watteau
Registered User
Registered: March 2011
Location: Krakow
Posts: 3
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Review Date: Mon August 13, 2012
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $151.00
| Rating: 6
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Pros:
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lightweight, bright, water resistant
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Cons:
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field curvature, sloppy focus on mine
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As a hello message from a new user on BirdForum (actually in read-only mode for over a year), I would like to write about one of my binoculars - from a user point of view.
As a background - I like to walk a lot after work, with just a backpack. Also, I tend to stay in ultralight backpacking camp when going on a longer journeys, trying to stay below 5-7 kg with all my stuff. My mainstay (and in my humble opinion one of the best birding binoculars) is Nikon E II 8x30, but I needed something _very_ light and durable (daily commuting and more). So I ordered a Vanquish. And it will stay in my bag.
Let's begin with looks and technicalities. Body is lightweight - seems to be polycarbonate under the rubber. Objective lenses move behind a flat glass panels - not exactly an internal focusing. Eyecups have two locked positions: fully extended and closed. And here we have first issue - closed eyecups are okay with glasses, but fully extended eyecups are too far away and block edges of the field (without glasses of course). As the medium positions are not lockable, I just bought four o-rings in plumbing store and adjusted eyecup positions, as you can see on the attached shot.
Also - Vanquish IS lightweight - about 350g (12.3 oz) alone, but attached case weighs 70g (2.5 oz) and strap is also an overkill. Solution? use a thin 5mm webbing strap (this is a lightweight binocular) and use some nylon to sew a pouch (also visible on a photo). Everything weighs exactly 370g (13 oz), less than a field guide, and takes almost no space. And padded case is an overkill for rubber housed polycarbonate Vanquish :)
Focusing is adequate. There is a slop, about 5-10 degrees, which can be visible when refocusing - and this is my biggest complaint. Focusing wheel is somewhat stiff, but firm and easy to grip. There are some reflections and hint of chromatic aberration. Vanquish has fairly strong field curvature, this also impairs their behavior when scanning a field - eyes are constantly refocusing, which is tiresome. But most of the FOV is sharp, with very sharp center, also light transmission and contrast are very good (M15 and M2 through severe light pollution is a good result).
I don't want to sound negative here - compared with Opticron HR WP 10x26 viewing is somewhat less comfortable, but contrast and sharpness in the center are better. For its price, this is a very good backpack binocular, you won't be constantly trying to protect an "investment" - as you probably would with a small alpha, but will just have it with you all the time (370g! pocket size!) and use - in rain, snow or from a office window. I recommend it.
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Welcome to BirdForum.
;)
