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SiOnyx Aurora Pro 1-3x16mm Explorer Night Vision Monocular
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Jason's Review of SiOnyx Aurora Pro 1-3x16mm Explorer Night Vision Monocular

This thing is pretty cool.

It's pretty shocking how much better it can see in semi-dark areas compared to the human eye, especially if there is a bit of ambient IR light around. As others have pointed out elsewhere, it isn't a replacement for real military-grade analog night-vision goggles, because of the inherent delay present in any digital camera (especially at the lower frame rates that are necessary for good visibility in darker conditions). You can't use this to walk around at night. Maybe you could drive with it if you mounted it on the front of a car or boat.

However, as a semi-dark camera, video recorder, and stationary observation scope, it works great. (But where's the lens cap? Really, folks...)

HOWEVER:

Part of the attraction of the Pro is that it lifts the 29-minute video length limit.

It turns out that the included 32-GB SD card only works for files up to 4 GB, which is only big enough for 2 hour videos at some of the lower settings (24 fps, 360p). This is because of the Fat32 format on the card.

AND... if you try to reformat it to exFAT yourself, to support larger files, the Aurora won't recognize the card and demands to reformat it (which it does, back to Fat32). I tried formatting the 32-GB card to exFAT on both Windows and Linux, and the Aurora refused to read the card.

I've now purchased a 64-GB SD card, and that came with exFAT, which *is* recognized by the Aurora.

Even more strangely, if I reformat the 64-GB SD card with exFAT using Windows, the Aurora *will* recognize it!

So, it seems like this is a bug in the Pro firmware (v1.34), where exFAT SD cards aren't accepted if they are 32-GB.

I'm posting this here in case it would be helpful to someone else.

If you're having trouble recording longer videos on the Aurora Pro, try a larger SD card with the exFAT format to overcome the 4 GB file size limit of Fat32.
Pros:
  • Works mostly as advertised
Cons:
  • Can't be used as NVG replacement
  • No lens cap
  • Somewhat cheap feeling construction and included accessories
  • Included SD card can't handle larger files
Best Used for:
  • Semi-dark spotting
  • Semi-dark video recording
Would Recommend: Yes
Was it helpful to you? Yes | No
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Last updated 2025-11-12 UTC.