SiOnyx Aurora Colorado night vision

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Yycadm

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I got in on a Kickstarter project early this spring for one of these. I’m on a SAR team, and have a FLIR monocular that’s been...OK...for this, but not nearly as helpful as I’d hoped.
I just got my SiOnyx delivered, and I think this will be a game changer. It’s targeted as an action camera...waterproof, recoil tolerant, shoots stills and 720P video, audio, many special functions, time lapse, burst shooting, recoil triggering, red dot/holographic compatible, GPS & compass on-board, phone app, etc.

The BIG deal is Color, low light/no light imaging. It’s a bit mind blowing looking through it the first time. It doesn’t work on IR, which doesn’t contain color reflection, only heat difference. It’s near IR and extreme ISO sensitivities (iSO 812,000) does the magic. An hour after sunset, the twilight setting (three settings, day, twilight and night vision) make a dark field or yard look like the middle of the afternoon...full color, accurately rendered. Night vision loses color saturation but the image is still very high res, starlight capable imaging. It seems to me the image is much better in no-light conditions than a PVS 14 night vision unit, for a fraction of the cost. The Kickstarter price was less than a GoPro 6, and the retail now (Christmas special) is $599 USD, compared to close to 4K for a PVS14.

As soon as the adapter for a picatinney rail gets here, I’m going to hang it on my Kriss Vector carbine, behind my Vortex Razor holographic sight, and give it a try on the farm. So far, I’m extremely impressed; I wasn’t expecting performance and build quality anywhere NEAR this.

SiOnyx isn’t a new company. They’ve been around for 20+ years, mostly building sensors for the defence industry. The founders are both former Harvard professors, and the Aurora has something north of 40 new patents on it.

I have zero connection with these guys other than as a customer. I’m hoping this is only a first generation unit; if they can give high end, military grade night vision to consumers in a first gen product, I can’t wait to see what a gen 3 or 4 unit will do. Their website is www.SiOnyx.com
 
There are some pretty good reviews coming out of the USA on this. In terms of very dark conditions, a PVS14 will outperform it by a fairly wide margin; however throw an IR illuminator in the mix, and it really evens the playing field. I've been VERY impressed seeing videos of this in urban environments as it does not have much/any halo around lights, and has very good contrast from high light to low light areas. It is certainly the best digital NOD on the market, and for a rather ridiculous price! I'm hoping to get one in the new year to add to my night vision comparisons. I think the future is bright for these guys. As some more knowledgeable members of ARFcom's night vision board have said: the future of digital night vision has never been so apparent.

I hope you enjoy it, Yycadm, they look pretty slick. And please post some pictures of it in use!
 
I’ve been out nightly with this since it arrived, and I can’t remember being this impressed with night vision equipment to date. We’ve had overcast skies the last week, so star & moonlight have not been a factor...it continues to impress me. A friend has a PVS 14, a really decent piece of equipment save the price, which gives me a rash. The imaging on the SiOnyx is in my mind, superior since it’s so profoundly different.
In night vision mode, most of the reviews suggest you have only grayscale imaging, which is incorrect. There are three modes; grey or green scale, and full color. The full color seems a bit grainier (marginal), but more than makes up for it with increased “imaging interpretability”. It’s a wide FOV, and unlike the PVS 14, or any other NV gear I’ve seen where you have an isolated picture that your brain tries to put into the context of the scene, this doesn’t. It’s similar to looking through a red dot with both eyes open and comparing that image to looking through a magnified optic with one eye closed, if that makes sense. Orientation is much more natural and intuitive, truly impressive. It also doesn’t drop off to black the same way a starlight scope does. The ability to identify what you’re looking at is limited by the ability of your eyes to discern what things are.
I have a low powered flashlight style illuminator (single AA cell, cheap Chinese edition) and adding that to the mix is really a game changer. A flood beam is much superior with this than a narrow, focused beam, which is almost too bright close in.
It is well built and tough. It’s been dropped from a truck bed onto asphalt, uncased, without a mark. Also onto ice-covered snow several times. I would not be overly afraid of dropping it, and you certainly don’t have to be gentle with it.
The price right now is crazy-low for what you’re getting. If this is what direction digital night vision is going, we have a bright future ahead
 
Awesome, thanks for giving us your thoughts on it! Everything I've heard so far sounds pretty awesome! Your point about the illuminator is what I've heard pretty much everywhere in that using a flood illuminator this thing really shines.

How is it in terms of weight and balance when helmet mounted? Or have you got that far yet?
 
I’m dangerously close to buying one of these. Of course I was contemplating whether to buy the camera alone or the kit which includes the mount, or flashlight etc. On the surface it looks like a better deal for the camera alone but then you’d need to fight to find a mount for it....
 
If they were to make a scope in the under 2K mark..... sold!!!! As it stands I don’t have much use for a hand held camera. Very cool though and you defiantly got me to look.
 
Foxer2373 said:
If they were to make a scope in the under 2K mark..... sold!!!! As it stands I don’t have much use for a hand held camera. Very cool though and you defiantly got me to look.
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If you look at the explorer edition kit it comes with Picatinny mount, ir flashlight with mount etc. It would fit upstream of an ir capable sight would it not?
 
Armament said:
If you look at the explorer edition kit it comes with Picatinny mount, ir flashlight with mount etc. It would fit upstream of an ir capable sight would it not?
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Having only seen the limited videos now, my concern is eye relief (not true eyes relief but screen view) all the videos show right up against the eye piece, if I gave 2” of space for recoil what would that actually look like.

Also no where on their site did I find a recoil rating (may have missed it though)
 
I’m going to do a little more digging over at arfcom. There’s some cool YouTube videos if you have the time to look at some setups. This thing looks seriously impressive for the price.
 
The kit for $900usd doesn’t seem all that attractive. A mount wouldn’t be hard to find or rig up, batteries are dirt cheap and ir lights, even the Chinese ones perform well for next to free.

Until the 26th they’re promotionalky on for $599 (roughly $800 and change) plus a few bucks for taxes.

Bhp photo is offering the sale price with free shipping. I’m trying really hard not to get one. Someone talk me out of this impulse buy...
 
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Just got mine ordered! I'm really looking forward to comparing this all my other NODs :cool:

Foxer2373 said:
Having only seen the limited videos now, my concern is eye relief (not true eyes relief but screen view) all the videos show right up against the eye piece, if I gave 2” of space for recoil what would that actually look like.

Also no where on their site did I find a recoil rating (may have missed it though)
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On Arfcom their 'rep' is saying they tested it to 223/556. They haven't tested it further, yet.


Armament said:
If you look at the explorer edition kit it comes with Picatinny mount, ir flashlight with mount etc. It would fit upstream of an ir capable sight would it not?
Click to expand...

Your best and easiest bet right now would be to mount an IR laser, and view that through the Aurora. That or mount it in front of a red dot, I suppose.
 
Tagged, await for somebody to compare it to PVS 14 with a better camera, a PVS 14 with Wilcox Amber filter is really interesting to compare to.
 
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