What Next for Night Vision? Experts Reveal the Trends and Opportunities

“I think for hunters we can see that thermal and night vision products are something they have become dependent on. The general benefits of these devices are a game changer for hunters – digitalisation has probably had the biggest impact on the market in the last 20 years.”

 

Innovating the customer experience

Technologies and features such as image stabilisation, compact designs that can be operated with one hand, and shutterless systems have all been successfully implemented in HIKMICRO products, adding to the rich mix of creativity and innovation that this sector provides. In short, there has probably never been a better time to be shopping for a product like this, but what does that mean for the future? With so many brands and products flooding the market, have we reached a plateau in terms of innovation? What trends will define digital imaging in hunting over the next decade?

An analogy that comes up again and again when speaking with experts in this field is that of smartphones, which are perceived to have reached a similar technological plateau. Most brands have achieved a comparable level of technological prowess and are now competing with each other in different ways relating to the customer experience.

“All the competition on the market is making really good products now and that is nice for the consumer,” says Laurynas Pranckus, Head of Digital Marketing at Pulsar. “It’s the same analogy with phones, it doesn’t matter which operating system you use, the hardware is very similar. What you can excel at as a brand is the user interface and user experience. In our industry, I’m talking about how the device itself works. How the knobs work, how user-friendly the controls are, how a scope feels to use. An example is our Thermion scope range, which features wide-angle rear eyepieces and much longer eye relief. These are small things, but they help you hunt and make the scope feel better as a whole thanks to it being more comfortable to shoot with. We are also starting to merge traditional analogue glass with digital technology.

“In the future, the brands that will be on top will be the ones that talk to the consumer and make the small things better – the ones that focus on excelling the experience little by little. It’s about innovation in user experience; build quality, performance, and durability. All those things whether brought about by hardware, firmware, or software, are the things that will retain users.”

PARD’s Jakub Szweryn agrees that the way to differentiate and gain loyalty from customers in the future will focus not only on a high-quality product but on the things that differentiate it.

“I think there is more to come but it will come in ways that we don’t expect,” Jakub says. “There is a moment for technology where further improvement will start to bring smaller and smaller benefits to the customer. It’s like a smartphone, it doesn’t matter if you have 100 megapixels or 124 megapixels, it doesn’t change your use of the technology. That is why night vision and thermal imaging products will focus on slightly different things around the products: how they are used, how they look, or certain surrounding technologies like supporting apps.

“We are always looking to be a little bit different. Of course, every producer has their own thing. For us, our products always aim to be as compact and as lightweight as possible. We make thermal imaging products that weigh the same as a day scope or less, that is our differentiator. We are also developing some extra things around the products that will be quite a surprise in the future.”

 

A future of possibilities

It makes sense to allude to other markets that rely on similar technologies – cameras and smartphones, for example – where chips and sensors are the keys to product capabilities. This similarity has led many to wonder whether artificial intelligence (AI) may be the next big revolution in thermal imaging. Pulsar’s Laurynas Pranckus is not ruling that out but believes it may be some time.

“I don’t think AI can work effectively in scopes just yet because they don’t have enough computational power,” he says. “Our targets are moving, so the machines that can compute that are not really invented yet. But then again, some of the technology that is here today I could not imagine five years ago, but here we are. If the technology arrives, there will need to be innovation with chip reducers, and then we will see where it goes. AI is in its early stages for our applications.”

This goes against the idea that technology will only improve in small increments in the future. It’s clear that anyone who has worked in night vision and thermal imaging for some time keeps an open mind about what the future may hold. Many believe that the best may still be yet to come…

“What are the limits in thermal imaging? I would say there is basically no limit,” concludes HIKMICRO’s Marketing Director CCE Gunnar Petrikat. “If you remember just 15 or 20 years ago, having a mobile phone that is capable of accessing the internet anywhere was unbelievable, now it is an everyday occurrence. I see no limit for night vision or for thermal imaging. I think in 10 years we will have technology that you cannot even imagine right now. Our job is to continue giving the best possible tools for hunting experiences.”