The Sons of the Forest night vision goggles are handy in a pinch if you need to see your way through a dark cave or bunker. They're found inside a relatively shallow cave, so the good news is that you won't need to venture too far in to find them. You won't need any keycards to access the location either, so you can pick up the goggles as soon as you like.
While a lot of your day-to-day survival will occur above ground on the terrifying island, plenty of weapons, tools, or other useful items can be found by venturing into the darker depths of bunkers or caves. The shovel is one example, and the zipline rope gun another, so it does pay to have gear that helps with visibility. With that in mind, here's the Sons of the Forest night vision goggles location.
Sons of the Forest night vision goggles location
The night vision goggles are found inside a cave to the south of the island's western side, just to the right of the river that flows all the way to the coast. The exact location is shown in the screenshot above.
The cave itself is pretty small, so you can easily make do with the lighter for visibility if that's what you've got to hand. Simply head towards the back of the waterlogged cave and you'll find a corpse sitting in an armchair wearing the night vision goggles. You can equip the goggles by right-clicking them in your inventory, though be aware that they are battery-powered, so use them wisely.
As well as helping out inside darkened caves, the night vision goggles are handy if you're out and about at night. Maybe you got caught short while exploring and won't make it back to your base until after dark. Or maybe you had to sleep early due to exhaustion, so your day has to start a little earlier before it gets light. Either way, the goggles will help you see a little better, which should make surviving the cannibal-infested island a little easier.