I'm in lurve with my Swift 828's

[Chris Oates]

As a latecomer to birdwatching I've never owned decent bins but always carried a pair of Chinon 8x25 reverse poro's, I also had a pair of Nikon 10x50 zooms but they were heavy/bulky and had tunnel vision.
With great trepidation I ordered the Audubon 828 8.5x44 from WE - my IPD is tiny and I wear glasses and I've never used roofs before.

REVELATION !!!

So small, so bright, just enough IPD adjustment and I can use them perfectly with my glasses.
The image circle is large with a wide field of view and great depth of field - in dreadful light I was able to scan huge areas of sea at St Ives without refocusing - an absolute joy.

The thumb grooves are a bit wasted on me as the bodies are squeezed together but there's just enough room to get the tips in there.
Slight pincusion of horizons but of no consequence.
Nice locked dioptre adjustment.
Eye cups seem firm & stay up.
Balance nice, easy to hold, not as light as I'd imagined .

The overwhelming plus is how well they work with my glasses - I think the view is even better - my birding experience is very much enhanced by these bins - just need to work at identifying something :)

[SteveF]

Nice review on the ergonomics. Glad that you like them.

Please let us know more about their performance as you use them more.

[Chris Oates]

Nice review on the ergonomics. Glad that you like them.

Please let us know more about their performance as you use them more.

After a couple of weeks of hard use - delighted - they are so nice to use that they spend more time at eye level than any other binocular I've owned.
I'm still impressed by the large bright sharp image circle, comfortable feel & ease of one-handed use.

My brother has a pair of RSPB poro's which I'm happy not to use as they are rather 'telescopy' plus I have to look at two image discs as they won't adjust for my close eye spacing (IPD) - the Swifts aren't like a telescope and have more IPD adjustment than I need.
I'm a glasses wearer and there is enough eye relief that I still have to twist up the eyecups about a quarter of the way so a thick glasses person won't have a problem.

My only niggle is a common one - the eyepiece rain guard is fine but the objective covers are going to get lost - my scope uses an internal plug cover - much better.

[Janus]

I've got a pair of 828's, and I think they're great.
I've also got a pair of 8.5x42 Swarowski EL's for my job, and they're just standing on my desk. I don't notice any big difference between the two.

And it's true about the objective covers, I've got no idea about where mine are.

[elkhorn98]

I also have the 828s and must say they are a good binocular for the price. Only complaint is the strap that came with them.