I've been taking a little closer look at and through this and it strikes me as being remarkably good.
Eye positioning is a doddle, the view is nice and big for a compact and sharp to the edge with little distortion across the view and good dof, very good brightness and good to very good contrast. CA and glare are controlled very well, in fact the only negative I can see is that on this one the focus is a little stiff and jerky and only really focuses both sides sharply when approaching the focus point from one direction so it takes a bit of fiddling to get the focus correct but it seems so good otherwise that I can live with that.
I did a quick compare with some of my other similar size bins and it's better than the Bresser 8x28, better than my beloved Vistron 8x25 mainly due to the slightly better contrast of the Hawke but I would say it's not just as good as my RSPB 8x20 HD although it's very noticeable how blue biased the HD is in comparison with the more neutral or slightly warmer Hawke.
I actually think this is much better than the Sapphire 8x25 I tried. It has properly tight hinges and comfortable eyecups and easy eyepositioning and I have no problem at all holding it steady or having a relaxed view with it but I will know better how it fares once the floods recede and I get a chance to take it out on my usual circuit but I don't see any reason why it won't work very well.
I originally bought it to have in a pocket as a supplement for distance viewing while out with my Kowa 8x32 or Sapphire 8x43 but it seems it would be perfectly useful to take along just by itself.
I'll maybe add some more if there is anything else worth mentioning after I have tried it out properly but definitely a thumbs up so far. Of course it's very light also without all the rubber armour and very good for macro, using one side like a monocular, as it focuses down to about 40cm. I can't see this as anything other than a pretty great little compact especially for the price, definitely great value. I'm certainly pleasantly surprised and kind of wishing I'd had one years ago and it's definitely much better than the Hawke Frontier PC 8x25 I had, mainly due to it's larger more comfortable view.
I think that was the easiest review I've ever written as this binocular is just so straightforward and that has got to be good and I'm absolutely happy to add this to the collection.
:t::t::t:
Eye positioning is a doddle, the view is nice and big for a compact and sharp to the edge with little distortion across the view and good dof, very good brightness and good to very good contrast. CA and glare are controlled very well, in fact the only negative I can see is that on this one the focus is a little stiff and jerky and only really focuses both sides sharply when approaching the focus point from one direction so it takes a bit of fiddling to get the focus correct but it seems so good otherwise that I can live with that.
I did a quick compare with some of my other similar size bins and it's better than the Bresser 8x28, better than my beloved Vistron 8x25 mainly due to the slightly better contrast of the Hawke but I would say it's not just as good as my RSPB 8x20 HD although it's very noticeable how blue biased the HD is in comparison with the more neutral or slightly warmer Hawke.
I actually think this is much better than the Sapphire 8x25 I tried. It has properly tight hinges and comfortable eyecups and easy eyepositioning and I have no problem at all holding it steady or having a relaxed view with it but I will know better how it fares once the floods recede and I get a chance to take it out on my usual circuit but I don't see any reason why it won't work very well.
I originally bought it to have in a pocket as a supplement for distance viewing while out with my Kowa 8x32 or Sapphire 8x43 but it seems it would be perfectly useful to take along just by itself.
I'll maybe add some more if there is anything else worth mentioning after I have tried it out properly but definitely a thumbs up so far. Of course it's very light also without all the rubber armour and very good for macro, using one side like a monocular, as it focuses down to about 40cm. I can't see this as anything other than a pretty great little compact especially for the price, definitely great value. I'm certainly pleasantly surprised and kind of wishing I'd had one years ago and it's definitely much better than the Hawke Frontier PC 8x25 I had, mainly due to it's larger more comfortable view.
I think that was the easiest review I've ever written as this binocular is just so straightforward and that has got to be good and I'm absolutely happy to add this to the collection.
:t::t::t:
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