Kickstarter projects on the go

 I have several Kickstarter projects on the go that I thought had some relavence to the blog, and Equipedness ....

The first two, I have pulled great slabs of text from their projects, as well as pictures. I think both are very interesting, and useful.



http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mikebond/ti2-sentinel-x-aluminum-cache
18 days to go

" Sentinel X -- “form follows function” philosophy with key features: 

Water Tight -- The “X” is tested water tight and features Twin o-rings for redundancy.  The o-rings are made from food grade silicone and able to withstand temperatures required to boil water.
Strength -- The “X” is strength optimized using CAD parasolid modeling resulting in a unique ribbed/skeletonized design.  We are using aircraft grade 6061-T6 aluminum in its construction.
Lightweight -- At just 400 grams the “X” offers a minimal weight footprint.  An excellent way to safe hold 18+ cubic inches (11 fluid ounces) of critical gear.
Internal dimensions  2" diameter and 6" length (51mm x 153mm)
External dimensions 2.5" diameter and 8" length (63mm x 204mm)

Finishes -- The Sentinel X is offered in 2 versions of Type 3, hard anodized coating.  The Sentinel X1 is Type 3 Class 1 hard anodized and is food grade.  Due to the anodizing process it comes in a greyish-bronze color and your choice of regular or satin finish (check out comparison photo below).  This anodizing process is typically used for military applications where durability is critical.  Also, this coating is common on aluminum cookware such as pots and frying pans offering excellent flame resistance.  The Sentinel X2 is Type 3, Class 2, NON food grade and available in Black, Olive Drab and Brown satin finish only.  Both the X1 and X2 exhibit the same durability properties."

Secure carry of delicate items? cooking container? survival cache? yes please! I am already pondering what I can fill mine with.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/publiclab/infragram-the-infrared-photography-project
18 days to go

Infragram is a simple, affordable near-infrared camera

"Produced by the Public Laboratory community in a series of collaborative experiments over the last few years. We originally developed this technology to monitor wetlands damages in the wake of the BP oil spill, but its simplicity of use and easy-to-modify open-source hardware & software makes it a useful tool for home gardeners, hikers, makers, farmers, amateur scientists, teachers, artists, and anyone curious about the secret lives of plants.

Photosynthesizing plants absorb most visible light (less green than red and blue, which is why they're green to our eyes!) but reflect near-infrared. When you take a picture with the Infragram, you get two separate images -- infrared and regular light -- and a false-color composite that shows you where there are big differences. Bright spots in the composite means lots of photosynthesis!

DIY Filter Pack: This is just a piece of "infrablue" filter which you can use to turn your webcam or cheap point-and-shoot into an infrared camera. The filter allows you to take an infrared photo in the "red" channel of your camera, and a visible image in the "blue" channel. You'll also receive a white balance card and instructions on how install your filter -- it's pretty easy!
Infragram Webcam: This inexpensive but flexible reward is perfect for plugging directly into your laptop or integrating into other projects. It's also ideal for your Raspberry Pi, if you want to take it outdoors, do timelapse photography, or write scripts to control your camera. It ships as a bare circuit board with a USB cable - like an Arduino.
Infragram Point & Shoot: Just want a camera? This is a straightforward, if basic, point-and-shoot: you can simply take photos as you normally would, then upload them to our free and open-source web app to quickly and easily get a variety of composite images and analyses. To accomplish this, we're simply modifying existing cameras which we'll buy in bulk, using the "infrablue" filter. This isn't an SLR or even a particularly fully featured camera -- it likely won't have an LCD screen and may be "rebranded" with a Public Lab sticker -- but it's the new filter we've put inside which counts.
The final configuration will depend on the # of backers, but it will likely use AAA batteries and a micro SD card. We're promising a minimum of 2 megapixel resolution, but should be able to do much better, especially if we get a lot of backers. Basically, the more money we raise, the better these cameras will get! "

What a cool idea, process animal tracks and runs through undergrowth, check crop health, locate camouflage .... I already have a balloon system ready to hoist it, but would work on a kite, or a quad-rotor drone too .... Pixels from above!

Lastly....


Cole Bar Hammer

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/363439631/the-cole-bar-hammer
7 days to go

I already covered this as a wish-lust item, but the guys behind it have been constantly improving it, and are very close to adding a metric ruler to the design.


Look it up, and back them, it will be worth it!

Review: CE Jay Engineering - Phoenix Jr IR Beacon

As I posted recently, I had a surprise delivery arrive, and wanted to let you know all about it. A "restricted export" item, I feel very privileged to be able to play with it, hard to get out of the US.

This is the Phoenix Jr IR strobe beacon

This 30x20x20mm (1.2x0.75x0.75") block of acrylic weighs only 8.5g (0.3oz) and has a 9v battery attachment point on the bottom, slightly covered by a lip. Inside the acrylic you can see the three IR LEDs and the simple controlling circuit board. Simplicity in design! 

The 9V battery will provide 200 hours of strobing, according to CE Jay Engineering, and even after draining the battery of its primary charge, they suggest that giving it a2-3 hour rest can eek out a short while of extra strobing, in a pinch. The flash rate of 20 milliseconds every 1.3 seconds was specifically chosen to prevent confusion with small arms fire, which is a VERY good thing, to my thinking. 

The clear case, and design allows for a 360 degree viewing angle, from around the beacon, and a 240 degree viewing angle from the vertical( due to the battery, obviously). 

Whilst not "waterproof" the beacon is purported to function whilst immersed until the contacts fail due to electrolytic corrosion. That's pretty impressive. No switches, no moving parts, just the 9v connectors. Plug in a batter, and it's on. Pull battery off, and it is off. 

I tested it with my Yukon 3x42 NVG, placing the beacon on my car and walking down the street until I lost line of sight, and I have no doubts that this beacon would be visible for hundreds of meters more. To get a decent photo, I took it inside, and with my iPhone, took a couple of "down the relief" shots.

Unlike some IR LEDs, those used in the Phoenix Jr are totally invisible to the human eye, with no tell-tale red pulse. This means for covert use, either in static positioning, or secreted on your person, and even through clothes, you can signal to NVG equipped observers. 

I am throughly impressed with this piece, and am going to see a out placing an order for the non-export restricted waterproof carry case for it. I think this kind of item that would be ideal for assisting Search And Rescue teams finding me in the event that I have a misadventure. That or IFF when I am out laser tagging. 

Review: Laser Genetics - ND-3x50

After my visit to the SHOT Expo, I thought it was time to roll out one of my big lights. 

I had seen these whilst browsing the Canis Latrans Sports website (they do "replica" gear, where my Ops-Core style helmet came from ...) The idea of a laser pumped light sounded really cool, but I had no idea what to expect. I took the plunge and ordered one.

It turned out to be much bigger than i had expected (I did choose the bigger of the three versions available.) Here it is, the Laser Genetics ND3x50 laser designator (or a clone of the same)

The fist thing I need to tell you is that it IS large. The objective lens end is 60mm (2.35”) in diameter, and the barrel, whilst the standard 1" ring size gives the unit a 240mm (9.45”) over all length. It's a big light at 380g (13.5oz). However, it gives BIG results.

Powered by two CR123A batteries, the light has a maximum output of 50mW, which is purported to give a visible light at up to 4.8km (3 miles). It manages this by producing light at 532nm (green), apparently the easiest light for the human eye to see. 

So it's a huge laser pointer, so what?  

Built into the base of the objective end is a Rotary Optical Collimator, which allows you to dial in the focus of the beam, from 50mm to 320mm at 300mm from the end of the objective. That then spreads out to about 2m at 11m (see pics below), or , when dialed in tight, leaves a pretty much 50mm spot for as far as you care to through, up to about 450m (500yrd) effective range.

By "effective range" I think they mean when mounted on top of a scope, which, as it happens, they include mounts for with a "weaver style ring", a 1" scope mount (essentially a windage and elevation adjustable double sided mount, a tripod mount, as well as a pressure switch accessory. Lots of tactical options there. Just remember, this is a BRIGHT light, and you can see the beam in the night air, leading right back to the source. 

Tracers work both ways.

That said, the all aluminium body, with its anodised finish, o-ring seals and nitrogen charged lens cavity make for a pretty solid piece. One thing I noted were some imperfections. There is dust on the inside of the objective lens, and when dialed to wide-beam, there is a distinct "gibbous moon" effect where the lens is not quite right. This may be because this is a "replica" rather than a stringently QC'd piece.

Here are a couple of shots of me testing it indoors, from room-sweeping, to tight spot. In its room-sweeping end (or any of the wide angles, it also casts a secondary diameter, giving you a pretty good field of illumination at the "up close" distances, great for trails and sweeps.

I also took it out to the valley near Puffing Billy scenic railway, and had a bit of a play with it.


This is a really cool light, and I really enjoy taking it out and beaming it around. It is very powerful though, and I am always careful to steer clear of aircraft, delicate eyeballs and Sith Lords.

Review: SpiderFire Infrared X6V-IR

A while back I reviewed my Yukon NVMT 3x24 nightvision scope but didn't manage to take any pictures of it "in use" as I couldn't manage to work out how to get my iPhone to do a macro-enough capture of the display. However, Omega loaned me her Nikon d3100 and with two tripods and some jiggery-pokey, I managed to capture some images. Sure there is a camera adapter but all I wanted to do at this stage, was demonstrate the features of my new flashlight, the SpiderFire Infrared X6V-IR  which apparently is fitted with an IR 3W CREE LED.  I set the scope up in my hallway, and adjusted as best I could to do a "down the barrel" set of photos to demonstrate both the flashlight and the Yukon scope. Actual view of my long hallway is much clearer through the scope, its a camera focus issue.




The SpiderFire is a machined aluminium body, with 2 CR123 batteries. It features a press button on/off tailcap and a glossy paint coating. The reflector is pretty standard geometry and finish, and there are three LED emitters bundled into the lens housing. It comes in a hook-and-loop, and PALS/MOLLE compatible nylon pouch, with a retention lanyard.

The light is powered by two CR123 cells and when viewed from anything other than an acute angle, there appears to be no discernible visible glow. At acute angles the emitters are a strong deep red, and can generate a recognizable red flash when looking "down the barrel" to an observer downrange. This caused me some trouble, which I'll get to later.

So, some further testing: My hallway is around 10m long, to give you an idea of the scale here, and again, the poor-focus is my inability to photograph the internal screen of the Yukon, rather than the optics of the Yukon itself. Compare the top picture which is the passive view of the hallway, with this one, where the internal IR illuminator of the Yukon is on.  The beam is tight and bright, and when viewed directly puts a nice ~1m circle in the center of the field of view. As I previously reported though, both the scope and its internal illuminator have indicator lights which essentially shine directly into your off-scope eye and also drains the single CR123 battery in the process.



This photo is of the SpiderFire held just above the Yukon, and shone down the hallway. It really drives back the shadows, filling the doorway and the far end walls. I took it out into the night of my suburban street, and could see its light glinting off treetops in the next street, but a bit ineffectively, given the ambient lighting from streetlights and the city. It cast a useful beam at around 25m down a somewhat darkened laneway, which gives an idea of the range.

Last time I used my Yukon at Stargate Lasertag LRP, I had also wanted to have an additional source of IR illumination, not only to boost the range, spread and brightness of what my Yukon can discern but also to have a light I could set up AWAY from my position. As stated, when active, the IR lights cast no visible beam, but the actual emitter was visible and brought unwanted attention to my position. In future, where possible, I hope to set the SpiderFire up at a pinch point, and stand-off, gaining the benefit of a passive scope, with the added illumination in a dark place of my choosing.

IR is an interesting technology, night-vision is an all-around awesome concept, and I wish that more goodies were available for me to order to play with. The SpiderFire certainly makes a good start in this, and definitely adds to the ability and depth  of penetration into the murk in very low light and total darkness situations. When all the lights go out, I'll be glad for the ability to see into the Abyss, without the Abyss being able to look back at me.

Review: Yukon NVMT 3x42 Nightvision & Riflescope kit

I had desperately wanted to get some night-vision gear for years, and saw some listed online, but did some shopping around, and found what appears to have been a better deal, for a more interesting set up. Some of my friends have had NVG, either as givaways with First Person Shooter games, or purchasing scopes from overseas, I was pleased to find via Ozscopes a division of the OzHut which sells a variety of things but most importantly to me included this, a 3x42 night vision monocular and riflescope kit. I tossed and turned about either getting the fully Maritime certified version, of going the only slightly less sealed but modular and rugged Spartan version.

I liked the fact that the basic scope could have both objective and eyepieces, allowing for either 2x, 3x or 4x power and either rifle-scope or binocular style eye-relief. When using the scope I found that with simple adjustment I could have near-to day visibility in my urban environment easily enough, even without the built in IR illumination. Like any magnification device, it needs focus adjustment for different ranges, but its a simple enough. The case is solid and the rubber edgings to give it a good positive grip in the food when damp, as well as offering a bit of padding. Its rated as water resistant, so not for underwater nighttime play, or casual tossing into a pond, but for my needs, its fit for purpose. The built in IR illumination is amazing, at least to my eyes, but be warned, when using in a reflective environment, its very "bright" to the receptors!

The unit is powered with a single CR123A, both the monocle and the illuminator are controlled by press buttons, and have indicator lights that light up for both. I found these to be placed in a slightly awkward position, especially when using it attached to the rifle scope kit. Opening my off-scope eye would dazzle me with the indicator LED. I think I will tape over it for my next outing The rifle scope kit comes with a mounting plate which affixes to a Weaver style rail, along with an integral pressure switch activated laser sight. The combination laser and night vision gave me a real advantage at the last Stargate LRP event, and I've also had fun watching my local wildlife, our bunnies and the like. A real win for my collection.