Ask HN: Why are good night vision goggles so expensive and hard to come by?

It's all down to quality. A high-quality pair of binoculars cost you £200 or more, and I doubt most households would ever consider spending that much.

Then you move onto the actual differences between the two. Most binoculars contain some lenses and other small components (admittedly the more expensive ones now also include rangefingers etc). Even the most basic (true) NVG by comparison require image sensor, processor and display.

Then you move up to the good goggles. These are the ones with anti-flare protection, more realistic colour and higher gain so you don't need an IR source (which lights you up like a christmas tree).

At the end of the day, NVG aren't just binoculars with some fancy lenses.

While I was serving in my country's army, I had access to both night vision and thermal goggles. When I asked about their costs they told me that although most of the components (lenses, energy units & wiring etc) were produced locally, the chips that converted light & thermal signatures to vision were imported, and they cost a lot. So they're probably the reason that makes these equipment so costly.

Quora is that way ----->

This question is better asked at Quora, but one reason quality NVGs are so expensive are because the high gain/low noise components required for modern, passive NVGs are quite expensive to 1) produce, 2) QA, and 2) buy.