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If you've ever been on the water at night after dark (or super early in the morning), you know it's anything but comfortable. It really doesn't matter how many years experience you have on the water, boating at night, in the dark, is different and quite honestly, scary at times.
Modern electronics help curb this anxiety. Today's chartplotters are highly accurate and the latest radar technologies like the Garmin Fantom featuring MotionScope leverages the Doppler effect so it can detect whether objects are moving toward you or away from you, rather than just painting an object stationary on the screen, it's super impressive and I now run an 18" Fantom Radome on my vessel - it's awesome.
As good as these technologies are, there really is nothing like being able to see with your own eyes. Adding night vision to your boat to have as an additional piece of safety (and comfort) equipment, in my opinion, is a must have.
I bring up comfort simply because that is where I get the most value personally. I'm well trained on traditional marine electronics, but having night vision so I can look up and see beyond my MFD adds a level of comfort and lowers boating at night stress levels by 99%.
It's to no surprise that we really only see night vision (mainly thermal night vision) on larger, more expensive private boats (mostly yachts) as even the entry level for night vision devices are uber expensive to the tune of thousands of dollars at the very low end.
I believe our solution here at SIONYX will really change the game and allow for a much broader audience of boaters of all levels to have this awesome technology on their boat. Starting at $599, we have really made a bold attempt to empower boaters to add this awesome piece of safety technology. Some will use it as a standalone device (handheld monocular) and some will choose to mount their unit (permanent or temporary) and stream the night vision video signal back to the helm on a larger display like an iPad or Android tablet (like I do).
Personally, I run (1) 12" Garmin MFD full screen charterplotter (1) 12" Garmin MFD radar and (1) 12" iPAD full screen night vision. It simply doesn't get any better than this ... unless of course you have those new Garmin 24" MFDs!!
See how others use the SIONYX Aurora Sport and setup their night vision to be used while boating at night. Any questions regarding setup, parts, accessories, please don't hesitate to reach out anytime - I'm an avid boater and know my way around most style boats - so happy to help!!
MOUNTING THE CAMERA
You can pretty much mount the camera anywhere you'd like on the boat. We've found that the wireless signal produced from the Aurora has a pretty solid range up to about 40 or 50 feet giving you quite a bit of flexibility, unless of course you're on a large yacht.
The images below have us mounting this on a Vandalize 305 which is 30 foot center console. We ran this boat with the camera mounted up on the bow and also attached to the center console t-top which ended up giving us the best overall experience.
Click play below to see Alan from Center Consoles Only mount the SIONYX Aurora Sport to the T-Top of the Vandalize 305. For this entire installation we used mounting accessories from our friends at Ram Mounts.
- RAM® Ball Adapter with 1/4"-20 Threaded Stud
- RAM® Double Socket Arm
- RAM® Tough-Claw™ Small Clamp Ball Base
MOUNTING THE TABLET & STREAMING NIGHT VISION WIRELESSLY
Click play above to go directly to the section in the video where Alan and I are connecting up the Android 10 inch tablet to the helm and begin streaming wirelessly the live night vision signal to the tablet.
This makes for the ultimate in low-cost but super high performance night vision setup for any vessel. Takes minutes to setup and costs under $1,000 all-in, including the mounting accessories we used from Ram Mounts.
On that note, the accessories we used to mount this 10 inch Samsung tablet were:
- RAM® X-Grip® Universal Holder Tablets with Ball
- RAM® Double Socket Arm
- RAM® Tough-Claw™ Medium Clamp Ball Base
SIDE BY SIDE COMPARISONS
The above still "quad comparison" screenshots are also included in the video here around the 8:17 mark. Click the play button below to fast forward to that section.
SOME GREAT PHOTOS & VIDEOS FROM CUSTOMERS
There is a ton of night vision boating images and videos posted by our customers on the social interwebs which are easily searched on Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. Here are a few shots that recently came in (from Chris in Long Island, NY).
ACCESSORIES AND WHERE TO BUY
This entire night vision experience (camera, tablet and mounts) can be had for under $1,000. Below is outlined ever item in these photos/videos above.
Night Vision Camera
- SIONYX Aurora Sport - $599
Tablet
- Samsung Tab A 10.1 - $199
- Note: we support both Apple and Android tablets. I personally prefer my 12.9 inch iPad Pro, but for these videos we used an inexpensive Android tablet.
Mounts
We used Ram Mounts for both the camera & tablet. You can get a Ram Mount for any custom configuration on their website here. We used and I personally recommend the "C" size ball mounts. They are definitely overkill for the size and weight of the SIONYX camera and tablet use, but then again, it's just extra security and peace of mind when you're blasting through 3-4 footers!
Feel free to use the Ram Mounts website to customize the setup for your boat but if you wish to copy our solution, here are the links to the exact mounts and accessories we used in the videos and photos above.
- Camera Mounts
- RAM® Ball Adapter with 1/4"-20 Threaded Stud
- RAM® Double Socket Arm
- RAM® Tough-Claw™ Small Clamp Ball Base
- Tablet Mounts
FAQS AND SUPPORT
Lastly, if you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to contact us. We've built an amazing Knowledge Base for frequently asked questions and I am also happy to help answer any questions as I'm an avid boater and have really put the SIONYX through the stress tests of marine life.
2 of the more comment FAQs Ill touch on here real quick:
Q: Can you plug the SIONYX into your MFD or chartplotter?
A: Unfortunately, at this time you can not "hardwire" the SIONYX unit directly to your chartplotter. The only way to get the night vision stream is to wirelessly connect it to an Apple or Android device (phone or tablet).
Q: Sometimes my wireless connection drops is there anyway to fix this?
A: Yes and while all devices are slightly different we've been able to help people connect and have strong, stable connections while streaming live to their tablet.
Our friend Chris (who sent in the above photos) runs an Aurora Sport and streams it wirelessly to his Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 - running Android version 9 and he raves about the experience - so if you're in the market for a new tablet that may be the device you want to aim for. I personally run an iPad Pro, I shut off bluetooth connection and have a rock solid, uninterrupted streaming experience.
Any questions, would love to hear from you! You can find me on email (alongo [at] sionyx.com) or better yet, please feel free to follow and DM me on Instagram @colornightvision.
I look forward to hearing from you and safe boating!!
Cheers,
Tony Longo, VP Marketing @ SIONYX