i was wondering if you could use a fish finder thinger.is there a real time output to a screen? or am i just stuck driving slow? ive tried to mount driving lights low and angled down to the edges of the road,thought about infared gear,gen 3 stuff,i saw a websight with l.e.d IR emmitters.Be cool to mount and drive a large number of these and try to see if it works.the point is is that fog is angerous round here and seeing if any one has any new ideas,i drove otr for over 20 years and been there ,done it and left the graffitti,there gotta be a better way!  

Wouldn't that be cool.  Unfortunately fish finders use a transducer that will ONLY read in water.  But that technology is changing constantly.

You might want to look into that infared stuff; I have never looked into that so I don't know about the infared.  You might also want to check at an army surplus store.  You would think that the military would have something.  

bummer bout the fish finder,but got the idea from the discovery channel,figured the more infrared lightsource the better.figured if you could focus a immense source then you could reeaallyy see in the dark,maybe..think there is an upper limit on how manyleds u can string before u git un aerodynamic.maybe radio shack,,,,wait they sell 120 to 12 volt inverters and a house security camera,and the infra light source.. HEY WOO HOO!just put a few light sources and use the security camera.BOOM instant see in tha dark!!! evil laugh..maybe....  

they also sell camcords which will run infrared... there's a possibility that you could mount it in your grill with the light source and put a screen in your dash... the other thing that i've heard of... but don't remember which car it was on... (i know that some pontiac's have the heads up display) but they will project the image onto your windshield and if it's aligned properly then it would overlay the actual scenery outside... giving you superhuman vision basically... all it really is, is a screen set flat into the dash... the reflection on you windshild allows you to see the screen... and the road at the same time... so it would be in that grey area of the law... because legally you can't have a screen in direct view of the driver...  

i know the old school infra red that the military used worked well. the only problem is.....do you have the space to mount a 3'x4' box that houses the light source? maybe on your roof. those were used on the tanks, and you neede a set of night observation devices (nod's) to be able to see....pretty cool stuff, turned night into day.  

yeah, on the same track as gotmike...the cadillac dts had the infrared system that saw at night...possibly in the fog and went through to the heads up display...might be able to find one in a wrecked caddy but thats wishful thinkin cause i dont think the oooold people wrecked them yet!lol  

i think this would be the most practical and do'able,the camcorder,.the firemen came over w/ the human finder thingy,coooollll. at 10k little bit expensive though, most cameras have a video output,and the car stereo shops have visor tv's that are flat and thin,set to black and white,build a shield so mountie's cant see the screen directly and mount flat on the dash,maybe?? a poor mans H.U.D. they ought to write a song,somthing like a four wheeler can over come! wonder how hard it would be to adapt the gm H.U.D. to another vehicle.Maybe four wheeler staff with their connections can get hold of someone in the know?  

This is exactly what you are looking for;

link; http://www.cvs.flir.com/dve

That is way cool, gonna get it on my christmas list now to allow plenty of time for Santa to save his money.LOL

EDIT  My links never work like they are supposed to.  

I want to find a way to make Radar work with a Lawrance GPS in my truck to see through dust... I know the marine application ones will plug in, but I haven't looked to see how large or small the unit actually is...

I'm sure that doesn't help, but at least you're not the only one thinking of this... lol  

That sounds cool,real time radar,do boats run 12V? i would try it ,on the side,wonder how fast the refresh rate is? how fast does the image forward,or anyword?? show new terrain,is there a limit on how fast youll cover the ground before you out run the image. Know what ime getting at?i think on fairly flat terrain it would be the answer if you could keep it pointed strait ahead, dont know how the radar operates,but pretty sure btween a go narly bunch of motivated four wheelers,the deed came be done! Happy wheelin..probably!  

Yes, boat electrical systems run on 12 Volts.  Lowrance does offer radar, but I don't think it is what you are really looking for, it will not be like real time visual of what is in front of you like what a video camera would see.  Lowrance GPS is just global mapping.  They are offered for both marine and auto.

Go to www.lowrance.com  

ever look through a set of optics going down the road? cool isnt it,but any way i tried my 35 mm Nikon with my 300mm lens at at various focus lengths. naturaly the 75mm gave the widest field ,cant remember the specs,but think its something like 300 ft width at ? feet distance.now, the problem is the width shrinks at longer focus lengths,(1) the really big wide lenses like the pros use takes care of this problem? the lines i was thinking was a video feed system of some kind that would give a wide field of view at X distance,and give a infra red or other capability. sure the military has such an aminal!think of the possabilitys! guess thats what a flir does right? maybe make a home grown  version,oh and it works better w/stereoscopic devices.happy dusty foggy rainy snowy smoky wheelin  

The pathfindir is a flir navigating system. It was derived from the same systems used by the military. A radar would work on a delay due to the need to wait for a sweep. The only problem is that radar uses microwaves. When I used to work on airplanes and we would have to use extra caution when testing the radar. It would work fine as long as the people in front of you do not mind you slowly cooking their insides. The pathfindir is also the same nav sys used in the high end BMW's, Audi's, and Caddy's. The prices vary upon need, it can be integrated into any existing video sys or you can get it with its own video screen. I tried making a link to the pathfindir above but it didn't work out if someone can make the link work I am sure you will be impressed.


http://www.cvs.flir.com/dve/  

XJames:
The pathfindir is a flir navigating system. It was derived from the same systems used by the military. A radar would work on a delay due to the need to wait for a sweep. The only problem is that radar uses microwaves. When I used to work on airplanes and we would have to use extra caution when testing the radar. It would work fine as long as the people in front of you do not mind you slowly cooking their insides. The pathfindir is also the same nav sys used in the high end BMW's, Audi's, and Caddy's. The prices vary upon need, it can be integrated into any existing video sys or you can get it with its own video screen. I tried making a link to the pathfindir above but it didn't work out if someone can make the link work I am sure you will be impressed.


http://www.cvs.flir.com/dve/

That PathFindIR is the way to go.  I checked out that site and that system is cool.  

that sight is cool!