Akaso Sight-300 review: Lightweight colour night vision for true-to-life after dark adventures
The Akaso Sight-300 weighs just 260g, making it one of the lightest night vision monoculars available. Picture: Akaso.
Night vision has traditionally meant grainy green images and heavy gear. The Akaso Sight-300 changes that, offering full-colour clarity in near-total darkness, lightweight portability, and 4K recording in a versatile 260g monocular.
The Sight-300 is remarkably light for its size at just 260g. It’s comfortable to hold for long periods, and its compact form factor means I could slip it into a jacket pocket without fuss. My review unit also came with a hardshell case, which is ideal for storage or tossing into a bag with other items. The build feels rugged enough for outdoor use, with an IP65 Rating for resistance to dust and water.
It’s also helmet-ready, with included brackets and mounting rails. Attaching it securely to a helmet is straightforward, and I appreciated that it never became a neck-straining burden.
Behind a rubber flap on the top of the camera is a microSD card slot and a USB-C charging port. The camera features an internal colour LCD screen with a lens on the back for viewing. You need to hold the camera about 20cm from your face to see the screen properly. It’s not as user-friendly as a standard display, but it’s not a deal-breaker either, and on a dark night, the lack of a bright external screen means you won’t be dazzled by a flood of light.
On top of the camera is a small LCD display that shows icons for mode, battery, Wi-Fi status, and microSD card storage. Below it sits a ‘set’ button surrounded by four navigation buttons for controlling the on-screen menu system. Finally, there’s a large red button that doubles as both the power switch and the video record button.
You can choose between observation mode for stationary viewing and action mode for movement. Like a DSLR, the 3,250mAh battery is removable, and you can purchase additional batteries.
Wi-Fi connectivity enables you to connect your phone to live stream, and you can also save clips instantly. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test this feature, as the app didn’t yet recognise the pre-production model I was using.
The camera features an 8× digital zoom and a wide field of view, providing excellent situational awareness whether scanning a forest edge or focusing in on a distant subject.
Traditional night vision often reveals your position due to infrared illuminators, but here, there’s no giveaway glow. Even under starlight, the camera produced bright, colourful images without supplemental lighting. We’re not talking Planet Earth levels of image quality here, but for an enthusiast-level device, it’s impressive.
Akaso’s quad-core AI-ISP engine processes every frame in real-time, and it shows. Noise is reduced, colour tones remain relatively natural, and motion blur is impressively controlled. Switching between the two modes felt seamless, and the image remained stable even as I moved.
The Sight-300 is ideal for those who like camping and wildlife spotting. Watching nocturnal animals in the distance without disturbing them with light is cool. For hikers, campers, or anyone curious about nocturnal life, it offers a level of stealth and clarity that’s hard to match.
It’s also clear this would appeal to airsoft or tactical gamers who need wide situational awareness, as well as families who simply want a reliable tool for nighttime exploring.
In daylight, footage tops out at 4K at 30fps, but after dark it still records sharp 2K at 60fps, depending on available light. Colours aren’t overly saturated, but they are relatively accurate, which is more helpful in identifying what you’re actually seeing.
The large 1/1.79-inch CMOS sensor paired with an F/1.0 lens is a serious piece of kit in such a small device. I found licence plates, animal features, and even faint stars reproduced with clarity I’d typically only expect from heavier, more expensive gear.
A lightweight, colour-accurate night vision monocular that delivers 4K clarity and real portability. Not flawless, but one of the most practical and exciting outdoor gadgets I’ve tested this year.
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