REVIEW – The ability to see in the dark is something that most kids and many people who spend a lot of time in the outdoors would love! The Wosports NV400 night vision binoculars allow that, and they let you capture that in 16MP stills and 4K video. But are they a true binocular? Not really. And are they hard to focus? Yes.
⬇︎ Jump to summary (pros/cons)
Price: $139.99
Where to buy: Wosports or Amazon
What is it?
Normally, this section of a review is pretty easy to complete. If you’re reviewing a blanket, you just say that it’s a blanket. In this case, that’s not so easy. If you are familiar with military night vision goggles, that work my amplifying ambient light and give everything a greenish tinge, that is not what this is. This unit works by broadcasting an IR (infrared) light that is not visible to us, and then using that IR light to “illuminate” your surroundings, and then an IR sensor reads those reflections and converts it to something that our eyes can see. So, it’s not true “night vision” in the military goggle sense. It’s also not a binocular. The “bi” in binocular implies two optics, resulting in stereo vision. Despite looking like a set of binoculars, only one eyepiece is an optic. The other is the IR illuminator. So what is it? It’s a digital camera with an IR emitter and an IR sensor. And a pretty good optical zoom. 
What’s included?
- The binoculars
- Manual
- Neck strap
- USB-C to USB-A cable
- 32GB SD card
- USB-A SD card reader
Tech specs
- Video resolution:Up to 4K, 10 frames per second
- Photo resolution: 48MP claimed, but my unit only was selectable up to 16MP
- Optical zoom: 10X
- Digital zoom:8X
- IR Levels: 7 levels, adjustable
- Battery: 500 mAh
- Charging: USB-C
- Display: 3 inch
- Lens size: 30mm
- IR wavelength: 850nm
- IR power 3W
- IR range: 400m, 1312 ft
- Weight: 609 g
Design and features
One of the best features of this unit (I’m resisting the urge to call it a binocular, since it’s really not) is the optical zoom. Because the unit works in both visible light (daylight) and at night with the IR emitter/sensor, it is really versatile for taking close-up photos of wildlife. When fully zoomed in, it really helps to have the unit on a tripod, which is possible thanks to the standard 1/4-20 UNC tripod mount on the bottom. 
Several video resolutions are available; 720P 30FPS, 1080P 30FPS, 2K 20FPS, and 4K 10FPS. Still photo resolution is claimed up to 48MP, but the menu on my unit only allows 3MP, 8MP, and 16MP (the manual reflects these choices as the only ones, as well). 
The focus is manual, with a dial in the side, as is the zoom level. The dial on the other side controls the spread of the IR emitter beam. For close up photography, it can be a wide spread, but if you are trying to image something far away, the beam can be focused tight for a greater distance. There are also 7 levels of IR intensity, from none (visible light photography) to 7. The display is large and clear, being 3 inches across. The unit will record audio together with video, but will not play back audio (it does not have a speaker.) There is no mention of an IP rating for water or dust resistance. 
Performance
I found the Wosports NV400 to be very challenging to use, and almost all of the reasons had to do with the form factor. It’s basically a nice digital camera masquerading as a set of binoculars. There’s no need for that. If it was set up like a point-and shoot digital camera, it would be much more useful. The screen and eye piece design is where my main complaints lie. Because it’s designed to look like a set of binoculars, the only way to use it is to hold it up to your face. But the plastic piece that lies against your face is too small, pretty rigid, and uncomfortable. Beyond that, the case is just a bit to small, and forces the eye pieces to “smoosh” a bit to fit, and they hold that smooshed position when you try to hold them up to your face. Thankfully, I found that you can easily pop the plastic “eye gasket” off which makes the screen much easier to see.
The NV400 has a fixed screen, which forces an optical distance between your eye and the screen which may or may not work for you. Being in my early 50’s my near vision is not what it once was, and I struggled to focus on the screen without holding it out from my face a few inches. The manual focus together with the difficulty in seeing the screen made it very difficult to get any image in true focus. An auto-focus feature would be a very welcome addition. Additionally, because the screen and the controls are not on the same plane, you basically must memorize the layout of the controls in order to effectively use the unit (which is honestly a good idea anyway, since you’ll be using it in the dark.)
The images below demonstrate the zoom feature, and my challenges in focusing.
Ok, so form factor frustrations aside, how does it work in the dark? Quite well. (note – it also works quite well in daylight). The focus is very touchy and I had a tough time getting photos or video in focus, especially when zoomed in close. But the IR really illuminates the landscape, and the images it captures are clear and bright. I really tried to capture some nighttime wildlife images with the NV400, but the wildlife eluded me continuously.
Here’s some sample video.
The video above was shot under a full moon, with the IR sensor activated, but no IR emitter. So it’s picking up ambient IR wavelengths.
Final thoughts
The ability to see in the dark can be a lot of fun, but it would have been more fun with a better designed unit. The IR emitter and sensor work very well, and the zoom is great. But it’s very hard to focus and video is jerky without image stabilization. Additionally, the claimed 48MP resolution for photos is not available on the unit I have. So while this is not the ideal night vision unit for me, perhaps it will work for you.
What I like about the Wosports NV400 Night Vision Binocular
- Bright IR emitter
- Powerful Zoom
- Well built
- Includes everything that you need
What needs to be improved?
- Not a true binocular – just build it as a camera
- Manual focus challenging – add auto focus
- Consider image stabilization – video can be jerky
Price: $139.99
Where to buy: Wosports or Amazon
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Wosports.. Wosports did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
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