Florida Man
Newbie
I'm new to night vision. About 4 months ago I purchased an L3 Filmless White Phos PVS-14 from a reputable dealer as well as a MAWL C1. I live in Florida and I was probably really spoiled the first few times I went out it was a full moon or near full moon, clear night, low humidity, temperature in the 50's and 60's... basically perfect weather. The last couple times I've gone out the conditions have been much less ideal with little to no moon and/or heavy cloud cover along with humidity. On some of the colder, darker and/or more humid nights I've noticed the MAWL's illuminator seems to "bloom" really badly, making everything extremely bright but washed out, almost like turning on a white light in a fog or smoke filled room. The one evening this was the most noticeable was immediately after some heavy rain, the air was extremely heavy and humid with the temperature in the high 70's.
Is this "washout" caused by the IR light bouncing/refracting off of the water in the air? Something I noticed as well is that using my helmet mounted Surefire X300V helped to not only see substantially better with the lack of light, it also helped "smooth" out the image and prevent the MAWL from washing everything out. I was also having substantial issues with fogging, both my glasses and my 14 with the rear demist shield and front sacrificial lens cover fogging. I've also noticed on the darker nights that turning the gain way down help prevent the blooming substantially.
Is this "washout" caused by the IR light bouncing/refracting off of the water in the air? Something I noticed as well is that using my helmet mounted Surefire X300V helped to not only see substantially better with the lack of light, it also helped "smooth" out the image and prevent the MAWL from washing everything out. I was also having substantial issues with fogging, both my glasses and my 14 with the rear demist shield and front sacrificial lens cover fogging. I've also noticed on the darker nights that turning the gain way down help prevent the blooming substantially.