• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Best 10x at $300-$500 (1 Viewer)

Paul 2013,
The Kite Petrel 10x50 costs 499 euros, weight 719 g, eyerelief 19 mm, light transmissin 85-86% (comparable to the Leica Ultravid 10x50HD and better than the Zeiss Conquest 10x50), FOV 88m/1000m, 1,25 rotations of the focussing wheel from close focus to infinity or the other way around, very good color reproduction and very good handling comfort. The binocular has Schmidt-Pechan roof prisms with phase correction coatings.
Alltogether an attractive instrument in this price range also for the high after sales service level (30 years guarantee).
Gijs
 
That's helpful, if sad, to know. I typically look at the comments at Amazon,
if there enough of them, and see the ratio of "this was a wreck" to "this is great"
comments. A lot of good names have the "QC is in my living room" problem.
 
Give them a search on Amazon. But beware there was an...it has to be too good to be true $130 for new Calderas there a while back. The Caldera is a bargain at full retail. Try to go too cheap and you may get yourself where you don't want to be.

As always stick to good retailers, check to be sure.
 
Update

After trying a few 10x binoculars and sending them back, I've now got a Pentax DCF CS on order. If those aren't enough of an improvement over the ZRS then a pair of Minox BV II 10x42 will be next, before I bump up the price point to the $400-600 range (Kowa BD (and BD XD), Viper, Kruger Caldera, etc.).

It certainly seems like it's not as easy to make a decent 10x as 7-8x.......

I am curious as to whether the new Vanguard Endeavor ED II might have a longer ER, but I can't find anything published yet (no mention of "ED II" or Hoya glass on Vanguard's site).

Anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks.
 
stereotruckdriver said:
Save your money, I have yet besides Pentax DCF ED found a cheaper binocular that works in the 10x
Format!
Bryce...
Click to expand...

Not that its cheap! But, I have yet to find a sub alpha that truly performs like it should at 10x.
My favorite although I recently sold it is Swarovski sSLC 10x42.

A Leica Trinovid in 10x is another you could look at.

There are others in the top end that I could recommended but, I will leave that to other members.

Bryce...
 
If you are going to use them only 10% of the time why limit yourself to roof prisms? The Nikon Action Extreme 10x50 ATB looks pretty good for under $180.00 list price from Nikon. It has a 6.5º FOV and 17.2mm Eye Relief and is water proof. Optically it will probably out perform any 10X roof prism priced in the $300.00 to $500.00 price range.

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/Nikon-Products/Binoculars/7245/Action-Extreme-10x50-ATB.html

And if you check the Nikon website you will find that the Monarch 5 10x42s are on sale for around $270.00 but they have a rather narrow FOV.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bob and everyone (again). While it's true I use my 7x much more, the 10x will get backcountry use. The 10x50 Action Extremes were one of the first pair I tried, but I found the sweet spot to be a little small and they were big and heavy for comfortable hiking / scrambling carry.

Bryce: Thanks for the tip on the Pentax ED. I like Pentax (a pair or their Japan-made reverse porros are my car binocular), but haven't looked through the ED model. There are a couple of places locally that should have them.


ceasar said:
If you are going to use them only 10% of the time why limit yourself to roof prisms? The Nikon Action Extreme 10x50 ATB looks pretty good for under $180.00 list price from Nikon. It has a 6.5º FOV and 17.2mm Eye Relief and is water proof. Optically it will probably out perform any 10X roof prism priced in the $300.00 to $500.00 price range.

http://www.nikonsportoptics.com/en/Nikon-Products/Binoculars/7245/Action-Extreme-10x50-ATB.html

And if you check the Nikon website you will find that the Monarch 5 10x42s are on sale for around $270.00 but they have a rather narrow FOV.
Click to expand...
 
The reason you may have found the McKinley to have a "tunnel-like" view was due to its occular design which clearly did not fit everyone's face; they are releasing a new model sometime soon which may help with some of these issues.

You will get neither a wide FoV or good price on the Pentax ED - most of the time these are sold around $1000 and have narrow FoV (6.0 angular/315ft @1000 yd). For what its worth, I thought the 8x32 Viper HD was as good optically/better ergonomically and mechanically than the 8x32 Pentax ED at half the price, and I've heard good things about the 10x Viper HD so if you are increasing your budget I'd look there and at the Kruger Caldera first.

Justin
 
jremmons said:
The reason you may have found the McKinley to have a "tunnel-like" view was due to its occular design which clearly did not fit everyone's face; they are releasing a new model sometime soon which may help with some of these issues.

You will get neither a wide FoV or good price on the Pentax ED - most of the time these are sold around $1000 and have narrow FoV (6.0 angular/315ft @1000 yd). For what its worth, I thought the 8x32 Viper HD was as good optically/better ergonomically and mechanically than the 8x32 Pentax ED at half the price, and I've heard good things about the 10x Viper HD so if you are increasing your budget I'd look there and at the Kruger Caldera first.

Justin
Click to expand...

Justin, I owned the 10x43 DCF ed when they came out the fov may seem narrow but in use
You don't miss 15 more feet.

I agree on the price though! Was just checking, they could be found a few years ago at the $600 bracket.

It really is a fine binocular.

Its to bad Pentax isn't into the sport optics market any more.

Bryce...
 
jremmons said:
The reason you may have found the McKinley to have a "tunnel-like" view was due to its occular design which clearly did not fit everyone's face; they are releasing a new model sometime soon which may help with some of these issues.

You will get neither a wide FoV or good price on the Pentax ED - most of the time these are sold around $1000 and have narrow FoV (6.0 angular/315ft @1000 yd). For what its worth, I thought the 8x32 Viper HD was as good optically/better ergonomically and mechanically than the 8x32 Pentax ED at half the price, and I've heard good things about the 10x Viper HD so if you are increasing your budget I'd look there and at the Kruger Caldera first.

Justin
Click to expand...

You must of gotten a bad sample, the optics on the DCF ed are better than the Viper.
I had the Pentax for 2-3 yrs and was able to compare first hand many times, in fact I owned at least 2 of the regular vipers in that time span.

Bryce...
 
stereotruckdriver said:
You must of gotten a bad sample, the optics on the DCF ed are better than the Viper.
I had the Pentax for 2-3 yrs and was able to compare first hand many times, in fact I owned at least 2 of the regular vipers in that time span.

Bryce...
Click to expand...

Bryce,

You mentioned comparing the regular Vipers but did you compare with the Viper HD series? I looked side-by-side in the field between the 8x32 Viper HD and my coworker's 8x32 Pentax ED and I didn't find either of the views superior to the other (similar centerfield sharpness, sweet-spot size, color representation, etc.) but did prefer some of the handling aspects of the Viper (namely design and tension of the focus knob). I've compared the Viper HD and the Viper (in 8x32 format) and found the HD to be sharper and a bit better at handling CA throughout the field.


Best,
Justin
 
The Pentax CS arrived early. After an hour outside with a friend comparing the Pentax and the ZRS I'm going to send them back. The Pentax are indeed sharper than the Zens, but not that much better. All things considered, they're probably ballpark with the Endeavors, but with less color fringing (despite no ED glass). The big issue that makes them a no-go for me was the narrow FOV, and the need for a little more ER (are they really 18mm?? - I felt I needed to shove them into my glasses to get a good view....)

For those of you that have owned them, is the Kruger Caldera glasses friendly? The 17mm ER and those eye shades have me wondering....

EDIT: In fairness, the Pentax DCF CS 10x42 is a decent little binocular. I spent a bit more time with them this morning and they have nice color rendition, are pretty sharp and are nice and light. I would have no problem recommending them to someone who wanted a 10x at this price point. I checked them with and without my glasses and I still suspect the stated ER is a little optimistic, since the view was better and more relaxed without glasses and the eyecups turned all the way out.
 
Last edited:
You aren't going to find what you want in a mid priced roof. At least it doesn't seem like it to me. It's either gonna be Porro or Swaro. Sorry, but that silly rhyme just popped into my head. |:D|


paul2013 said:
The Pentax CS arrived early. After an hour outside with a friend comparing the Pentax and the ZRS I'm going to send them back. The Pentax are indeed sharper than the Zens, but not that much better. All things considered, they're probably ballpark with the Endeavors, but with less color fringing. The big issue that makes them a no-go for me was the narrow FOV, and the need for a little more ER (are they really 18mm?? - I felt I needed to shove them into my glasses to get a good view....)

For those of you that have owned them, is the Kruger Caldera glasses friendly? The 17mm ER and those eye shades have me wondering....
Click to expand...
 
Warning! This thread is more than 10 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

I
Analysis Paralysis- Please help me choose!
2 3
Replies
42
Views
2K
Patudo
P
G
Leica, Zeiss & Swarovski binoculars compared: A personal report
2 3
Replies
42
Views
4K
Paultricounty
P
W
Looking for an 8x32 in the $300 range
9 10 11
Replies
209
Views
16K
jeanluc125
J
M
Eight 8X reverse porros compared
Replies
0
Views
2K
MarylandUSA
M
Richard D
Best compromise for a pair of Woodland binoculars ideally 7x ?
2 3 4
Replies
74
Views
8K
MiddleRiver
MiddleRiver

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top