NightFox Corsac review: powerful digital night vision binoculars

If you are looking for trusty pair binoculars to join you on a day's bird watching or out at night looking for wildlife then the NightFox Corsac are the perfect digital color and night vision binoculars for your needs and can even record your findings to show off to your fellow bird watchers and wildlife enthusiasts.

These portable digital binoculars are able to provide night vision with a 7-stage range of sensitivity and are also able to provide color viewing for when out and about in the day via a clever lens cap that once placed over the right lens will act as an interfered filter, at night simply remove it and you will be flooded with IR night vision and will be able to see birds and wildlife from a good distance thanks to great range of 180 metres, you will also find handy buttons located on the top of the device for 3x optical magnification, video recording in HD 1920x1080, along with up and down buttons to adjust the brightness of either the infrared or screen brightness when viewing in color. 

There is also an option to zoom in on what you are seeing to make sure you have critical focus, making sure all your wildlife spots can be seen clearly, so you'll be sure you won't miss anything interesting on your travels. 

NightFox Corsac specifications

Magnification: 3x optical
Range: 180 meters
Lens: f/1.4 - automatic adjustment for day and night
Viewfinder: EVF
Video: HD 1920 x 1080
Memory cards: Micro SD card, up to 32GB
Color Effects:  Night vision / Color
Connectivity: Micro-USB
Requires: 6x AA batteries
Size: 180 x 60 x 150mm
Weight: 652g (including memory and battery)
Compatibility: Mac OS and Windows XP SP2/ Vista/ 7/ 8/ 10

Key features

This great device will be able to record all your interesting finds thanks to the onboard recording of full HD 1920 x 1980 and an included 32GB microSD card, the card slot is located at the left-hand side of the device, just below the ring loop. 6x AA batteries power this device and battery compartment can be found at the bottom of the Corsac.

The EVF for viewing is of good optical quality, being able to make out fine details when viewing in both color and IR modes without too much haloing or highlight blowout to leave the eyes under stress. However, it must be said that the EVF does not appear to be 60Hz. 

Performance

Battery life seem considerably good seeing the EVF appears to be rather bright when viewing in color and night vision and is stated to last three hours with continuous use with mixed night vision and color viewing. However, having used the device over the last three weeks to do a bit of bird watching in the local wood, so far I have not noticed any lose in performance having used it on a number of occasions, however, your usage may vary.

The EVF is good for viewing and spotting out subject and does a great job under heavy contrast conditions however, it must be noted that it appears the refresh rate of the EVF is rather on the low side and it left my eye fatigued after long periods of use, again your mileage may vary. 

Included in the box is a Micro-USB cable which will allow you to connect to either your laptop or USB car charge to provide power or the old fashioned way of using a USB charging brick plugged into the mains - you have options!

This cable is also how you will download your recordings of photos via its handy photo mode this produces image good enough to make out what you have spotted, but you're certainly not going to win any photography awards with them, but it's a nice function to have along with Full HD 1920 x 1080 video recording, which again won't win any awards, but it good enough to showcase your finding to your friends and family.

Buttons on top of the device are layout to a good standard and the new wrap-around eyepiece is a great improvement over the previous model and provides complete light-leak free viewing of the EVF, allowing you a clear view in any conditions, even in bright sunlight. 

The only negative I have against this product is its size, what you are gaining in binocular viewing, you also compromise a more compact package, I can't see how NightFox can achieve a smaller device and I would guess this is as compact as it can get, but compared to more traditional binoculars, you will notice the increase in size.

Verdict

With its lightweight construction, albite slightly bulky size the NightFox Corsac is reasonably priced at  $149.99 / £149.99 / AU $251 its ability to record Full HD footage both in night vision mode and daytime color is extremely useful and can be downloaded via plugging in the included Micro-USB cable or by ejection of the microSD card into a traditional card reader.

For the price and the functions available, the NighFox Corsac is a very capable pair of digital night vision binoculars that will deliver good results to around 150 metres, with the image being slightly soft at 180, yet you will still be able to make out sheep, deer, rabbits and other forms of wildlife.

Both brightness modes for both the viewfinder and night vision are extremely handy when out either in the day or night for spotting wildlife and its lightweight construction and great build quality means you can take it on any journey long or short and it will last, and stand up to a fair amount of use.

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