Basically, Jakks EyeClops Night Vision Goggles let you see in total darkness, for 90% less cost than traditional night vision goggles. Typically infrared night vision goggles cost $500 and up, and here you have Jakks offering night vision goggles for $80. At first, I couldn’t believe that they would work. Anyway, I ended up buying them for my 10 year old, Aiden. He is having a blast playing with them, and so am I.

I’m sure you remember growing up and thinking how cool it would be to sneak around in the dark and be invisible. I actually researched night vision equipment, but there wasn’t any around when I was a kid – it was all military stuff. Furthermore, even if you could get your hands on night vision goggles, there were like $1,000 or more.

There are a couple of changes to get used to with the Eyeclops Night Vision Goggles. First of all, it’s disorienting that your vision comes from the center eyepiece on your forehead. You see, normally you see the world through your eyes, but the eyeclops night vision uses a 3rd infrared eye to collect the infrared light and distribute it to your right eye. I guess the nature of infrared night vision also prevents you from using both eyes to see in the dark.

Another thing is that the field of vision is much smaller than your normal, 180 degree field of vision, but I learned that that’s just one of the limitations of night vision itself, no matter what device you’re using.

A final difficulty is that since you have a smaller field of vision, and you’re only seeing in night vision through one eye (the right eye) (and yes, this IS typical in expensive night vision goggles as well), you lose a bunch of depth perception. The moral here is that you don’t want to go running around in night vision mode – you’ll smash into stuff.

It’s funny, I learned from reading about pirates on Mythbusters that the reason they wore a patch over one eye was because if they were in a swordfight and had to go below deck where it’s dark, they could take the patch off their patched eye and that eye would be ready to see in darkness and they wouldn’t be night blinded. Same premise with the eyeclops night vision goggles – since you’re only seeing in the dark with 1 eye, the other eye is ready to see in normal light anytime.

On these goggles, there’s 2 night vision modes – one is 100% stealth (no one can see you) and the other one gives you better night vision but throws off a faint infrared light from the goggles themselves, so you’re not 100% invisible. The EyeClops night vision goggles DO work very well, and for the price, they’re amazing. When I tried them, I walked around our house in the darkness and could easily see my way around, so they DO work.

All in all, I’m very pleased with Jakks Eyeclops Night Vision Infrared Stealth Goggles, and I think they’ll make a fantastic and fun gift for your kids for Christmas 2008. Check them out, and be confident that your kids will love them and they’ll learn a lot by having them.