When the power supply is “Auto-Gated,” it means the system is turning itself on and off at a very rapid rate. This, combined with a thin film attached to the Microchannel plate (an ion barrier) reduces blooming. While “blooming” can be noticeably less on systems with a thin film layer, systems with thicker film layers can be perfectly acceptable depending on the end user’s application. Deciding which night vision goggle is better should not be based solely on blooming.