The Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars, on paper, seem to pack a punch for their size. They have been designed for anyone who wants to explore after dark without the bulk, weight or price tag of pro-grade gear.
They appear to offer clear, detailed viewing from dusk to total darkness. They feature a built-in rechargeable battery (thankfully!), HD recording, a focusable infrared beam and a simple five-button control. A smart blend of practicality and performance — exactly what you need for wildlife watching, animal research and surveys, camping trips, surveying outside or just satisfying your nighttime curiosity of what happens in your back garden after dark.
Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars review
Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Design
- Nice build quality
- Multi-use buttons
- Firm zoom and focus wheels
The Nightfox Whisker has a nice weight to it; it feels sturdy but without being heavy. Compared with the Sigweis night vision binoculars that we reviewed in tandem, this is almost half the weight, no doubt mostly due to the lack of six AA batteries, as this unit is rechargeable.
There are five buttons on top of the unit in a line, with two wheels at the front on the left and one on the right.
Key specifications
Sensor: CMOS
IR Range: 850nm
Display: 960 x 376
Battery: Built-in lithium battery
Battery life: 5 hours mixed IR – 10 hours (no IR)
Magnification: 1x to 10x (adjustable)
Memory card: MicroSD (supplied)
Weight: 609 g inc. battery
Warranty: Two year
The buttons control power, IR level, zoom, photo and video capture and mode selection. The IR level and zoom share the same buttons — a quick tap adjusts the IR level, while a long press controls zoom, which does take a little getting used to. We also occasionally found ourselves accidentally long-pressing the power button, turning the device off instead of pressing the adjacent zoom button. A different placement or textured finish on the power button would have helped prevent this. As the unit takes about four seconds to reboot, there’s a real chance you could miss your target if you hit the wrong button mid-action.
The left wheel controls optical zoom and focus, and the right wheel focuses the infrared beam and there is also the zoom adjustment. The wheels are fairly stiff to turn, and we found we needed a finger and thumb to make adjustments, much like how you would manually focus a camera lens. Perhaps these will loosen over time, with more use, but we like that they are unlikely to be accidentally knocked out of position once we have them where we want them. They each turn around 180 degrees with an obvious start and end point.
Once in focus, the image on the large LCD screen is pleasingly sharp and clear. You get plenty of detail, and the IR does a great job of what it is supposed to do: allowing you to see in the dark.
The casing’s texture helps prevent slips, though since these night vision binoculars don’t have a waterproof rating, it’s unlikely you’ll be using them in inclement weather. That said, we have taken them out in drizzle after dark and didn’t feel they were particularly at risk of damage from a small amount of moisture. We did dry them off carefully afterwards, though.
The wrap around the large LCD screen seems to be well-shaped and doesn’t let in much light when held up to the face, which minimizes reflections and glare on the screen.
Like the Sigweis (review to follow), one lens is an actual lens, and the other is an infrared LED light. The lens rotates to focus; anticlockwise to turn it into a focused spot, and clockwise to make it more of a floodlight.
Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Performance
- Clear display with good detail
- Adjustable optical zoom
- Illumination only comes from the right
Once you’ve charged up the binoculars after unboxing, you’re good to go. The 32GB micro-SD comes pre-installed, so you’re also ready to take photos and record videos of your finds straight away if you want to.
The ‘M’ or mode button lets you switch between photo and video shooting, or view and manage your previous media. The navigation is simple and can be figured out without referring to the manual. Ideally, we’d have liked separate buttons for video recording and photos, rather than having to cycle between modes, but it takes hardly any time at all to flick between them. The ‘OK’ button takes the photo or starts/ends recording when the appropriate mode is selected.
There are a whole heap of other settings at your disposal when you long-press the ‘M’ button. Here you can change the photo resolution, video size, backlight level, exposure, contrast, video sound (on or off) and more.
When observing, in the top left of the screen, a small blue icon tells you what mode you are in, next to that, in white, the resolution of the photo, or the recording quality of the video as well as the IR level, from zero to seven. In the top-left corner of the screen, you see the current time; in the bottom-left corner, the battery level indicator, which appears accurate.
The IR illumination range is 900 feet, which is 700 feet more than the Nightfox Swift. We could see the detail on an unlit building on the other side of a large playing field, even though it was pitch black. We could even play ‘fetch’ with our black dog without a flashlight, streetlights, or glow-in-the-dark balls!
Although the image on the screen seemed sharp during live viewing, the images we snapped while out and about turned out fairly low quality when we downloaded them, though good enough to serve as a record of your sightings, even if you won’t win Wildlife Photographer of the Year with them. Remember, we’re used to seeing images from some of the best cameras on the market, so perhaps our expectations were a little too high for this 16MP unit.
Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars: Functionality
- Rechargeable (with long battery life)
- Includes a 32GB microSD card
- No waterproof rating
The Nightfox Whisker is a robust digital night vision binocular that blends practical performance with advanced features for wildlife observation, surveying and general low-light outdoor use. A 32GB microSD card is supplied, and transferring the images from the device to your computer is as easy as transferring files on a memory card, just the same as a normal camera.
At its core is an adjustable optical zoom ranging from 1x to 10x, which gives you the option of either a wide 57-degree field of view at low magnification or the ability to zoom in for a closer look. Unexpectedly, the image sharpness becomes softer the more you zoom.
One standout practical feature is the long-life 5000 mAh rechargeable battery. Depending on the IR level usage, the battery lasts about five hours. This is great for extended viewing sessions. With the IR off, you can get around ten hours use out of the Nightfox Whisker (we haven’t tested this personally). You can use it to record your daytime findings, too.
The Whisker feels sturdy in hand and is designed to withstand field conditions while remaining ergonomic and, compared with other models like the Sigweis Night Vision Binocular, relatively lightweight. As we mentioned, there isn’t a waterproof rating, so although we think they would be fine in fog or drizzle, we wouldn’t risk using them outside in anything worse than that.
Should you buy the Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars?
The Nightfox Whisker is a versatile option for both daytime and nighttime viewing, whether at close range or over long distances.
We think, compared with other models we have reviewed, the Whisker offers excellent value for money thanks to its extra features. The Whisker gives you greater control over zoom and focus and can record what you see as 16MP photos or AVI videos. We think this makes them ideal for field research.
Unlike some models that require up to eight non-rechargeable AA batteries, the Whisker doesn’t need any, saving you ongoing costs.
At the time of writing, these binoculars are available for around $200.
If the Nightfox Whisker night vision binoculars aren’t for you
If all you want from your night vision binoculars is to see what’s in front of you in the dark, the Nightfox Swift does just that. They are head-mounted and more like night vision goggles for close-range viewing, and they are cheaper, too. The Nightfox 100V is even more affordable and better suited to stealthily watching wildlife in your back garden than for long-distance use.
Another pair of night vision binoculars we have recently tested (review to follow) are the Sigweis Night Vision Binoculars. They can also record photos and videos, but they require single-use batteries and are quite sizable.
For more ideas and alternative models, check out our round-up of the best night vision binoculars. We regularly update this with the best models as we find and review them.
