Sightron "Blue Sky" II 8x32 (2 Viewers)

Hi Tom, That Wholesalehunter.net sells them for 200 right now. If they are a front for a sales warehouse, I wonder if they have to sell them, or they will just be flexible and allocate them to a different retail outlet? We might find out if we hear details after the Thanksgiving holiday.


After checking FrankD's information, I find that WYDeals.com sells the Pentax DCF BC for 218 dollars. In the past I have trusted Pentax more than Sightron to add the extra little value-added details.

However, the detail I like most is the FOV, since the Sightron is 7.5 degrees and the Pentax is 6.7 degrees. The Sightron wins.

Its a confusing time for binoculars!
Rob.

Sightron said their distributor was Green Supply (or something like that) and their web outlet was the wholesalehunter.

I don't see where wydeals.com has Pentax binos. Whats the web address or link?

Tom

Highway Dog said:

Hi Tom, That Wholesalehunter.net sells them for 200 right now. If they are a front for a sales warehouse, I wonder if they have to sell them, or they will just be flexible and allocate them to a different retail outlet? We might find out if we hear details after the Thanksgiving holiday.


After checking FrankD's information, I find that WYDeals.com sells the Pentax DCF BC for 218 dollars. In the past I have trusted Pentax more than Sightron to add the extra little value-added details.

However, the detail I like most is the FOV, since the Sightron is 7.5 degrees and the Pentax is 6.7 degrees. The Sightron wins.

Its a confusing time for binoculars!
Rob.

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http://www.wydeals.com/products/Pentax-62597-9x32-DCF-BC-Binocular...
Rob.

Keep in mind the Pentax is a 9x and the Sightron an 8x.


Interesting about Kenko owning Sightron.

FrankD said:

Someone else also mentioned that. It is a typo...straight from the manufacturer's website. They actually focus about a foot closer than the Nikon SEs. I haven't done the exact measurement yet but I would estimate 7 feet.

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The quote is from reply #16, regarding close-focus distances. I measured this, and got the following results:
I did this test with the binoculars resting atop my Papilio 6.5x21, which was mounted on a tripod via its built-in tripod socket.

Highway Dog said:

http://www.wydeals.com/products/Pentax-62597-9x32-DCF-BC-Binocular...
Rob.

Click to expand...

Rob
The search function on that site absolutely sucks. Had to go thru page by page and the only reasonable deal I saw was a pair of 10x42 Steiner Predator Extremes for $268 ($399@Amazon). Amazon also has the 9x32 Pentax for $220.

Tom

I bought Bryce's (Stereotruckdriver) Sightrons. I love the ergonomics! They're very light and feel great in the hand.

The view is spectacular as well. I compared them to my Pro-Optic 8x42s. The sweet spots are about the same as a percent of the FOV. But, since Pro-Optics have a wider FOV, the sweet spot is larger on the Pro-Optics. I would give the Sightrons the edge in sharpness.

The Sightrons have a nice, tight focusing unit with no play at all. The Pro-Optics have a little play, but not much. I could be quite happy with either one as my primary birding bins.

I'd say the Sightrons are a great value for the money.

BinoBoy said:

I bought Bryce's (Stereotruckdriver) Sightrons. I love the ergonomics! They're very light and feel great in the hand.

The view is spectacular as well. I compared them to my Pro-Optic 8x42s. The sweet spots are about the same as a percent of the FOV. But, since Pro-Optics have a wider FOV, the sweet spot is larger on the Pro-Optics. I would give the Sightrons the edge in sharpness.

The Sightrons have a nice, tight focusing unit with no play at all. The Pro-Optics have a little play, but not much. I could be quite happy with either one as my primary birding bins.

I'd say the Sightrons are a great value for the money.

Click to expand...

+1


The 8x32 sightron and the 10x42 pro optic have been my bino-birding binoc duo for a couple weeks now. I brought them to the range and they caused quite a stir among those checking for bullet holes near dusk at various ranges.

I prefer the texture of the pro's to the plastic feel of the sightrons. Someone posted that the sightrons are actually grip-caoted... Thats a tough sell. Feels like hard palstic to me.

"Feels like hard palstic to me"

They are firm, but you can take a fingernail and determine that it is some type of rubber. The website lists it as green rubber. Also, if you look behind the focus wheel you can see, due to the open area of the hinge, where it lays on the plastic body.

It is spongy if enough force is supplied, but still feels smooth/slick and firm to the casual touch. The rubber covering the focus wheel is softer and more pliable. That's probably so it'll stretch over the wheel and retain it's elasticity ensuring a snug fit.

Maybe the harder covering is designed to wear longer w/o adding to much bulk to the 32 fame.

Could be.

More obvious to me are the numerous typos I have in my previous post.

Cripes.

The compromise game has followed me through out my life, so it is no surprise to find it showing up in my current venture to find the best binoculars for me. I have to admit it's an annoying little bugger sometimes, especially when the compromises are too off kilter from one another. I had the privilege to hang out with FrankD a couple weekends ago and try a small sample of his bino collection. It was quite an enlightening experience. I had read this thread and thought that these bins would make a great car bin for me, so I asked Frank to bring them along. Little did I know I'd end up falling in love with these little suckers. Out of all the bins I tried of his, these impressed me the most. They don't really excell in any one area, except maybe ergonomics, but they play the compromise game soooo well! There is such a nice balance between decent edges, sweet spot, sharpness, contrast, brightness, size, weight, ergonomics, and the real kicker, price! That the experience of these bins is very pleasing. Of course, if you haven't guessed by now, I had to order myself a pair. I've had them about a week now and they are currently my favorite bin to grab, especially for a hike through the woods. I find they work well in all conditions, even at night. I think they have a nice depth of field, better than my Zen 8's. I know, I know...I've seen it posted many times before here, all 8x's are supposed to have the same depth of field. Being a photographer, and knowing how the aperture size affects the depth of field in a picture, along with the distance from the subject and the focal length of the lens being used, I wonder if the objective lens size in the binocular would have the same effect on depth of field? Just pondering, as I have not delve into the technical knowledge behind the phenomena of depth of field. Just to my eye the Sightron 32's seem to have more than my Zen 43's. Did I mention ergonomics. These feel great in my hands. I didn't think that this was such an important factor in my search and figured I could get used to any binocular in time, but these have changed my mind in that respect. They are just a joy to use, but what good is great ergonomics without great optics. Again these bino come through for me. They are not perfect, but they do so many things so well. What's that saying, I believe it's synergy, where the sum of the parts are greater than the whole. I jsut love the view through these. They are similiar in view to Nikons in my opinion. Yet I can definetly extract more detail from an object with my se's, but overall I prefer to use the Sightrons. In fact I liked them so much, I had to take advantage of Amazon's extended holiday return policy (until Jan 31 on amazon fulfilled orders) and order their top of the line model, the SIIILR 8x42. I will post my experience with these after I get some good glass time with them. I also have a pair of Nikon Premiers on the way from Cameraland. I think I may be amassing too many binos in too short of time, my wallets feeling quite light these days. I need to find a balance between my enthusiasm and my wallet. Damn compromise game....:}

Stet:

Nice review, I like it, Frank does have a great eye, and now I suppose others may
want to try one of those. Let us know how those new optics perform, I am interested
in how you like the Nikon and the Sightron.

Jerry

I have had a Sightron 8x32 in my possession for a few days now. This presents an unusual sort of conundrum. It is very rare I come across two binoculars that are so close together as to defy my selecting one over the other. That is the Sightron Blue Sky and the Theron LT. While in some ways they are distinctly different, the overall assemblage of the parts of each really present me with a dilemma.

First, the ergonomics are, in my world anyway, clearly in favor of the Theron. The eye cups are nicely rounded and feel better when held up to your eyes. The Sightron eye cups are distinctly too square at the edges. The Sightron has what I guess can be described a a couple of "Klingon cranial ridges" one on each barrel each bearing the Sightron badge. The purpose of these things defies logic, but there they are. But they really don't detract much and certainly can be gotten used to, but to me the Theron clearly is more comfortable to use for extended periods. It just feels better in hand and against the eyes. But that is the only thing clearly that favors one of these over the other. On the other hand the Sightron is definitely lighter than the Theron, something that may sway some in its favor. The Sightron has a nice touch in the layout of the strap lug.

The Theron has a little wider fov than the Sightron. It is only a half degree, but there is enough difference that you can see it if you look for it. The edge performance is about identical. Both handle stray light adequately, but not in an outstanding manner. You will see a little glare with both in extreme conditions. In normal use, you will likely never notice it. The Sightron is possessed with a little more neutral color bias, and appears to be slightly brighter, and I would give the overall image sharpness to the Sightron. However, that does not translate to any difference in what detail can be pulled off of a USAF chart under any condition, or for that matter any kind of handheld binocular use. I think the Sightron may hold a better resolution at pretty long distances, distances really better suited to a spotter.

I tend to favor lower price glass with the right eye diopter of the Sightron.

So I think if some manufacturer could put the Sightron image, with the Theron fov, the Theron eye cups, the Theron armoring, the Sightron diopter, and the weight of the Sightron and keep the price where it is with either, then...THAT...would be a keeper. I'll have the Sightron for a while before I send it back to Frank, by then something might show up to clarify the issue. Right now I can not dictate a preference. So what will likely happen is I will wind up with one of each .

Stet,

I agree with Jerry. Nice write-up. I think you did an excellent job of summarizing the Sightron's appeal. They don't do anything "superbly" but they do just about everything very well. The price is the kicker though. I would probably pay two to three times as much for this particular combination.

Truth be told I am itchin' for Steve to finish his review to get them back in my hands.
Take your time Steve. No rush. I do have other bins to play with.

Steve,

I tend to agree with everything you posted. The packaging of the Sightrons isn't perfect especially with all of the "hard edges"/tech look to them. That may appeal to some though who get tired of the usual look to many binoculars in this price range. The eyecups are an interesting point. I tend to enjoy them despite the "sharper edge" to them. I usually object to that issue but in the case of the Sightrons I do not. The difference I believe lies in the diameter of the entire eyepiece/eyecup assembly. It is narrower than many of the full sized bins that I have owned which have a similar edge design to the eyecup. The Sightron's ocular "ends" fit nicely into the orbits of my eyes so I don't really pick up on it. Different facial dimensions are obviously going to play a part here though.

From my experiences I tend to pick up on the color bias/contrast issue most when comparing the two bins in question. The Theron reminds me very much of the Nikon Premier LX 8x32 in many ways. One of the kind forum members here was nice enough to loan me his Nikon 8x32s to compare. I was holding off posting something more extensive about them until I had more time. Truth be told I find the image of the Theron to be very comparable in many ways to the Nikon. I will post more in the Theron thread when time allows.

Nikon Premier LX vs Sightron SII

One of the forum members here was kind enough to lend me his Nikon Premier LX (Venturer/HG) 8x32s so that I could compare them to a few of the other 8x32 models that I have on hand. Thank you Yippeekiay. The Sightron SII was the one model that I think was of particular interest considering how well it has fared against some very stiff competition.

Speaking of which, if you go back a page or two you will see that I picked up a Meopta Meostar to compare to the Sightron. Well, it was sold on Ebay a couple weeks back. It is an excellent binocular but, as noted, the Sightron was a bit better in several key areas that I prefer. Price wasn’t much of a concern as I picked up the Meopta for roughly half of what it typically sells for new.

So, how does the original Nikon 8x32 Premier roof compare to the Sightron…..

Ergonomics:

I have always found the Nikon to be very ergonomic overall. That opinion originated with the 8x42 Venturers that I owned for several years and continued with the smaller 8x32 version. Probably the only ergonomic issue that the 8x32 model has going against it is its overall weight. It is notably heavier than the binoculars it was originally designed to compete against not to mention many of the 8x32 models currently on the market. Other than that one issue I don’t see any ergonomic concerns and actually find it to be one of the better high performance 8x32s currently available.

Build Quality:

Tough call. I haven’t found anything objectionable about the Sightrons at this point. I have owned them for about two months and they have held up quite well. I have not noted any issues with the eyecups, diopter, central hinge or any of the other areas where build quality issues become apparent. I am not sure as to the age of the Nikon unit but it still appears to have held up very well overall. The eyecup rubber appears to be the “weak spot” if I had to pick one. A little Armor-all “bath” every year though should help keep them in good condition for years to come.

Optical Comparison:

Everyone’s favorite.

After having these two models side by side I do believe they share some similarities but several differences. Starting with the similarities…
They both have good apparent sharpness. The Nikon is a bit tricky for me as the focus speed is fast so getting that perfect focus takes some practice. Once you are accustomed to it though the image snaps very readily into a sharp, defined focus. The Sightron’s focus is a bit slower and therefore a bit more precise for my tastes. Both have very good tension and feel with the Nikon a bit smoother/free flowing.

Apparent brightness seems to be very close as well. I cannot really tell if one is notably brighter than the other because of the next issue…..apparent contrast.

Both bins appear to have very good contrast levels. The difference lies in the fact that both have different color biases to my eyes. The Nikon seems to be more towards the yellow range of the spectrum while the Sightron tends more towards the red. The Nikon reminds me a bit of the Meopta in this area. Because of the color biases I tend to see the contrast levels differently. I prefer the Sightron’s representation but I cannot honestly say that one has “better” contrast in this case than the other. Both levels are above average in my experience.

The other area where they have an observable difference is in the size of the sweet spot/type of edge distortion. Upon casual inspection the Nikon appears to be truly sharp from one edge of the field stop to the other. It utilizes field flattener elements and I do see a very small amount of pincushion distortion in the image but not much. I am not overly susceptible to the “rolling ball” effect so I am not going to comment on whether or not it is present in this model. Suffice to say that I find the Nikon’s overall image representation because of the field flatteners to be very comfortable and enjoyable. It feels very much like a natural image. The Sightron has some field curvature around the outer 20% of the image so the sweet spot isn’t as large. The image isn’t quite as “natural” as the Nikon’s but I don’t find it any less comfortable.
Color fringing seems well controlled in both bins. I can see it a bit in the 1/3rd of the Nikon a bit more than I can in the same percentage of the field of view in the Sightron. The centerfield performance in this area appears to be equally good in both binoculars.

Conclusion:

So, there you have it. Each of these models has its strong points and one model may appeal to an individual over the other. It is going to come down to personal preference. The interesting part though is that I do find the Sightron to be in the same optical “league” as the Nikon. Both are sure to please all but the most discerning optical aficionados.

Pics to follow at some point.

I agree Frank. The Sightrons hold their own. The more I compare binoculars, the more cemented the SII's become in my binocular line up. Having had the Nikon Premier 8x42's a little less than a week now, I can say we share similiar opinions in comparing these two bino's. I too find I prefer the color bias of the SII over the Premier, especially on a bright sunny day. Although this only comes up in direct comparison. In fact the SII's color bias is my prefered over all binos I have tried yet and I do notice it has a pleasing effect on the contrast as well. I like the smooth buttery feel of the Nikon focuser but like the slower precise focus of the Sightron, except maybe when I'm trying to follow around some quick little chicadees like this morning. The only area I felt the Nikons were superior were in drawing more detail out of an object, especially when the objects were farther away. Not sure if the 42mm objectives would come into play here, but to my eyes the Nikon wins on clarity of detail. Initially I thought the Nikons were just sharper, but I'm thinking it may be just better resolution that I'm seeing. Only have a couple months of serious binocular use under my belt, so I am still learning how the distiquish the subleties of what I'm seeing and put them into words. If I could put the Nikon's resolution and buttery focus feel into the Sightrons, I think I would have my ideal all around bino! I also have the Sightron SIIILR's in the comparison mix, and have to say they are performing quite well indeed. I will post more on these later. Need to spend more time with them first.

John

John,

I look forward to reading more of your comments in relation to the combination of bins that you currently have at your disposal. May I suggest a 5 way shootout...Nikon Premier LXL 8x42, Sightron SII 8x32, Sightron SIIIL 8x42, Nikon 8x32 SE and ZR 8x43 ED2?

I would love to read it.

Does anyone have any comments/experience with the Sightron Sll BL 10x42?

jaymoynihan said:

Does anyone have any comments/experience with the Sightron Sll BL 10x42?

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No experience with them but if the FOV specs are correct then that is very impressive for a 10x42 model. Widest I remember seeing actually. Nearly as wide as the Nikon 10x35 EII!

Frank,
I was toying with the idea of a shootout between the three 42's, but I can easily add the 32's in the mix, since they have been involved in most of my comparison sessions anyway. Also gonna have a go at writing up a review of the Sightron SIIILR. The holidays are putting a real demand on my free time lately, so it will probably be some time after. Also, I still want to meet up again, just been hecktick lately. Interested in getting your take on these Sightrons and I want to take a look through some of those wide angles you've acquired lately. Will be in touch to see if we could get our schedules to jive.

John