Night Vision?

If Flir had a heads up display projected up onto the windshield, it could be useful. Having to take your eyes off the road to look at ANY small display screen can be trouble. Perhaps they'll come out with HUD versions in the future.

Meanwhile, these will save your Dad and the truck from damage:
http://www.herd.com/

 

Spent most of my driving life in deer/moose/bear country.

1. Deer are not too bad. Those "deer whistles" actually do work if you mount em right

2. Moose, especially at this time of year, have a dark brown/black coat except for the bottom half of their legs. By the time you see those you're too late.

3. Bears, like hogs are low and compact. Hitting either is like hitting a boulder. I've seen front axles and fuel tanks ripped off hitting either.

Best protection.... learn where each will be most likely to be encountered and be extra watchful in those locations. For the truck the bars plus a high intensity light mounted high on the truck. You'll see trucks from Canada with these. The high intensity lights must be mounted with heavy wire, a separate relay and a separate HD switch for each light.. They draw alot of amperage so don't skip the relay, try wiring direct to the switch or tapping them into your wiring harness unless you want a truck fire. Aim the light for the ditch/shoulder way ahead of you. Do NOT use these on the interstate or around traffic. DOT will cut you a new one for certain.

Oh, when in deer/moose country turn off yer dang radio/cd player and turn up your CB so that drivers coming the other way can warn you. Nothing dumber than a BBR booming along with full base and his head up his butt.

 

Wear sunglasses during the day. When you think you might be in moose territory slow it down a bit. And dont ever get Lasik done ever. That will kill many peoples night vision. Reading glasses are cheaper, then damaged eyes.

 

+1 for dimming interior lights.

 

Ummm.... not to be difficult, but I had lasik done almost 10 years ago and my night vision improved because of it. Before the surgery, I wore contacts which gave me excellent vision, but also gave me fairly well defined halos around lights at night. After the surgery my vision without contacts was as good as it was before surgery with contacts. But since I didn't wear contacts anymore, I didn't have halos anymore so my night vision improved quite a bit. But that's only my experience. So of course YMMV.

As for the OP, my experience with night vision googles has all been on the aviation side of things. And in most if not all situations on the aviation side of things, SOP is that night vision googles are only used in aircraft where there is a crew of two or more. And the googles are only worn by the pilot not flying. If you're the one responsible for flying the plane, you do not wear the googles. That alone tells me all I need to know about using them while driving a truck or any other vehicle. I personally wouldn't do it under any circumstances. If you're worried about hitting critters, slow down.

 

+1000 for dimming the interior lights. The less light you have shining back at your eyes, the more you can see in the dark. It makes a huge difference.

 

Moose are real shy. I traveled Maine many times in hopes of seeing one. Then one day picking up a paper load I seen one across the river.

I heard more people are killed by moose impacts than any other animal. With them long legs a 4 wheeler clips them and their huge body comes through the windshield.

 

Little word of advice, don't count on moose being "shy" at close quarters, especially bulls at this time of year. Indians used to call moose "the ghost of the woods" for their ability to move so quietly. But a bull in rut is like a D10 dozer on steroids and he fears absoloutely nothing. Amazing how fast they are too.

Should you encounter a moose on a back or woods road; stop, shut off your lights and engine until he leaves. Do not flash your lights at him/her. Do not blow your horn. Above all do NOT get out to "shoo" him away. He WILL charge you. He WILL kill you if he catches you. At best he will tear up your vehicle (makes a real mess of your hood/grille/radiator).

Oh, and to top it all off, moose suffer from brainworm.... a parasite from wood ticks which is transferrable to humans. The worms quite literally infest the moose's brain, drive it insane and eventually kill it. Never,ever eat moose meat you aren't sure of.

 

Yeah; I was going to say the same on the moose. I have never encountered them, but have read that they will attack your truck. Someone on here posted that they was stopped and a moose walked up and put his head over the hood and was looking eyeball to eye ball with him. I thought no way. Then I was at boomland across from the pilot one day for one of my hide away dinner spots and they had a moose stuffed there along with other animals. If I remember right the moose was about 10 foot tall or that is what the sign said. I know it was dang tall and I thought he could look over the hood.

I was cracking on that driver. He said when the moose was eyeing him down he reached over and locked the doors. I asked him what did you think he was going to do open the door?

 

I would never eat moose meat.

It would seem too much like cannibalism.