Night Vision Pen

[NightVisionPen]

I just received my pen and love it with the exception of the lanyard length. Do you have any other lengths available (say 10-12 inches?).

Sorry, only the 24" is available. That was the length that was determined to be best for signaling outside the cockpit and using it to look at instruments as well. You could always cut a part of the center out and stitch it back together. The. You get it shorter, but retain the quick detach capability.

 

[NightVisionPen]

Night Vision Pen is gearing up to start work on the next version of the pen. The first step will be to generate the funds necessary for the design and prototype of the version 2.0. That is going to be done via a Kickstarter campaign with an as yet to be determined date. In the meantime, feel free to post in this thread what you would like to see in a second version of the Night Vision Pen. Obviously not everything will be able to be incorporated, but I want to address as much as possible.

 

[insanebikerboy]

A pen that would fit in my flight suit sleeve pocket.

 

[NightVisionPen]

A pen that would fit in my flight suit sleeve pocket.

That is priority number #1. I honestly didn't expect many military customers to buy my lanyard, but it is a rare sale that goes out without the lanyard. The quick detach makes people want to put it in their sleeve pocket even more than it was mentioned before.

 

[Swanee]

I found that the edges of the hole in the pen cut the thin lanyard line that goes through it. Perhaps make the lanyard line a bit thicker.

 

[pourts]

multiple colors for drawing bfm speghetti (black/red or black/blue)

 

[NightVisionPen]

multiple colors for drawing bfm speghetti (black/red or black/blue)

That would most likely negate the ability to use the Fisher Space Pen ink cartridge though. Thoughts?

 

[MasterBates]

Are you guys trying to draw the spaghetti in the cockpit, or doing it in post flight?

I had a 4 color pen, it worked well, but I was having the other guy fly while I did it (best guess, based off of Wizard radio calls)

 

[insanebikerboy]

That would most likely negate the ability to use the Fisher Space Pen ink cartridge though. Thoughts?

Me personally, I'd leave it one color.

 

[Alpha_Echo_606]

I found that the edges of the hole in the pen cut the thin lanyard line that goes through it. Perhaps make the lanyard line a bit thicker.

Or machine the sharp edges off.

 

[pourts]

Are you guys trying to draw the spaghetti in the cockpit, or doing it in post flight?

I had a 4 color pen, it worked well, but I was having the other guy fly while I did it (best guess, based off of Wizard radio calls)

I try to do a quick 2 color speghetti while setting up the next run/ whatever because I do not yet have TOTAL RECALL.

Or post flight while straight and level on RTB. Or in the pits. Anything to avoid the blank stare in the debrief.

 

[simple20]

Hey,

NVP, any update on the newer variant? I'm holding out until theres a version that fits in the pen pocket.

Thanks

 

[NightVisionPen]

Unofrtunately not yet. It is a long process of finding the right designer and then the proper manufacturing set up. I will be sure to keep the AW community notified once I am able to expand the model line up.

 

[KBayDog]

I finally took the plunge about a month or two ago. I'll admit - I was originally a skeptic (I'm not a gear queer, and I tend to be a cheap SOB), but I'm a NightVisionPen convert.

I've been using it regularly for the past few weeks, and since I fly a lot of student NVG events, it has gotten plenty of use. My experience has been nothing but positive. The light is plenty bright enough to illuminate your writing surface, but not so bright that it illuminates everything in the cockpit when you use it. In fact, the light emitted is similar to tearing a slit in a chemlight package. The light is much friendlier than that emitted by the Sidewinder, and it's nice not being "that guy" who leaves his liplight on all the time.

The thing I like best is that I no longer have to aim my liplight (and, by extension, my head) at my kneeboard in order to illuminate my writing surface - I can keep my head up, and peek down under the goggles to make my notes. It's too early to tell if this minimized 'heads-down' time makes for an increased safety margin, but I suspect moving only my eyes, vice my whole head, has got to increase my SA. I'm still trying to un-learn my habit of using my liplight, though - I've been using it for several years, so it'll take a bit for me to remember that I don't need it to write anymore.

Stinky's amateur hand model post from 29 Jul 10 (post #60 in this thread) pretty much sums up the specs, so I won't re-hash those. I've seen a lot of posts from people who want a flightsuit friendly version. I'm not one of them, as I don't use a pen from my flight suit pocket while in the aircraft. I'm wary of FOD (I've had more than a few crewmembers drop their pens, only to have them roll around the cyclic/pedals), so I insist that my pen be dummy-corded to my kneeboard. I use it in conjunction with the supplied lanyard and the 9G kneeboard, and have had zero issues thus far. The supplied lanyard works well, and the pen fits easily into the 9G's side pocket. I haven't had any problems with the light being left on inadvertantly - it takes positive pressure to activate the light switch.

Overall, the NVP is a great product for night owls. If you don't fly goggles all that often, or if your cockpit is lit up like a Christmas tree due to your whiz-bang glass cockpits, you might not get much utility out of it. However, as someone who flies a lot of nights...and has to do a lot of writing...the NVP was well worth the cost of a few drinks.

 

[Renegade One]

I apologize in advance if this info has already been given out, but I didn't want to read all 6 pages.

Do you have any plans to make a 2 (or more) color version? The color function would be for daytime use but having one pen do both would be cool.

Color me "me too" on the whole thing about not wanting to read all 6 pages.

Now...are you all kidding me? SIX pages about a frakin' PEN?!? This pen had better have "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men!" [Pop culture Reference: Opening narration of old "Superman" TV show...]