Introduction
Meopta is a company with an 85-year tradition. Originally named Optikotechna, the company was founded in 1933 in Czechoslovakia. They started by producing optical lenses but soon expanded their offer with binoculars, cameras and projectors. Today, they are a globally renowned company, covering the military, aerospace, medical and industrial market.
At IWA 2018, Meopta introduced a few novelties. The most fascinating is MeoNight 1.1, a night vision device that is intended to be used as a riflescope clip-on attachment but can also be used as a monocular. We are glad that Meopta has made the bold move to penetrate the night vision market and hope that they will continue to work in this field in the future. With the introduction of this sight, they entered the market dominated by Dedal, Jahnke, ATN, Armasight and other similar manufacturers.
Features
MeoNight is capable of detecting human-size targets up to 600 meters. If left powered on, the device will turn off after a while to preserve battery life. It is powered by a single CR 123 battery which works for approx. 50 hours of standard use. Since the device is analog and not digital, the user has to be careful not to turn it on without the cover mounted during the daytime – an objective cover with a small opening is provided so that the user can use it when it is bright.
When used as an attachment, the device is placed in front of the riflescope with a special QR mount or directly onto the objective with a special adapter. Similar adapters are also produced by Rusan and Smartclip. The buyer also gets a remote-control cable that can be attached to the stock of the rifle. With it, image brightness can be adjusted without moving the finger away from the trigger. The dimensions of the device can be seen in the image below.
MeoNight 1.1 is waterproof and shock-resistant. It is also fogproof since its interior is filled with dry nitrogen. It operates at 1x magnification but can also be used together with a 3x magnifying module booster. Meopta says that the device can be equipped with image intensifier tubes of all generations. It can withstand extremely cold temperatures such as –40 degrees Celsius and also extremely hot temperatures such as 60 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion
We are sure that Meopta won’t stop at analog night vision. Night vision and thermal optical devices are the future, which is why we believe that this is only a beginning. Quite a few optics manufacturers have already gone down this road and we are sure that many more will follow. We are looking forward to receiving information regarding the price of this product.
