Night Vision System - How Good Is It?

[moonrayker]

Has anyone got a GS with this option on it? If so, have you tried it way out in the country on unlit roads, in the fog, in a blizzard?

I drive in all these conditions and I am wondering how much the night vision system would help me out. If it offers extra vision in foggy conditions I definitely want this option, but if it's just there as something to keep up with the Germans and not of any real value then it becomes less attractive.

[hziemba]

While I don't have this option, I did a lot of research on it before ordering my 2013 GS. I wanted all the safety stuff, including the pre-collision system/radar cruise, and you won't even find a demo car with it, much less a car you can buy.

First, there are two kinds of IR systems in cars; the long wave IR (BMW) which is passive and needs no illuminator, and the medium wave IR that everyone else seems to use that includes IR illluminators. Lexus is medium wave - camera is up at the rearview mirror, and illuminators next to the headlights. All else being equal, the long wave will show people and animals better. Most military systems use the long wave.

There is a fairly recent video on YouTube of the Lexus system in action, though it does NOT include any rural driving. There are video clips of other night vision systems, like Mercedes (also a medium wave system) that are awesome. A few things to consider.

The image is shown on the display that shows your navigation map, so to see it you have to take your eyes off of the road - not a good thing. Remember too that the field of view is relatively narrow, so you can only glance at it, to improve your situational awareness. Lexus does no analysis of the video to determine when it finds something of interest. Mercedes, for one, looks for shapes like people and will alert you - though I don't know how good the indication is, but at least it's got the right idea. A system that projects in the HUD is also another good idea. Lexus does neither.

In the city, I don't see that it has any value, and when I'm the only one on the road, the high beams turn the night into day. Granted, the night vision system may show me some things that the high beams don't, but how often will that be? These are reasons I did not get the option. Another more important reason is that on the GS you can get night vision or the lane keeping assist, but NOT BOTH. I think most people will benefit much more from the LKA than night vision. You can't get both because they use cameras in the rear-view mirror, and there isn't room for both.

If I really needed the best night vision system in a car, I'd go for BMW or Mercedes, based on what's out there now.