Burris Optics has it's home in Greeley, Colorado, USA, and is a subsidiary of the pan-global Italian/American arms manufacturer Beretta.
Beretta is the oldest maker of weapons in the world (since 1526). The Beretta Group includes Benelli (Italy), Franchi (Italy), Uberti (Italy), Sako and Tikka (both Finland), Stoeger (Turkey), Laser Devices (USA), and the optics companies Burris (USA) and Steiner (Germany).
Burris binoculars are no longer in the company's North American catalogue, although spotting scopes are still offered, but outside of the US and Canada the current lines are Burris Caribbean (the marine line for navigation and water sports observation), Burris Colorado (general purpose and travel binoculars), and the premium line Burris Montana. All other lines have been discontinued. Useful opportunities to make inexpensive purchases for gifts, 'starter pairs', and for collectors to plug gaps can be found amongst the retailers.
Burris Montana are available in 8x32, 8x42, 10x42, and 8x56. They only come in green.
Visually appealing with a high quality elegant design the Burris Montana suite is targeted directly at the recreational nature watching and hunting market.
Burris Montana 8x32 specifications:
Magnification 8x
Objective Diameter 32mm
Exit Pupil 4mm
Roof Prism Yes
Prism type BaK-4
ED Glass No
Luminosity 8.0
Twilight Factor 16.0
Field of View at 1000m 118m
Close Focusing Distance 2m
Height / Width / Depth in mm 127 / 124 / 61
Weight 570g
Waterproof up to 1m
Nitrogen Filling Yes
Suitable for tripod adaptor Yes
Suitable for wearers of glasses Yes
Objective Lens Covers Yes
Rain Protection Cap Yes
Case Yes
Product code BUR-1201
Warranty 10 years
These are Burris' premium binoculars and first impressions count. The binoculars come in a heavily branded good quality easy open colour printed cardboard box, an easy grab as a stocking-filler. Besides the binoculars and their waterproof strap the box includes a leatherette and poly zip-top case with an adjustable carrying strap, an instruction card and a German branded lens cloth.
These are a medium-sized, fairly lightweight traditional roof prism binocular in attractive two-tone green with straight optical assemblies joined by a medium sized stiff hinge.
They are made in China, central focusing, and have the diopter on the right hand barrel under the eyepiece. The lenses are precision ground and fully multi-coated with HiLume, Burris' registered and trade-marked multi-coating. Viewed under a bright light the lenses exhibit a high degree of coating. The body is glass-fibre reinforced (which would suit frequent use) with thick comfortable contoured non-slip rubberised sheathing and raised and concave thumbplates on the underneath to enable a good grip. The binoculars are nitrogen filled, guaranteed waterproof, fogproof and shockproof.
The eyepieces have twistup rubberised eyecups, with sufficient eyerelief for glasses wearers. The twistup eyecups can be adjusted so the soft raised 'love 'em or hate 'em' batwing eyeshields reduce glare between your eye and the eyepiece. Separate soft rubberised eyepiece caps are moulded to fit over the eyecup batwing without folding it out of shape and are attached to the nylon strap. I liked these, a little fiddly at first but it is useful to have eyepiece caps that actually fit properly (Nikon please note). These are fitted individually and are easily thumbed off in rapid deployment.
Objective covers, don't you just hate it when objective lens covers fly off on the first outing ? The Burris Montana 8x32 have detachable butterfly objective covers which are hinged to adjust to the varied curve set of the barrels and you'll need a pocket to put them in unless you leave them off altogether. In daily active use my preference is for attached objective covers (Opticron please note) but this can easily be remedied with an aftermarket product if so desired. The objective lenses are inset from the barrel ends, in theory keeping them safe from scratching !
The luminosity (divide the aperture by the magnification and then multiply by 2) for the Montana 8x32 is 8.0. The higher the factor, the brighter the images viewed will be in lowlight conditions although clearly the quality of the lenses and coatings are crucial. Twilight factor is the square root of the product of the diameter of the objective and the magnification. The Montana 8x32 has a twilight factor of 16.0. This is essentially a daytime binocular.
Regarding the exit pupil if the diameter of your pupil is the same or greater than that of the exit pupil of the binoculars, the image you see will be the brightest it can be. If your eye pupil cannot dilate to the diameter of the exit pupil or greater some light cannot enter your eye and the image through the optic will be dimmed. With an exit pupil of 4mm most should perceive the maximum amount of light input through the objective lenses of these binoculars.
I found the colour exhibited in the view to be natural, if a little yellow and warm, inevitably in this specificiation-price range there is some curvature to the view. Depth of field is good, possibly even better than expected, focusing is easy, the large rubber armoured focus wheel rotates smoothly but not overly fast. I was pleased with the sweet spot ; big enough. There was no chromatic aberration evident in current low light conditions. The close focusing distance is highly acceptable at 2m.
Value is what you think it is, retail prices vary, typically upto 195.00, including VAT, in the UK., upto Eur250.00 in Germany, and around AUD$420.00 in Australia (about 245.00 at today's rates). With a target price of under 150.00 a very good entry level 8x32.
Beretta is the oldest maker of weapons in the world (since 1526). The Beretta Group includes Benelli (Italy), Franchi (Italy), Uberti (Italy), Sako and Tikka (both Finland), Stoeger (Turkey), Laser Devices (USA), and the optics companies Burris (USA) and Steiner (Germany).
Burris binoculars are no longer in the company's North American catalogue, although spotting scopes are still offered, but outside of the US and Canada the current lines are Burris Caribbean (the marine line for navigation and water sports observation), Burris Colorado (general purpose and travel binoculars), and the premium line Burris Montana. All other lines have been discontinued. Useful opportunities to make inexpensive purchases for gifts, 'starter pairs', and for collectors to plug gaps can be found amongst the retailers.
Burris Montana are available in 8x32, 8x42, 10x42, and 8x56. They only come in green.
Visually appealing with a high quality elegant design the Burris Montana suite is targeted directly at the recreational nature watching and hunting market.
Burris Montana 8x32 specifications:
Magnification 8x
Objective Diameter 32mm
Exit Pupil 4mm
Roof Prism Yes
Prism type BaK-4
ED Glass No
Luminosity 8.0
Twilight Factor 16.0
Field of View at 1000m 118m
Close Focusing Distance 2m
Height / Width / Depth in mm 127 / 124 / 61
Weight 570g
Waterproof up to 1m
Nitrogen Filling Yes
Suitable for tripod adaptor Yes
Suitable for wearers of glasses Yes
Objective Lens Covers Yes
Rain Protection Cap Yes
Case Yes
Product code BUR-1201
Warranty 10 years
These are Burris' premium binoculars and first impressions count. The binoculars come in a heavily branded good quality easy open colour printed cardboard box, an easy grab as a stocking-filler. Besides the binoculars and their waterproof strap the box includes a leatherette and poly zip-top case with an adjustable carrying strap, an instruction card and a German branded lens cloth.
These are a medium-sized, fairly lightweight traditional roof prism binocular in attractive two-tone green with straight optical assemblies joined by a medium sized stiff hinge.
They are made in China, central focusing, and have the diopter on the right hand barrel under the eyepiece. The lenses are precision ground and fully multi-coated with HiLume, Burris' registered and trade-marked multi-coating. Viewed under a bright light the lenses exhibit a high degree of coating. The body is glass-fibre reinforced (which would suit frequent use) with thick comfortable contoured non-slip rubberised sheathing and raised and concave thumbplates on the underneath to enable a good grip. The binoculars are nitrogen filled, guaranteed waterproof, fogproof and shockproof.
The eyepieces have twistup rubberised eyecups, with sufficient eyerelief for glasses wearers. The twistup eyecups can be adjusted so the soft raised 'love 'em or hate 'em' batwing eyeshields reduce glare between your eye and the eyepiece. Separate soft rubberised eyepiece caps are moulded to fit over the eyecup batwing without folding it out of shape and are attached to the nylon strap. I liked these, a little fiddly at first but it is useful to have eyepiece caps that actually fit properly (Nikon please note). These are fitted individually and are easily thumbed off in rapid deployment.
Objective covers, don't you just hate it when objective lens covers fly off on the first outing ? The Burris Montana 8x32 have detachable butterfly objective covers which are hinged to adjust to the varied curve set of the barrels and you'll need a pocket to put them in unless you leave them off altogether. In daily active use my preference is for attached objective covers (Opticron please note) but this can easily be remedied with an aftermarket product if so desired. The objective lenses are inset from the barrel ends, in theory keeping them safe from scratching !
The luminosity (divide the aperture by the magnification and then multiply by 2) for the Montana 8x32 is 8.0. The higher the factor, the brighter the images viewed will be in lowlight conditions although clearly the quality of the lenses and coatings are crucial. Twilight factor is the square root of the product of the diameter of the objective and the magnification. The Montana 8x32 has a twilight factor of 16.0. This is essentially a daytime binocular.
Regarding the exit pupil if the diameter of your pupil is the same or greater than that of the exit pupil of the binoculars, the image you see will be the brightest it can be. If your eye pupil cannot dilate to the diameter of the exit pupil or greater some light cannot enter your eye and the image through the optic will be dimmed. With an exit pupil of 4mm most should perceive the maximum amount of light input through the objective lenses of these binoculars.
I found the colour exhibited in the view to be natural, if a little yellow and warm, inevitably in this specificiation-price range there is some curvature to the view. Depth of field is good, possibly even better than expected, focusing is easy, the large rubber armoured focus wheel rotates smoothly but not overly fast. I was pleased with the sweet spot ; big enough. There was no chromatic aberration evident in current low light conditions. The close focusing distance is highly acceptable at 2m.
Value is what you think it is, retail prices vary, typically upto 195.00, including VAT, in the UK., upto Eur250.00 in Germany, and around AUD$420.00 in Australia (about 245.00 at today's rates). With a target price of under 150.00 a very good entry level 8x32.
