Night vision devices are certainly must haves for airsoft players who want to own the night during airsoft games but the devices are usually expensive and it's hard to justify an expense on a device that has a specialized purpose. But a good number of airsoft players rarely play at night too and only the serious players, especially the Milsimers, would find spending on a night vision device is justifiable.

Smartphones are now being used together with sighting devices, often paired with optics to either act as video recorders or ballistic computers, or as guiding device for precision shooting. With this new function of commercial mobile devices, they are also being paired with night vision devices but what is used in the market are the high end (read: too expensive) ones and used for serious military/security applications and out of reach of the common airsofters' budget.

Now there might be a possibility of being able to pair your existing smartphone to a more affordable night vision device. Snooperscope, designed by UK-based company, PSY Corporation, is a Kickstarter crowdfunding project that promises to provide its wireless night vision device. With IR as light source, this device uses your smartphone as its screen which you can do use to record or take still photos of any scene of object the Snooperscope is directed at.

An added bonus with Snooperscope is it gives you the ability to look through "opaque material that infrared can pass through."

Snooperscope will work with your existing IOS or Android smartphone or tablet though there is no mention for Windows mobile devices. Interested people can support the project which is more than halfway through its target of £40,000 goal since as of this writing, pledges are now over £30,000 with 14 days to go before pledging ends.

Early customers will be able to get the first version below the planned retail price US$99.00. When the device gets released on schedule, which will be by April 2014, they are able to get theirs for US$39.00 for being early supporters. The cheapest way now to get yours will be First Production batch will be at US$69.00.

Ok, convinced that somehow you can use it for airsoft purposes. There are already rail mounts and NVG mounts for smartphones, especially for the IOS and thus mounting them on airsoft guns or helmets is not an issue. Though these will need BB shields when mounted to protect them from BB hits.

Perhaps it might not be as tacticool by the looks of it, but it can still be useful at night for an airsoft player. As long as you carry your smartphone with you, you can find your way through the field with the Snooperscope. It's still better than walking blind or being an illuminated target with your taclight.

So apart from my feeble attempt to stretch its usefulness to airsoft, still for its price you can use it at home with your kids and have fun in the darkness playing hide and seek in the backyard. And if you're in the mood for some ghost hunting, then it's yours to bring along.