<John wrote: Whether that is good boating practice is another thing. Frankly, I avoid night operations in restricted navigation areas. But if I can't avoid, this trio of electronic gadgets does make up for my not being able to see very well with nature's eyeballs on a dark night.> Nancy and I do a fair amount of traveling in the wee hours getting a head start on inter island passages. 1-3AM departures are not unusual. In order to have night vision we get everything ready to leave and then sit around for another cup of coffee with all the lights out sans the anchor light. This gives a good bit of increased "night vision". Then after hoisting the anchor which can be seen with the light from the running lights we are off. Keeping the instrument lighting, plotter and radar displays down to a dim glow and not using flashlights etc really helps to keep that night vision. I really can't see how the brightness of a FLIR display could possibly improve the situation. Looking down at it and then out the window would seem to compromise the good watch lookout/standing that we work hard to maintain. Our pilothouse is well removed from the saloon but even the valance lighting turned way down on the dimmer can add bothersome distractions to the windows. In reading the reports here on their limited effectiveness I guess we'll keep that part of the kids inheritance in our pocket but I'm sure we'll find another way to speed it :-) As always YMMV.. Dave & Nancy Swan Song Roughwater 58