Hands down our favorite budget binocular. With a great image, comfortable feel, and great focusing, it’s one of our Top Picks.
February 16, 2023
At A Glance
PROS:
- Bright, colorful image at low price point
- Good performance in glare and at distance
- Smooth, precise focus wheel
CONS:
- Slight loss of sharpness at edges of image
STATS:
- Price: $219 MSRP at press time. Prices often fluctuate, so check with retailers
- Close focus: Listed at 7.6 feet (230 cm). In tests, we could focus these binoculars down to about 5.5 feet (168 cm)
- Field of view: 7° (368 feet at 1,000 yards). More about field of view
- Weight: 26.1 oz (740 g)—that’s about 0.4 oz (11 g) lighter than the average for 8×42 binoculars in our review
- Eye relief: 22 mm
Viewing Experience: Time and again we were amazed at the great performance of these modestly priced binoculars from Opticron. On a dim, rainy October day, we enjoyed looking through a White-throated Sparrow flock, comparing individuals with natty yellow lores and crisp white throats against others with browner, blurrier faces and tan stripes on the crown. In harsh backlighting, we could still see a male Downy Woodpecker’s little patch of red on the head and the black bars on the outer tail feathers. Even at long distance, with a mixed flock of robins and bluebirds feeding on wild grapes, we found these bins could distinguish the male robins’ black cap from the gray shoulder and even isolate the white around the eye. The image is sharp most of the way across, but does drop off slightly at the edges. The listed field of view (7°) is not particularly wide compared to other 8x42s, but when we tried them in a real-life setting the field of view seemed wider than advertised. Likewise, the close focus is listed at a modest 7.6 feet, but in practice we were able to focus closer.
Feel and Build: Solid-feeling, comfortable binoculars with an easy but precise action to the focus wheel. The smooth black rubberized armor is comfortable and grippy. The eyecups click into the two preset positions cleanly and securely. The binoculars come with a decent padded strap that one reviewer found a little short for their taste. The objective lens covers have loose tethers that can slip up and down the barrels and could fall off.
Comments From Testers:
- Crisp and bright across field of view
- Sturdy build
- Surprisingly nice
- Easy to focus. Nice colors
- Good depth of field
This article is one in a series of mini-reviews. To see how these binoculars compare to others we’ve tested, see our full review of affordable 8×42 binoculars.
