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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Bushnell 8x25 Powerview - an amazing bin or maybe I'm loosing my mind (1 Viewer)

O Nut,

Can you provide some info on the ll bean discovery?

Min focus distance
Overall measurements
Focus wheel revolutions from min focus to infiniyy

Thanks, CG

There is an identical looking alpen product... It may have been the pro. However, fov is listed at 430'. Caught my attention, but one review i found said the view is darker than other compacts he was familiar with.... So i'll be staying away from it.
 
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Nice data on the Powerview..

So, LL BEan / Discovery:

IPD 58mm -- 71mm

Near focus (corrected) 8 feet about
(w/-4D correction off eyes: 6 ft)

3-7/8" long 4"wide 2-1/4" high
 
I looked at the Alpens once.
Brightness wasn't too bad. A little glare...to be expected.
The filed width was beautiful at 8x though!
 
O Nut,

Have you any experiemce with the nikon pro staff or travelite? I tend to recognize more glare with them than the powerview. I didn't get to compare side by side but i'm thinking the nikons may have been a hair sharper.

CG
 
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Just quick testing, but: The Travelite is super-sharp but it seems a little dimmer.
The lower field width bugs me a bit, but that's important to their obsession with
sharpness. The idea is that extra-sharp takes you places without going to a silly
place with the power.

I haven't looked through x25 Prostaffs.
 
Looking into the binocular:
close focus - counter clockwise direction,
infinity - clockwise direction.

CG
 
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Here are some more comments regarding the Powerview focus mechanism:

I have three samples. In two of them the focus wheel turns with even tension in each direction with a very minimal amount of free play when changing directions. The tension is neither too stiff nor to loose. The other sample is a bit stiffer and there is a spot where more force is needed to move thru it. This is what I was suspecting from an inexpensive binocular and have found the same in bins costing around $400... so I was pleasantly surprised with the two smooth samples.

Optimum focus requires a bit of effort and I have to go back and forth two/three times to get it. Getting close to optimal is easy... maybe the small diameter of the focus wheel has something to do with this.

The focus wheel is 1 3/16" long which is a large area for your finger; I can actually get two fingers on it comfortably. I like this (even though I don't use two fingers) as I think this helps with the ergs and allows the user some leeway with their grip and placement of the finger on the focus wheel. I suspect it will help out with gloves, but haven't tried.

CG
 
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You are describing a focus 'hysteresis', uneven effects you can damp out with cycling.
If it's due to lengths that don't add up you might be able to shim in gaps.
If not, you can try always maintaining a little axial pressuring towards you while turning
either way....that takes up slack in the mechanism. Also, going fullrange both
ways 10-20 times will reduced any 'stiction'.

That issue is indeed spotty in some models. Rare ones with fine-pitched hardened steel
threads do really well, but that's scattered up and down the price ranges too.
 
Aha, I see: true 21st Century QC: get 3, send 2 back. Yup.
In my case it was buy the Celestron 8(7)x30 for $40, fix it, order another,
and get lucky when it worked. Such great designs and glass, such spotty builds.

Such are the times, even at higher prices.
If I buy something at the store, I take possession of "this one here".
Brick 'n' Mortar QC is less hassle suddenly.
 
The plan was to purchase 3 and keep 3 (one to keep in the house, one to keep in the car, one to keep in the truck). Reality turned out different: got 3, kept 2, returned 1. Would have kept it if it was like the other two. I was going to exchange for another, but decided at the last minute to hold off thinking I may want to try a different 8x25 reverse porro.... maybe the Vortex Vanquish. Any experience with that one?

CG
 
I haven't looked through the Vanquish anywhere yet. They seem to have a lot
of happy buyers. I thought the size was a bit big, but I see in the youtube blurb
that they are actually quite compact for a 25mm. 6.7 degrees fov. , which is
the same apparent filed as 7x at 7.5 degrees. Not bad. high precision binocs. usually
trade off some fov. to keep the field flat and sharp. There are comments in the
reviews that confirm the strategy.
 
My hiking binoculars were a reverse porro 7x24. After a very small tumble (cased) from my ruck-sack to the ground, they are out of alignment (I'm not doing very well with porros at the moment). I got a quote for fixing them that was more than they cost, so I looked for a pair to get me by whilst I investigate very light 8x32 bins.
On the strength of these posts, I bought a Bushnell Powerview 8x25 when I saw one up for £29 inc post. I'm very impressed with them. Thanks for the heads-up....

Dave
 
My hiking binoculars were a reverse porro 7x24. After a very small tumble (cased) from my ruck-sack to the ground, they are out of alignment (I'm not doing very well with porros at the moment). I got a quote for fixing them that was more than they cost, so I looked for a pair to get me by whilst I investigate very light 8x32 bins.
On the strength of these posts, I bought a Bushnell Powerview 8x25 when I saw one up for £29 inc post. I'm very impressed with them. Thanks for the heads-up....

Dave

I saw a Nikon Monarch 7 in 30mm objective for the first time this past Monday. It was a brief view in the store but I did like it. Unfortunately it was a 10x version, my preference is for 8x. Nonetheless, something worth looking into as this one fills its own niche of being larger than a pocket so more ease of use and likely better optics, while still being lighter and more compact than many of the 32mm objective binoculars.

The forum members have a good thread ongoing regarding the Nikon Monarch 7 8x30 and a similar binocular by Kite.

Happy hunting for the right glass and glad to hear you find your Bushnell likable,

CG
 
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