The Opsin is a helmet mounted digital night vision unit. Some recent reviews out there over-hype the Opsin and use IR floodlights or dusk/pre-dawn conditions to make the Opsin look unrealistically good. To be fair, the Opsin definitely raises the bar on digital performance… a lot. This item was purchased anonymously from Optics Planet by a fellow patriot and night vision enthusiast. To the friend who trusted me with the device for an extended review, thank you.
Should you get an Opsin? That depends !- cutaway to depends –> Maybe you want to merc pumpkins on New Year, maybe you wanna impress your totally-based internet friends that you can really trust, maybe you’re preparing to be deadly in the mountains like flannel daddy. Maybe you’re not allowed to buy tubes in your location, so that’s also a factor to consider. At the end of the video I’ll give my final, realistic analysis, then you’ll be able to decide for yourself. !— dubstep horns TOTALLY GET ONE NOW, USE MY AFFILIATE LINK!!!! –> Just kidding, I don’t have affiliate links, but I’m working on T-Shirts and I have a Patreon too.
First Impressions
Recently, I’ve been comparing digital against analog intensifier tubes. Digital offers a number of potential advantages over tubes, but up to this point tubes have been the clear winner for civilian use.
The Opsin’s digital technology gives a very unique viewing perspective on night-time. In open-country with a good moon covered by clouds, the trees were imbued with a beautiful iridescent moon glow that just doesn’t show up as well on the video footage. I found the viewing experience to be pretty and the mixing in of visible light colors with near IR light fascinating. The inclusion of color in the image is useful in many circumstances compared to the greenscale or blue scale world of tubes. It would be much harder to identify a green or red car wearing tubes, but the Opsin does color if there’s a bit of ambient light.
With a decent moon, the Opsin can run and gun alongside your friends with intensifier tubes without being laughed at for being the token poor. Compared to the Aurora, the Opsin is at least twice the device, maybe more. Being digital, you can snap in an SD card and easily get good quality POV footage of your low light adventures. Technically, you can do Point Of View with analog tubes but it’s clunky and has bad image quality. In good moon conditions Opsin might even be better than some gen 2 devices. In lower light situations with cloud-cover and a canopy of trees, Opsin keeps up… sort of. You can drop the frame rate down to 30 frames per second and get decent illumination, but the refresh lag gets intrusive. You can still walk around and plausibly shoot targets at 30 frames per second, but you won’t be high speed and the lag made me feel a little dizzy after a bit. 30 frames is doable but far from ideal.
The rechargeable battery works well and doubles as a helmet counterweight. I didn’t time it closely, but the device seems to last longer than its advertised 8 hours of run time. Maybe even a lot longer but I’m not positive. Although I haven’t used this device long-term, I like how it feels. The device is lightweight while the fit and finish gives the impression that it’s a well-made unit and should be reasonably durable. Opsin feels a bit lighter than a PVS-14 if you’re not counting the battery pack, which Velcros on the back of your helmet.
Aurora Vs Opsin
Sionyx’s Aurora has been useful, but the Aurora can’t beat the PVS14 in any conditions. I own an Aurora and I like it. But, I still have to be realistic about its limitations. With the Opsin, I’d say it can compete with a PVS14 in some conditions. This means that compared to the Aurora, the Opsin is an actual game-changer.
- The form factor on the Opsin is way better for head-mounted use
- The Opsin refresh rate is much better than the Aurora
- The Opsin beat Aurora by a long-shot on low light sensitivity
- the Aurora is more optimized for use as a camera
Opsin Vs Aurora
So, for Aurora (pro or otherwise) versus Opsin -> buy once cry once… GET AN OPSIN. The end.
Opsin Modes
You can change the frame rate and light sensitivity, which they call Exposure Value, by a system of long and short button presses. It works, but if you go too far you have to go all the way back around to the selection you want. True, you can just pick a setting and send it, but you’ll lose performance. FYI, you can’t select through digital camera menus under what we’ll call “serious duress.” !– wolverines cutaway –> Screen brightness can be adjusted with a twist knob that resembles the manual gain knob on some intensifier tubes. But the knob doesn’t change the actual light sensitivity, just the brightness of the screen. Turning up the gain knob increases screen brightness, but I’m angry that the twisty knob doesn’t also turn up or down Exposure Value.
Much like a thermal device, the Opsin will occasionally NUC. Which is an acronym for Non Uniformity Correction. This is a slight occasional pause in the display where the device recalibrates its sensors to improve the image. You can set NUC to automatic or off, but NUC won’t change the Exposure Value, which it should.
The digital zoom is mostly useless, but thanks for devoting an entire button to it.
On the brightest setting, my LAM overpowered the device at close range. Granted, I could have scrolled through the menu and adjusted the Opsin but that would have taken an unrealistic amount of time.
Opsin Pet Peeves
In general, I like the Opsin. More importantly, I love the technological progress it represents. But this wouldn’t be an honest review if I didn’t tell you my pet peeves. Some of these are easy to solve, so dear Sionyx: please fix a few things. The lens cap is terrible. Period. It has this recess in the shroud that allows you to clip the cap out of the way, but in the real world it comes loose and randomly plays peekaboo with you. No, not cute peekaboo either !– cutaway of cat tickles–>. Larping on a flat range with rifle and pistol and navigating land obstacles, the lens cap came loose and fell in my face. Why didn’t Sionyx use an elastic lens cap that holds itself out of the way like everyone else. If I ran this device for serious use, I’d personally tape the cap out of the way… real talk I’d cut off the lanyard and only use the cap for storage.
Another pet peeve is the lack of an everything auto mode. Ideally, we’d get an automatic setting that adjusts light sensitivity, screen brightness and maybe even refresh rate based on conditions. For me to use this as a primary go-fast device, I’d really need the ability to set outer parameters and then have software adjust it automatically. Moving in and out of heavily wooded areas, with and without natural light with automatic adjustment would be ideal. You can’t go fast and also click through menus to optimize your device to conditions. Perhaps via firmware, Sionyx can add an auto setting where the NUC will dynamically adjust the Exposure Value and frame rate between 60 and 90 frames per second based on immediate conditions. As a user of analog night vision I can firmly say that a KISS (keep it simple stupid) option would be ideal. A solid auto mode is probably what most users would just default to. !– sarcasm inbound –> But maybe having a bunch of arcane settings and menus will give users a greater sense of discovery so they think that the ultimate setting is possible but not quite there yet.
Subjectively, the screen seems to adversely affect my eyes light sensitivity more than an analog unit. After playing around outside for awhile, you’ll lose night vision in the eye looking into the screen more than if you were wearing traditional NVG. This may be subjective and may not matter to you, but it’s worth mentioning.
This next pet peeve is more of a comment on the marketing of the device. The video footage that you see must be in dusk or pre-dawn conditions and not full darkness. A big channel just did an Opsin review and their review is like seeing the commercial to a Big Mac and then seeing one in real life. !– price is right cutaway losing horn with cheeseburger pics –> Realtalk don’t eat fast food because Meal Team Six is gonna die. !– meal team 6 cutaway –> I could still use the Opsin for passive and active aiming, shooting while moving and land navigation, it’s just not quite as eye-popping as the sizzle reels so be ready for that.
The last pet peeve is the plug-in. The location on the device interferes with the mounting system when adjusted for some people’s eyes. Sionyx could have simply changed the position of the plug. !– looks fine to me cutaway –> Also with regard to the plug, the design of the plug is hard to use in complete darkness, so I found myself using white light to plug the external battery.
Opsin Versus PVS14
In the dense, triple-canopy forests and unrelenting rainstorms of the Pacific Northwest, the Opsin struggled at 90 frames per second. If swift land navigation through triple canopy forests in bad conditions is a must-have for you, then a gen 3 PVS-14 may be the answer. In these harsh conditions, even gen3 white phosphor devices will look bad. But, you’ll still be able to resolve a useful image from gen 3 dual tubes. In these near-freezing rains, thick clouds and dense canopy the Opsin was useless for head-mounted land navigation without a Surefire Vampire Light or dropping the frame rate. After playing with screen brightness, frame rate and digital gain, you could see okay, but the lag made me a little nauseous. Set on the lowest frame rate, you could “get by”, just don’t expect to run and gun in truly bad conditions.
Cheap gen 2 intensifier tubes don’t do well in bad conditions either, but you don’t have lag.
Of course, the Opsin can record good quality video, which you can’t do well with a PVS14. For some go-fast LARPing adventures, the ability to record POV could be valuable for intel gathering, debriefing or perhaps for industrial or law enforcement uses.
Opsin’s Technology
While I may sound negative about the Opsin relative to military style units, I’m actually really excited about the PROGRESS of this technology. Compared to the Aurora, the Opsin really is twice as good, if not more. I’d really like to see Sionyx put this digital technology into some other form-factors. Dear Sionyx, respect for the monumental improvement of Opsin over Aurora. With this technology, Sionyx could easily lower the profile of the device to SHORTEN the form factor compared to the PVS14. What I REALLY want to see from Sionyx is this:
shorten the form factor and make a thermal fusion version.
- Make a pro version with auto-adjusting frame-rate and Exposure Value
- Make a version optimized for filming
- Shorten the form factor a lot.
- Make a panoramic option for both eyes.
- Make a thermal fusion version.
The Future of Digital Night Vision
The future of low light performance is to combine these advances in digital night vision with the latest in thermal imaging sensors in a panoramic virtual reality headset. Thermal imaging is also digital, so it would be a lot easier to integrate thermal into a device like the Opsin compared to clamping a COTI onto the front of already bulky analog tubes. If Sionyx really wants to play with the big dogs, they need to leverage the full advantages of digital. They need to fuse low light and thermal in a form factor that doesn’t hang way out in front of your face. If future versions of the Opsin combined the capabilities of an entry level to mid grade thermal imaging device then it would easily beat the PVS14 despite its low light limitations. So-so low light performance digitally fused with thermal imaging is how Sionyx can eventually beat gen-3 NODs. Seriously, thermal fusion would be so useful for identifying potential trespassers, vehicles and nocturnal predators that it would greatly tip the balance in favor of digital.
Final Verdict on The Opsin
The final verdict on the Opsin is “Progress, Not Perfection.” It is a quantum leap forward compared to the Aurora and I’ll officially declare it “real night vision.” Can it beat gen 2? Yes, with the caveats I’ve mentioned. On the other hand, do you really want to be scrolling through menus in a Red Dawn LARPing airsoft match? Maybe you get an Opsin on sale and you train around the foibles? Maybe you get a good deal.
If you’re on a tight budget and have been saving up for one and only one lifetime night vision device, keep saving and get a gen 3 PVS14 or better yet, duals. Opsin is not my first choice as a primary, go-fast, buy-once/cry-once device.
If you already have tubes you’re happy with and need a backup/loaner device, you could throw an Opsin on a bump helmet so you have something for your friends to wear and you can also record with it. I live out in the woods and I frequently have guests who need to borrow a device. For this use case, the Opsin’s perfect and you get the bonus of recording footage from your adventures.