Hello, fellow night enthusiast. Welcome back to another edition of Friday Night Lights. Last week I took a look at some more Hollywood night vision myths. Well, today we take a look at yet another obscure European biocular night vision goggle. This one has its origins in France but ended up being manufactured by Meopta in the Czech Republic. The Meopta Klára was a night vision goggle made specifically for their army.
Biocular NVGs @ TFB:
- Friday Night Lights: Thales LUCIE – French GIGN LPNVG
- Friday Night Lights: Sopelem TN2 – GIGN Night Vision Goggle
- Friday Night Lights: Norwegian SIMRAD GN1 – Biocular NVGs
Czech Army NVGs Are French Design
I came across the Meopta Klára in a post on Facebook. Someone was inquiring about buying a Sopelem TN2, they even asked if they could buy mine. Someone responded and asked if I had seen a Meopta Klára. I had never heard of one before and asked for some photos. This led me down another rabbit hole. Last December a guy from the Czech Republic had Meopta Kláras for sale so I bought one.
If you recall my GIGN Sopelem TN2 review, I posted a photo of a patent diagram. Sources online mistakenly thought that was the patent for the TN2. While the TN2 certainly shares some similarities like the inline objective lens, the patent does not look anything like the TN2. Once I got the Meopta Klára, I immediately recognized it from the patent. Below is a screenshot of the French patent that was filed in 1995.
Patent image screenshot from Google
According to the patent it was filed by SFIM Industries. SFIM was later bought out by Sagem who merged later with Safran. I took photos of the Meopta Klara to mirror the patent diagrams.
Other than some small changes, like the switch for power and helmet mounting interface, the Klára is nearly identical to the patent diagrams. When you trace the optical light path, as seen in this patent diagram below, it matches the Meopta Klára.
Screenshot from Google patent
So how did a French patented night vision goggle design end up becoming a night vision goggle for the Czech Army? Licensing. Someone online told me that often companies will come up with ideas and patent them. They won’t actually manufacture them but offer them up for sale/licensing. I spoke with a Czech Meopta employee at SHOT Show 2023 and he confirmed that is what Meopta did. They licensed the French design and manufactured the goggle for the Czech Army. I showed him these photos and he said the crossed swords logo is a mark only reserved for military items.
Crossed Sword logo on the Klára goggle housing.
Crossed sword logo on the focal magnifier.
I was not able to find much online about the Klára but the Meopta employee is a fan of Czech army products and sent me some links as well as images. Below is a screenshot from some PDF file.
Photo from Meopta contact
Screenshot from PDF above.
Photo from Meopta contact
Photo from Meopta contact
My Meopta contact also gave me a link to Infrared.cz who list the Klára on their website.
Photo from Infrared.cz
Photo from Infrared.cz
Photo from Infrared.cz
Photo from Infrared.cz
Photo from Infrared.cz
Photo from Infrared.cz
The photo above shows the Klára and monoklára. A monocular version of the Klára. I am not sure why but in the few instances of Klára images, even on Meopta’s website, the goggle is turned around and sometimes upside down.
Screenshot from Meopta website. The Klára is upside down and backwards. There are no alternate images on their site.
Here is a photo I took to replicate the upside-down and backwards Klára.
Meopta Klára
The Klára is worn using a skull crusher style headset. It is similar to the Simrad GN1.
The Klára has a proprietary dovetail system again similar to the Simrad GN1. There are a series of indentations that interface with a detent in the skull crusher mount. The rectangular plunger at the front of the mount is the release to slide the Klára on or off.
One major departure from the SFIM patent design is the switching for the Klára. Instead of a switch on the goggle, Meopta incorporated the on switch into the helmet interface. See those angled arms on either side of the mount on the goggle? When you slide the Klára onto the skull crusher, the arms are pressed down and that lowers a magnet, which is what that small cylinder sticking out the front is for. Once the magnet is lowered into position, the goggle is turned on.
In order to use the Klára goggle without the skull crusher, you need to press down those arms with your fingers. There is no constant on. This also becomes an issue when you want to store the goggles. I have not seen or figured out how to keep the goggles off without removing the battery. If I don’t take the battery out of the housing, storing the Klára can cause accidental activation from something pressing down on the on-switch.
When mounted, the switch lever arms are pressed down to lower the magnet which turns the Klára on.
The skull crusher has a hinge built into it. When you flip the goggle up, the arm/lever is no longer depressed so the goggle is switched off in the stored position.
The Klára has a lens cap/day filter.
Take a look at the battery cap on the side. It has the same three molded lines as the lens cap. The battery cap also has a race around the circumference. I realized it is to store the lens cap. Just pop the lens cap over the battery cap.
Operating the Klára is pretty simple. The big round rubber button on the left side of the goggle just below the battery compartment is to activate the onboard IR illuminator. See the ridged lever on the objective lens just behind the lens cap? That is your objective focus. Turn it to adjust focus. Like other European binoculars, the Klára has a 50º FOV.
Meopta 4x Afocal Magnifier
This Klára came with a matching serial number focal magnifier. The magnifier housing is made of machined aluminum while the Klára appears to be injection molded glass reinforced polymer.
Below is a product photo from a PDF. This is a bit odd since the magnifier is not installed properly and I do not see how the operator can turn the goggle on without pushing the magnet down. His hand is off to the side holding the magnifier and nowhere close to the on-switch.
Photo from PDF
The afocal magnifier is 4x. Which I found a bit interesting as most focal magnifiers for mil-spec night vision are usually 3x. Also, the Klára magnifier attachment is completely unique. See the photos below.
Magnifier next to Klára
When I first saw photos of the magnifier, I thought the large cylinder to the side might be a long-range IR illuminator. I was wrong. It is merely a handle.
The magnifier has this rounded two-prong fork for interfacing with the left side of the Klára.
It slots over this part of the Klára battery compartment.
The magnifier lens side has slots that interface with the NVG objective lens.
That shark fin shaped piece of metal is an objective focus stop. When installed on the Klára, the objective focus lever travel is limited.
Here is the magnifier mounted to the Klára. You hold it like a pair of day binoculars.
The magnifier has an IR day filter that can be removed to let in more light for nighttime use.
When you grasp the magnified Klára. You hold it like a pair of binoculars. Your right hand middle finger or index finger will rest on the objective focus. This allows you to adjust focus fast and intuitively. Your other hand holds the left side bar as a handle and you can use your left or right hand index finger to press the on-switch down.
With regular NVG magnifiers, like the one for the PVS-14 objectives, they screw onto the lens and you have to rotate the entire lens to focus the magnifier. You need one hand to hold the PVS-14 while your other hand adjusts the lens to focus. Not the case with the Klára. You can hold it with one hand and adjust focus simultaneously.
Remember that product photo earlier with the guy in the balaclava? They installed the magnifier upside down. This positions the handle far off to the right of the goggle. Now you cannot adjust focus or turn the goggle on. Unless you grab the objective lens and have the clamping screw protrude into your palm.
A Look Inside The Klára
Like my other European Binoculars, I wanted to take a look inside and possibly upgrade the image intensifier. I was told it uses a 43mm tube. 10160/11769 tubes are 37mm. 10130 tubes are 43mm and are used in the PVS-7 and Thales LUCIE. While the tube does look like a 10130-style tube it uses a pigtail for power rather than the brass contacts on the back of the tube.
You can see the mirrors in the housing that bounce the light path to the left eye.
The image intensifier is a Photonis XD-4. Not sure why but the input window sticks out past the tube housing.
I supposed I could solder a similar pigtail to a 10130 tube if I wanted to upgrade the Klára.
Looking Through The Klára
The Klára shows the issue of having different lengths of light paths. With other bioculars, the light paths going into each eyepiece are the same. The PVS-7 splits the light equally. The Simrad GN1 has an overly complex light path that causes the right eye light path to seem unnecessary. The Thales LUCIE has an inverted Y shape light path but the split light paths are equal length. That is not the case with the Klára. Scroll back up to see the light path diagram. Since the image intensifier sits in front of the right eyepiece, the light path for the left eye is longer than the right. See the image below. The image in the left eye appears smaller at first. But when you actually bring the Klára up to your eyes, the two images are the same scale. You just need to run the goggle closer to your eyes since the eye relief of the left eyepiece is shorter than the right.
Here are some sample pics looking through the Klára,
That small white speck is the 530-yard shed.
And now here are images taken while using the 4x afocal magnifier. Like most night vision images taken with an iPhone, the pictures look better in person.
530-yard shed
This is closer to what it looks like to my eyes in terms of scaling. The shed looks much bigger than the pictures depict above. I am using a VCSEL IR Illuminator.
The night sky was without a moon but the stars were clearly visible. Here is Orion’s Belt and scabbard. This image looks noisier than the real thing.
Klára Storage
This set came in a Pelican case with bespoke closed-cell foam. It has two compartments with matching woodland-style pouches. One for the NVG and one for the magnifier. The foam has a slot for what I assume would be the manual (no manual was included), and holes for spare batteries. The Klára uses a single AA battery.
The pouch has a plastic buckle in front and an elastic cinch strap wrapped around 3/4s of the pouch.
On the back of the pouch looks like molle straps.
The flap is held in place with three sides of hook velcro that match the three loop velcro pieces on the pouch. Under the lid is a zippered pocket. The pouch has a drawstring closure.
Inside the zippered pocket are loops for storing batteries.
Final Thoughts On The Meopta Klára
The Klára is an interesting night vision goggle. It shared similar styling and function as other European bioculars like my Sopelem TN2. The magnifier is a definite must-have accessory. The quality of the machined aluminum housing exudes quality craftsmanship. Just from handling the magnified Klára, it feels like whoever designed the magnifier really thought about the ergonomics of the user.
One thing I did not like about the Klára was the neck lanyards. It reminded me of the one that came with my Steiner PVS-21. It is just a simple shoestring-style piece of string looped and tied to the Klára housing and used as a neck strap. I find these to be a bit annoying so I removed them from the goggle. I kept the lanyard on the magnifier so I could wear it without it attached to the goggle.