Today we're comparing 3 of the most popular budget night vision devices in the same video — the NVG30, the NVG10, and the (Amazon affiliate link) Nightfox Prowl.

We'll be doing a tabletop comparison and testing them side by side at night to show you everything they're capable of, highlighting the pros and cons to help you decide which setup might be best if you're looking to get into affordable night vision. This video was requested a bunch of times in the comments, and we'll give you completely unbiased feedback about the performance of these devices to help you get a better idea of their strengths and weaknesses.

NVG30 — If you can afford it, the NVG30 is definitely the best device of the bunch, and it dominated in nearly every category, only falling short of the Prowl in field of view. The device is compact, helmet mounting options are great, and it performs well with both IR and no IR. Our experience walking around with it has been the best of any budget digital night vision we've tried, and that experience gets even better when running a bino setup.

Nightfox Prowl — If you're on a budget and not concerned about running an IR light, the Prowl is still a good option to keep in mind. The field of view is great, though performance was definitely lacking with no IR. The only other real downside was latency and lag — but some compromises are to be expected when you're in the realm of budget night vision.

NVG10 — For observational purposes, the NVG10 is still a solid unit. It's compact, and while the field of view is fairly constricting, that won't be an issue if you just want to scan your surroundings rather than walk around with it (which is noticeably harder with this device than the other two). Performance with no IR is still pretty decent. There's even an upgrade to the NVG10 on the horizon that appears to address some of this device's shortcomings — subscribe to the channel and we'll share that device with you as soon as it's available.