Bausch and Lomb Elite 8x42's (1 Viewer)

Greetings!

I had an opportunity today to test a pair of Bausch&Lomb Elite 10x42's, and here are a few of my impressions. The focus, while silky smooth, is WAY too fast (at least for me). I am not a "slow focus" fan, I detest the Swaro EL focus and tend to prefer the Nikon HG focus (which many people find to be too fast). The elites, on the otherhand, are just a tad too extreme even for me, the SMALLEST amount of finger movement would blur what I was looking at and it was quite difficult to re-focus accurately due to overshoot.

I had high hopes for the Elites, having enjoyed my Bausch&Lomb 7x42 Discoverers so much over the last few weeks, but the ultra-sensitive focus wheel just seemed to remove any thought of my ever wanting to own a pair of Elites. It is a shame, because everything else about the Elite seemed above average - truly excellent optical and build quality.

By the way, the Bausch&Lomb Discoverer has a completely different focus and diopter adjust mechanism than the Elite, the focus on the Discoverer is almost identical to the Nikon HG in speed and feel.

Best wishes,
Bawko

Just to confirm that Bausch & Lomb models are being rebranded as BUSHNELL but otherwise they are identical. The Elites have one advantage over all the other models, RAINGUARD coatings which make any rain droplets that fall on the lenses simply get so large that they "fall" off and your view is not obscured. I have repaired a number of Leicas and Elites over the years and always prefer working on the Elites. They are well built and rugged. Can't offer an opinion on Swarovskis as they have to be returned to the factory in Austria for repair. Some dealers have noticed a worrying increase in silly faults in Swarovskis. With regard to weight, best quality glass used in prisms and lenses is heavier than cheap glass which means you can't get a light weight quality binocular. I recall that one of the top Japanese company's technical team were told to produce the best bird watching binocular irrespective of price and their research led them to produce an instrument with very shallow depth of focus so the birds stood out against a soft focus background. Has to be another of those personal preference considerations. In the UK if you buy Mail Order and find the item unsuitable, you can return it within 30 days for full refund ( as long as it is in the same new condition ) R

Justin said:

I am curious to get some opinions on the new Bausch and Lomb Elite 8x42's. How rugged are they? How are they optically? How is the warranty? And how do they rate with the Swarovskis and Leicas?

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I believe that Pelee Wings Nature Store is currently selling Elites for around $700 Canadian. If I'm right that's about $300 less than I paid for mine a year ago and about $900 less than the Elites start at.

As Justin originally posted back in February, he probably got his binoculars months ago! Nevertheless, I feel like putting in my 2 cents' worth about the Elites - I owned a pair for about 2 weeks this spring before returning them.

Please don't read too much into the fact that I returned them - this was for ergonomic reasons. I'm coming to the conclusion that I can't use roof prism bins without developing uncomfortable thumb strain - perhaps it's tendinitis. I find there isn't a comfortable place for my thumbs when I'm using roof prisms. The Elites have grooves or channels in the barrels for your thumbs, but they didn't seem to be in the most natural place for me, so it didn't help. I haven't heard of anyone else with my "thumb" problem, so presumably most people don't have to worry about this.

What I liked best about the Elites was the focussing - exceptionally smooth action. I also loved how close they'd focus. I was worried about the fast focussing, i.e. the fact that only a slight turn of the knob changes the focus a lot - but found I liked this too, even though it's been mentioned as a problem in this thread. I seemed to be able to focus on a bird very fast and not be over- or under-focussed. In contrast, the bins I wound up with - Swift Audubon porros - seem to have very slow focussing and I feel I'm cranking forever before getting focussed. Often by that time the bird's flown away.

The optics of the Elites seemed very good but I can't say I was blown away by them in this regard. Although this will seem like heresy, I prefer the Swifts, which I feel give an exceptional image, even though they're not top-of-the-line bins.

Although it's been mentioned in this thread that the Elites will live on as a Bushnell product, an employee at an optics store here told me they were being discontinued. By the way, he loved the Elites and thought they were a bargain even at full price. I couldn't find any evidence in Eagle Optics or binoculars.com that the Elites are now being sold as a Bushnell model. My impression is that once the stores run out of stock, they'll only be available second-hand.

B&L

I had a pair of 8x42 elites (my first birding bins) and loved them! The focus is quick and ergo's pretty good. My gear was stolen not long ago and decided to try something new, the Nikon 8x42 HG. They are fantastic. They are brighter and have a real life to them. The color is neutral and ergo's are amazing. They seemed big outta the box but once held to my eyes they balanced perfectly. I also read about how heavy they are but I bird with them all day and feel no strain (although you have to change the cheap neck strap Nikon provides).

Whatever your choice is, at that price your getting good optics! And will appreciated them with time in the field.

Good luck, and remember to look at the bird and not get to cought up in the perfection aspect of it as many do (i did too!). Just enjoy the nature!

Marc

Greetings!

richard866945 said:

Just to confirm that Bausch & Lomb models are being rebranded as BUSHNELL but otherwise they are identical. The Elites have one advantage over all the other models, RAINGUARD coatings which make any rain droplets that fall on the lenses simply get so large that they "fall" off and your view is not obscured.

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This is not entirely accurate. The newer production run Discoverer series roof prism binoculars from Bausch & Lomb also have the Rainguard coating, as well as phase coating. Also, newer Pentax binoculars (including the SP series) incorporate the same type of hydrophobic coating, although they call it something different than "Rainguard".

Also, from my understanding reading several posts on the Rainguard and other hydrophobic coatings, what they actually do is repel the water and make it form smaller sized droplets, allowing more light to pass between and through the droplets than would be possible with normal larger sized droplets.

Best wishes,
Bawko

Atomic Chicken said:

Also, from my understanding reading several posts on the Rainguard and other hydrophobic coatings, what they actually do is repel the water and make it form smaller sized droplets, allowing more light to pass between and through the droplets than would be possible with normal larger sized droplets.

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I have not used any Rainguard-coated bins, but I have understood that their idea is to form droplets (small or large) instead of a thin "film" or a layer, which disturbs the optics severly. A mist may form small droplets, but the droplets easily fuse together and when they grow big enough, they fall off - and the lens is largely "dry" all the time.

Ilkka