and thermal, but it may be out of budget for most.

Recently, we have been loving the Jerry FB Binocular Fusion Device as it offers you night vision binos along with thermal capabilities. This device has crystal clear 640 core thermal that is built into the unit to allow the user to view the thermal first and then see the night vision behind it. This has been some of the highest quality fusion we have found. When compared to running a dedicated thermal, the Jerry FB does not offer the same quality of thermal because of the fusion set-up. If you are in need of a high quality dedicated thermal, the InfiRay Outdoor RH25 should be an option to look at. If you want a true fusion device check out the Jerry FB. More details in the video below.

We have also looked at the Jerry CE5 as an option for fusing thermal and night vision. The CE5 is definitely not as clear as the FB or RH25, but it shouldn’t stop you from checking it out. The quality is lessened due to the fact that it clips on to your pre-existing night vision device. Between the projector, glass and tube… there is definitely some quality loss. In our opinion, it is a perfect unit for those who may have binos and want thermal capability. The Jerry CE5 will clip right on and give you thermal capability in no time. Check out the video below for more details.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, email cs@arkayne.com and we will get you set up with anything from night vision/thermal to small (but important) supplemental gear. If you like what you saw, consider checking out Arkayne.com and see how we can assist in helping you become defiantly free.