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

Review of Imagic 8x42 & Traveller 8x32 (1 Viewer)

Troubador

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A meeting at Bird Fair this year resulted in an opportunity to test and review two Opticron models which I was keen to accept as this brand is very popular in my local nature reserves and on board ferries sailing to the islands of Scotland.

We decided I should review two of Opticron’s newest models: the Imagic 8x42 BGA VHD and the Traveller 8x32 BGA ED and Opticron duly sent two units on loan for the test.

Imagic BGA VHD 8x42
The Imagic is priced at £449 in the UK and so splits Zeiss’s Terra ED 8x42 at £370 and Conquest HD 8x42 at £855 and also splits their fields of view offering 126 metres at 1,000 m (378ft) to their 125 m (375ft) and 128 m (384ft). This also makes the Imagic competitive with Tract’s Toric at 125 m (377ft) and comfortably beats Vortex’s popular Viper at 116m (347ft). On the physical front the Imagic is 152mm long (6”) which is fairly typical but it is noticeably light at 686g (24.2ozs) which is lighter than Terra, Conquest and Toric and the same as the Viper.

Opticron have pushed the boat out with the eye relief so the Imagic has 22mm (which I have checked) and offered me comfortable viewing both with and without spectacles.

It has been suggested that the made in Japan Imagic is derived from the same model as Tract’s Toric and while this may be correct, the fact that it has an eye relief boosted from the Toric’s 19mm to 22mm, while still maintaining the same field of view of 125/126m indicates that it has a redesigned eyepiece, according to an industry designer.

I took the Imagics to the Isle of Islay on holiday and used them frequently during our three weeks on the island and I really enjoyed using them for their compact feel and light weight combined with very capable optics delivering a clear and punchy image that easily outpaced the (old model) Zeiss Terra 8x32 I had with me and was straying close to Zeiss Conquest quality judging by the Conquest HD 8x32 I also had to hand. Of course to be sure I would have needed the 8x42s for direct comparison but it is a compliment to the Imagic that I would even consider this. Put it this way, the Conquest is around £406/$370 more expensive but based on the quality of the Opticron’s optics I would have guessed that the Imagic would be priced around £100 under the Conquest not £406 and in my opinion this represents excellent value. Is it perfect? Of course not, no bino is, and I do have some criticisms to make of the accessories, but first, how did it perform in the field?

At this time of year and as far north as Islay, the sun is low in the sky all day, but glare was never a problem and with a focus speed a bit faster than an SF but a tiny bit slower than an Ultravid HD 8x32, it handled and focused nicely, always feeling light and quick on the draw. This capability bagged me a Lapland Bunting on a foul, dark, rainy and windy day. At midday I got the Imagics onto a passerine that zoomed into a fold on the hillside and all I got was an impression of a robust build but thanks to the Imagic’s contrast I glimpsed two neat wing bars. A few hours later what may have been the same bird landed not too far away and despite the dim light I could make out the red-brown head, the thin black stripe extending down from the base of the bill and curling up around the cheek, and the two neat wing bars. It was a great scoop especially given the wild and dim conditions.

On other days the Imagics rendered the different brown tones of wet Otters that were drying out beautifully, and captured fine details such as whiskers on Otters and Seals, and head plumes on Herons very nicely. Winter plumage Divers (Loons) of three species looked fabulous and the skeins of winter geese and swans were all captured with punchy detail.

With every bino there some issues that can be improved and certainly there are some aspects of the Imagic’s accessories that could be better. Firstly, for folks with a narrow IPD like me (58.5mm) the rainguard is far too stiff. It is a right fiddle to get the guard to fold enough to drop onto the eyecups and in winter, wearing gloves, this is worse. What makes this more difficult is that the guard only attaches to the lanyard at one side. If it attached on both sides then sliding the guard down the straps would ‘pre-bend’ it so that it arrived at the eyecups at the right size and slip on with minimum fuss and delay. If you are caught out on the hill by rain arriving, rainguards are a vital accessory to not only keep your eyepieces clear of rain but by doing so, reduce the temptation to wipe away raindrops and possibly scratch your eye lens with dust particles that you couldn’t see due to the drops of water. One point in the rainguard’s favour is that it appears to be stiff due to being made from a plastic rather than rubber and its smooth surface didn’t capture sand particles as much as rubber rainguards did and were far easier to clean of the few particles that did attached themselves to it.

The carrying case doesn’t come with its own strap so you have to leave the bino’s neck strap outside and use it over your shoulder (for which it is the wrong length) or on your neck (if you don’t mind feeling like a St Bernards rescue-dog carrying a first aid bag) if you are carrying other kit, for example to and from your car or hotel etc. I guess this saves some cash on the sticker price.

Screw the eyecups out to the non-spectacle position and push them gently to and fro with your fingertip and you will find that the eyecups rock even worse than a Zeiss’s do. This does not boost your confidence and while the eyecups didn’t move from any of its positions during field observations, they did move 3 or 4 times in the three weeks during donning or removing jackets or backpacks. This did not turn out to be a big issue but Opticron could do themselves a favour by investing in tighter-designed moulds for the eyecups at the next facelift of this bino, which promises enough to be around for many years.

The case provided with the Imagic was adequate for the job but the flap on the lid fastens by you simply pushing the flap, which has a hole in it, down onto a metal post. This is holding the lid quite nicely at the moment and if you use the case in the field it doesn’t make the noise that Velcro does, but I do wonder if the hole in the flap with get worn with use and the metal post no longer securely hold down the flap.

Finally on the accessories front, the Imagics and the Traveller came with a microfiber cloth in a neat plastic wallet. This is one of those easily forgettable things that come in the box with binos but don’t be too fast to dismiss it. If you can manage to be disciplined to keep your cleaning cloths in containers like this you minimise the risk of the cloths picking up particles of sand or dust and scratching your lenses. This came home to me on Islay where on a couple of days when arriving back from a day by the sea I briefly put down my hat and gloves on the corner of a table and then noticing sand there the following morning as I sat down next to this corner and was about to put down my cleaning kit before checking the binos. Using wallets like the one thoughtfully supplied by Opticron is far better than just stuffing a cloth inside a pocket where it can pick up all sorts of undesirable stuff.

Did I like them? Yes I did. Undoubtedly if you are prepared to spend a chunk more money you can get a wider field of view and finer detail at longer distances but the Imagics are fine performers and are very capable of performing a wide range of nature observing activities and being very satisfying to use for years.

Traveller 8x32 BGA ED
The Traveller 8x32 BGA ED retails at around £309 or $430 which places it at around £50 more expensive than the Nikon M7 8x30 in the UK and in the same market, around £20 cheaper than Zeiss’s Terra 8x32. In the USA the Traveller comes in at around $55 more than the Nikon and a similar $60 more than the Terra. So in price terms the Traveller slots into the market nicely. The respected Kite Lynx falls outside this group at around £500 and Vortex doesn’t have a contender at this price.

The Traveller project took 3 years to bring to market, starting off with an 8x30 model as the base but then changing everything by upping the objective lens to 32mm, increasing the size of the prisms, re-designing the eyepiece to not only increase the eye relief from 15mm to a more user-friendly 19mm but also to maintain the field of view at a highly competitive 143 m / 429 ft, bettering Zeiss’s Terra 8x32 by 8m. If 8m doesn’t seem all that much, just reflect on the fact that this means an area of view just over 12% bigger than the Terra’s. But they didn’t stop there and modified the chassis to increase the IPD range from 55-73mm to 51-73 thus making this model more accessible especially to kids and ladies. As you can tell, this was far from a mere cloning and re-branding exercise.

The Traveller is just 119mm long which means it is only 3mm or 0.12 inch longer than the King of Compact, the Leica Ultravid HD, and its weight of 451 g / 15.9 ozs is 12% lighter than Zeiss’s Terra. All of which means it is a mighty midget that is easy to carry and great to use. Compared with my old model Terra 8x32 ED, the Traveller had a bit more contrast which made it easier to snap into focus, especially under dim skies, and the control of chromatic aberration was a little better too. It focused at about the same speed as the Terra, which means similar to an FL 8x32, faster than a Kowa Genesis and much faster than a Meopta MeoStar. This means that it would be a great performer in habitats where nearby subjects like butterflies and dragonflies are popping up as frequently as distant birds. Moreover, the low sun caused by Islay’s latitude and the time of year, never resulted in glare problems.

In terms of colour reproduction it was very neutral and accurately reproduced the tones of a Common or Harbour Seal changing from glossy black to furry brown as it dried out after hauling out onto a rock. Similarly it gave satisfying views of Red-billed Chough with glossy black plumage, red bill and red legs. Through the Travellers, Whooper Swans had dazzling white plumage with the yellow section of the bill nicely defined and the Greenland White-fronted Geese were a lesson in subtle plumage hues and details.

The big field of view came into its own when my wife whispered ‘eagle’ and pointed with an arm that waved around at least 3 points of the compass and a scan of the sky captured a Golden Eagle, an immature judging by the wing-patches. Similarly, diving seals and Otters were readily re-acquired by the wide field when they surfaced.

On the accessories front, I noted that the eyecups were reliable in their positions, but the rainguard was the same stiff plastic as the Imagic. See the review of the Imagic, above, for details of the difficulties this can cause to those with narrow IPDs. The Traveller was supplied with a decent case that was easy to use although some folks that use the case in the field might frown at the noise the Velcro fastener makes when you open it.

Optically they performed above their price level and certainly a notch higher than my old Terras. At their price they are an attractive proposition combining low weight and small size with a big field of view and with user-friendly features such as big eye relief and wide IPD range. The Imagics certainly have better optics but you would expect this from the price difference and they have a smaller IPD range and field of view. The little Traveller would suit so many people. Carry it when loaded with photo gear, or tripod and scope. Indeed if you are considering blowing a load of cash on a top tier telescope such as the forthcoming Zeiss Harpia or Kowa’s established TSN 880 and are wondering what modestly priced binos to pair it with, then the compact but wide field of view Traveller would be a great spotter bino. Ladies and kids will appreciate the IPD range and senior citizens and tourists the light weight. Certainly if you are looking for a 32mm in this price range you should put this on your short list.

The photos below showcase both of the test binos alongside a Leica Trinovid HD 8x32 to give a point of reference.
 

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Hi Lee, another good read, I liked the Bga vhd when I tried them, actually preferred them to the dba.

John.
 
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