The second I picked up the CNVPros, I immediately thought to myself, “Are they heavy? Yeah? That means they’re expensive, put ’em back.” The nighttime ‘nocs have a bit of heft to them, and they feel like they should cost way more than they do.
The Cigman CNVPro binoculars use a legit Sony Starvis 2 CMOS sensor around 1/1.8-inch – which is big for digital night vision gear, and bigger is better, in this case. It’s paired to a 25-mm f/0.8 lens that pulls in a ton of light. That’s really fast for consumer tech. In this case, the smaller the f-stop, the better. And there’s a high-resolution 4-inch screen that takes up your entire field of vision when you’ve got them pressed to your face, so you can see every detail.
Now we’re talking!
IR Mode:
The onboard IR flashlight has a ridiculously long throw at full power, and you can see crazy far at night. In fact, when trying to look at things within ~20 ft (6 m) in front of you, the IR light might just be a tad too much at times, simply whiting out the image. Thankfully, it has four levels of adjustability to tone it down when needed. Though, admittedly, it can be a bit clunky trying to adjust it on the fly while also trying to maintain focus (we’ll get to that part).
JS @ New Atlas
When scouting around the neighborhood in IR mode, I could literally see the powerful IR beam through the binoculars, and even though I know IR light isn’t visible to the human eye, I still felt like a total creeper casting this “bright” invisible beam on peoples’ houses …
“I’m sorry, officer – I’m doing it for a review, I swear!”
Color mode:
I was genuinely surprised the moment I put the ‘nocs up to my face. Colors were natural and very much like what I’d see with the naked eye. I have to say that the Cigmans were one of the best, if not the best, I’ve tested so far in terms of color replication and clarity. Wide open, the image was super sharp, even at near-complete darkness.
Cigman CNVPro Night Vision Binoculars Footage
Things I have opinions about:
Zoom is where things get a bit tricky. Usable zoom in the dark, in my opinion, only goes out to about 2.6–3X before the artifacts really start showing up. That’s true for both color and IR mode, though IR handles a bit more zoom slightly better, I think. When you dive into 8X zoom in the dark, it almost feels pointless, like “Why did they even include this as a feature?”. During the day, 8X is still slightly pixelated, but it’s usable, so maybe that’s why they included it.
I would love to see autofocus on these neat little night-vision binocs. While the focus ring feels high-quality, it’s somewhat on the small side and sits over a single lens – not like traditional binoculars, where it sits between the pods – which makes tracking a little difficult.
I have a photography background and have taken millions of photos of things traveling at 150+ mph, sometimes only feet away, so I have, let’s just say, quite a bit of experience with focus rings and the like. I imagine someone without that same background might find the manual focus a bit tricky, especially when also zooming. I did hand the binocs off to a few people to try, and it did take a bit of getting used to for them.
Once focus is dialed in, however, the optics are super sharp. Much sharper than other digital screens I’ve tested in the past, and more like true glass elements.
JS @ New Atlas
Image stabilization would be nice, too. The heft – all ~2 lb (0.91 kg) – of the Cigmans helps with stability, but even one stop of optical – or digital, at the very least – stabilization would turn this reasonably priced, great piece of gear into a professional-grade piece of equipment. It would also, almost certainly, raise the reasonable US$269 price point to something less reasonable or accessible. If you maintain three points of contact while scanning, it’s absolutely stable enough, but maybe I’m just a little spoiled.
My biggest complaint:
The button layout is on top, making it an easy reach to pretty much every feature without having to pull the nocs away from your face. Zoom, IR/color swap functions, flashlight, everything. But, it might just be me: the order doesn’t make much sense, and I find it not particularly intuitive. Even the zoom in/out feels backwards with the + on the left and the – on the right. But kudos for everything being within easy reach.
JS @ New Atlas
Some tech specs:
The unit is powered by a 5,000-mAh rechargeable battery that should net you about 18 hours of use before needing to be plugged in (USB-C). A little less (15 hours) in IR mode with the flashlight cranked up. It has Wi-Fi app control for your phone, too, but I didn’t personally put that to the test. I tend to steer clear of giving review products access to “phone home,” and would rather just pull the memory card out to grab footage.
It has an IP54 rating, meaning it’s water- and dust-resistant, so it should be fine in the rain, but I wouldn’t go fording any rivers with it. It has a wide range of operating temperatures, from -4 °F to 149 °F (-20 °C to 65 °C), which means you can pretty much use it in most places on Earth just fine.
JS @ New Atlas
The CNVPro night ‘nocs also have a built-in microphone and the ability to record not only what you see at 4K or 52MP, but also what you hear, which is a nice touch. So when you’re ‘Squatch hunting in the woods, people will finally believe you when you show them your blurry, out-of-focus IR shot of him. Or better yet, they’ll hear your screams when you finally get that elusive video of Bigfoot in sharp, clear 4K – and with audio good enough to hear the leaves rustling.
Jurassic Park: heavy = expensive
Of the NVGs I’ve used or tested over the years, these fall within the top of the list. You’re not going to be able to actively walk and navigate while using them like you would the Akaso Sight 300, but that’s not what these are made for. You’re not going to get the detail that you would from a white phosphor rig like the RVM-14, but you’re also not going to be paying upwards of $4,000. The CNVPros are an observation-only type NV choice that’s budget-friendly and lets you see in the dark pretty dang good for the price.
All in all, I’d call the Cigman CNVPro night vision binoculars a solid win.
Product page: Cigman CNVPro and Amazon (currently on sale for $189.99)
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