I need to tap into the vast outdoor board knowledge base. I am looking to buy someone night vision binoculars as a gift. I know nothing about them to know what I'm really looking for. My budget is $500. I know this probably isn't a large enough budget for what I'm looking for; but it is the budget. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Background: This is a thank you gift from the organization I work for to a board member for his service to the organization. We have been tipped by his spouse that he'd like to have a set of these binoculars, and my bosses have set the budget at $500 for this gift.

tia

And if good quality night vision is not an option for $500, what are the best daylight binoculars for that price?

pick something different. $500 doesn't go very far in world of quality glass.

$500 doesn't go far in terms of night vision, but yes - you could get a heckuva nice pair of binos for that price.

Night vision quality is classified by 'generation'. Generation I, II and III, with GI being the most rudimentary. You would not be able to afford more than GenI with your budget. My buddy has a GenI monocular and it doesn't do much good unless there is some light source to help out - moon, ambient light, etc. Top of the line stuff (military and GenIII) is opposite. The less ambient light, the better the quality. Don't know how that all works.

In your price range I would look at the following binos:
- Leupold Gold Ring
- Vortex Razors
- Bushnell Elite Series

A few of those run a little over your budget, but they are ball park and will give you a starting place.

If this board member is into hunting and has money then most likely he has better bino's than $500 will buy you. The guy wants night vision for Pete"s sake.

I am guessing that he has money if the best his wife could do is NVG.

There are a few out there for ~$500 but I am assuming he is thinking about something like this:



I don't know how much money I would have to have to justify $6,000 for night vision binoculars.

Actually, $500 will go quite far in the world of quality glass (regular bino's, not NVG). The binocs already mentioned are pretty good. However, you might see if you can find the Zeiss Conquest 8x30's in your price range. I don't know if it is still possible, but I purchased a new set about eight months ago for just under $500. They have the best glass in the $500 and under category that I've seen so far, and that includes the other very good suggestions mentioned above.