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Swift 804 Audubon Binoculars - A Beginner's Experience (1 Viewer)

downunder

Well-known member
I have to start by saying that I am totally inexperienced at bird watching and using binoculars, totally "green", but I thought it might be useful or other beginners if I were to describe what I went through in purchasing my first set of binoculars specifically for bird watching. I had better warn you though that this is a long read, so sit back in your chair, make yourself comfortable, and hopefully enjoy my story.

I already had a set of Tasco 7x26 Eyemax binoculars that I bought for about $60 US a few years ago. Recently, for some unknown reason, I started sitting out on my verandah early in the morning with my two dogs and these binoculars watching the bird life. This has become a habit. Birdwatchers have probably known about this for years, but I discovered it was soooooo relaxing, pleasant and interesting. Even the humble sparrow was of interest. I just loved it and am at an age where I no longer question or analyse why I like doing something - I just accept that I do and do more of it.

This time next year I will be living on a fairly wild piece of Australian rural
land that seems to have a great deal of wildlife and birds, so I went looking for pair of good binoculars - but on a budget (with a house to build etc., $1000 binoculars would have resulted in severe bashing around the head from my otherwise calm wife). I started by reading these forums and also investigated others like cloudynights and betterviewdesired forums. I read every binocular review that I could lay my hands on. I had previously thought my Tasco binoculars were great but after reading these forums and others, I came to realise that perhaps I had been deprived, that perhaps my cheap binoculars were letting me down. Fancy that, I had not realised this until I read what all the binocular experts were saying. Well, I decided I wanted to try to get something better to take full advantage of my fortunate future situation of living in the country where wildlife was abundant (even deadly snakes).

I narrowed my criteria down to needing a pair of binoculars with super great optical qualities so as to give clear crisp images and a set of binoculars that could easily be used handheld ( ie. magnifications of 8.5 or less). Ones that would not tire my poor old eyes even when viewed through for hours on end. Weight was not a problem because most viewing would be done on my property and close to home. Waterproofing would be nice but not essential (Australia is one of the driest continents on earth and my property doesn't receive a great deal of rain. Anyhow, much of my viewing would take place under a covered verandah).

After a lot of research, I decided I wanted a pair of Swift Audubon 8.5x44 binoculars. These have an amazingly long history of providing quality binoculars that give great viewing. I could not believe that this basic model had been around for some 40 years - and somehow that appealed to me - I like history.

And that's when I became frustrated! I presently live in a rural country town in Australia (quite a distance to a shop that specialises in binoculars) and found a long time ago that it was just as easy (usually), and a great deal cheaper, to buy things like binoculars online from overseas. I started looking for my Audubons online; what an absolute pain! There were lots of online dealers selling these for anywhere between $240 and $260 US (and of course a lot selling for way above that price). This wasn't a bad price. Perhaps at the extreme end of how far I could stretch my budget. But heck, these were the binoculars I had set my heart on - that's when I learnt to hate online dealers! Every time I tried to buy a set, they either didn't sell to Australia, or delivery costs were nearly as much as the binoculars (they all refused to use USPS and wanted to use some of those exorbitantly, outrageously over-priced private delivery firms), or they wanted a photocopy of my credit card and passport faxed to them (and I don't have a passport), or they had sold out. I couldn't believe how hard it was to buy a pair of Audubons online from Australia. I then thought I would pick up a new pair on ebay. None were listed.

I finally decided on trying for a second-hand pair of Audubons and my excitement reached new heights - four were listed on ebay. They were all 804's; one was about 10 years old and the other three were all over 20 years old. If you look at the great article by Edward Huff and Renze de Vries on this forum about the history of the Audubons, there was one type 2a, a type 3a, a type 3b, and a type 4a. I started bidding. Again frustration. Each and every time I was outbid in the last second. Two went for about $160 US and one for about $210 US. I couldn't believe how sought after these binoculars were. I thought the Gods were against me and that I would never own a pair of Audubons. Heaven forbid, I even started considering looking at a different brand.

Finally there was only one left - the very,very old type 2a. The seller had a good ebay rating and advised that these binoculars were in perfect operating order (quite amazing when you think these binoculars were more than a quarter of a century old - I wonder if the new plastic marvels will still be sought after in 25 years time). After reading the excellent article on the cloudynights forum comparing old and new Audubons (titled "Will the Real Audubon Please Stand Up"), I started thinking that maybe the best was left to last. I had worked out the ebay game by then, knew roughly what the market price was, left my bid to the last second - and whammo, I was the proud new owner of a piece of binocular history for about $160 US. This was a bit more that I had hoped to pay for an old, secondhand pair of binoculars, but I had become desperate to own a pair of Audubon's. At this stage of my quest, no other brand would have satisfied me. Please let the collimation still be perfect.

Now all that is left for me to do is the wait for the binoculars to arrive. But even when they do, I am not allowed to have them until Christmas - women. Even after I had been as thrifty as I could, would you believe my wife still hit me over the head and told me they were my Christmas present and I wasn't seeing them until Christmas day. These women have no consideration for us men. She muttered something about men and their toys. Well, I hope this story was worth the read. Good luck to all other beginning birdwatchers. After Christmas, I'll have to give you a review of my Tasco's versus my Audubon's. It might be something different to all those reviews by experts comparing all the new plastic marvels.
 
Hello Downunder,

Welcome to BF and thanks for the wonderful story about your Audubon acquisition. We'll be looking forward to hearing more about whether it's still clean and collimated. All three of mine (one Kestrel) were in great condition. Be prepared for a BIG binocular with a WIDE field of view. But, above all, enjoy the view. :D

Happy holidays,
Ed Huff
 
Downunder,

It was nice reading your post. I have an 804, and it's one of my best binoculars. As you've likely figured from your research, the 804 is probably the best of the series, except possibly for the ED version. Elkcub's article was very well done. You've made a fine choice.

Please post your impressions when you receive the binoculars.
 
Unfortunately my ebay experience has been disastrous. The binoculars arrived in an undamaged well packed cardboard box filled with foam. The binoculars were in their hard protective binocular case with the case itself well wrapped in bubble wrap and then placed in the foam.

When I pulled the binoculars from the box it didn't take too long to work out that the collimation was dreadful. Each eye saw its own image. It was like having double vision. I travelled to York Optical in Brisbane (about 700 kilometres from where I live) to have an inspection made. The techo took about two seconds to confirm that the collimation was dreadful. He also showed me that one of the prisms was chipped from a hard knock on one side. I left them with York Optical to be collimated.

The person I bought the binoculars from appeared to have good feedback on ebay. I also specifically asked a question about the condition of the binoculars before bidding and was told that the binoculars were giving clear crisp images and were in great condition. The seller now says that they must have been damaged in transit because he had them checked before selling them. Strange that the well packed cardboard box they came in was undamaged and yet the binoculars (inside the foam, bubble wrap and hard protective binocular case) were damaged.

I am still in negotiation with the seller about who pays for repairs and won't know the full damage until I pick the binoculars up from York Optical in mid January. The moral of the story is that ebay is probably not a good way to buy binoculars but unfortunately it was probably the only way I was going to find a secondhand pair of Swift Audubons. :storm: :storm:
 
Dear Downunder,

I am sorry to read about your ebay troubles. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon with used binoculars.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur
 
Hi Downunder,

Very sorry to hear about this. Shame on the seller. You would certainly have been justified to return the binoculars, but perhaps the collimation job will be all you need to enjoy your pastime. Try to put the aggravation behind and the birds in front.

Let's hear more when repairs are completed and the enjoyment begins.

Happy holidays,
Ed
 
downunder said:
The seller now says that they must have been damaged in transit because he had them checked before selling them. Strange that the well packed cardboard box they came in was undamaged and yet the binoculars (inside the foam, bubble wrap and hard protective binocular case) were damaged.:


Sorry to hear about your misfortune. However in some defense of the sellers contention that the binoculars were fine when he packed them up, I remember reading somewhere, from a birder who obviously traveled frequently, that airline travel was one of the worst things you could do for the collimation of your binoculars. Something about a constant vibration level that you really could not do much to protect your bins from. His contention was that if you were going to be a frequent flier you might as well resign yourself to more frequent trips to the optical shop for collimation. I am picturing your binoculars in their well padded box, but sitting on the floor of a cargo bay humming away for 20 odd hours on their flight to Australia.
In YOUR defense, I don't believe that airplane vibration caused a chip in a prism - apparently these binoculars suffered a fairly hard knock at some point in their lives. Also, I shipped a nice pair of Nikon HG's to a fellow in Australia and they arrived unscathed, he was very happy with them. Hope all ends well for you.
 
It appears to have all turned out well. It certainly pays to check feedback on ebay. This dealer turned out to be very good (as was suggested by his ebay feedback). I had told him that York Optical had quoted $65 Australian for a normal collimation.

In our negotiations I had asked the dealer to pay for the collimation and I would pay for the cost of the travel to York Optical and I would wear the chip in the prism (In their preliminary investigation of the Audubons, York Optical believed that the the chip was at the edge of the prism and should not affect viewing through the Audubons).

The dealer surprised me by refunding $90 Australian on the price of the Audubons and provided there are no other problems found by York Optical, I am very happy with that outcome. I am now looking forward to mid January when I will be able to pick up my newly collimated binoculars. :D
 
It doesn't get much better than that. Use them in good health — and tell us what the birds look like though them. :-O

Happy holiday season,
Ed
 
The experience of buying these Audubons has felt like being on a roller-coaster ride. It's been a cycle of one minute up, next minute down, next up, next down. Hopefully it will end on a high when I eventually pick up the binoculars. :bounce:

Surely it can't be like this for every pair of binoculars I eventually purchase - can it?
 
I can't believe I did this, but I just bought another exact same model Swift Audubon binoculars on ebay. I just couldn't resist them. The seller had 100% feedback and reported the binoculars to be in great shape. The reason I couldn't resist these was that the seller had them at a "Buy It Now" price of $29.99. I don't think I will look at ebay again or my wife will do really nasty things to me. But that makes the price range on these early Mark 2's varying from $29.99 to over $200 (on 5 different pairs) on ebay over a matter of a few weeks (with the average price being about $160). Even if this second pair has to be re-collimated (at $65 Australian) they will be a relatively cheap pair of quality birding binoculars - and now I will have a spare pair for friends to use with me.
 
downunder said:
I can't believe I did this, but I just bought another exact same model Swift Audubon binoculars on ebay. I just couldn't resist them. The seller had 100% feedback and reported the binoculars to be in great shape. The reason I couldn't resist these was that the seller had them at a "Buy It Now" price of $29.99. I don't think I will look at ebay again or my wife will do really nasty things to me. But that makes the price range on these early Mark 2's varying from $29.99 to over $200 (on 5 different pairs) on ebay over a matter of a few weeks (with the average price being about $160). Even if this second pair has to be re-collimated (at $65 Australian) they will be a relatively cheap pair of quality birding binoculars - and now I will have a spare pair for friends to use with me.


One more Audubon, my friend, and you will qualify as a collector. |=)|
 
elkcub said:
One more Audubon, my friend, and you will qualify as a collector. |=)|

I think you are right. I now seem to have this irresistable urge to buy a type 4 (804 R, HR/5, or ED HR/5) audubon. I'll have to wait for my finances to recuperate from my recent purchases (it costs about $40 US in delivery charges alone for each pair of binoculars), but even now I find myself checking ebay each day for a type 4. This is like having an infectious disease.
 
downunder said:
I think you are right. I now seem to have this irresistable urge to buy a type 4 (804 R, HR/5, or ED HR/5) audubon. I'll have to wait for my finances to recuperate from my recent purchases (it costs about $40 US in delivery charges alone for each pair of binoculars), but even now I find myself checking ebay each day for a type 4. This is like having an infectious disease.

Uh, oh, you've been infected all right. I'm very interested to hear about your visual experience with the Type 2 Audubons, since I don't have one myself (or a Type 3 for that matter). I just acquired a Type 2 Model 823 7x,50 Commodore Mark II, however, with a whopping 525 ft. FOV. The 5-element ocular and housing are the same, as well as the 70 deg. apparent FOV. Very nice, crisp image, but of course not as much color contrast as the later models with multi-coating. The 804R and HR/5 Audubons show up quite regularly on eBay, but the ED HR/5 does not. If one does, you'll have to duke it out with other collectors. (The inexpensive approach would be to paint a red band around the objective cap of a standard HR/5. ;))

Oh, please tell me the serial numbers of your Audubons. Indications are that the first two digits are the year the binocular was manufactured.

Regards,
Ed
 
[Oh, please tell me the serial numbers of your Audubons. Indications are that the first two digits are the year the binocular was manufactured.

Regards,
Ed[/QUOTE]

I hope to send you the serial numbers shortly. The latest purchase will arrive next week and the other one will be picked up from York Optical in about 2 1/2 weeks time.

Regards,
Glenn
 
Ed, the second pair have arrived; exactly the same story as the first pair. The seller said they were giving great images when he sent them but they have arrived needing collimation. I know cbushme believed that the vibrations from airline travel could very well have caused this, however I am still surprised after reading Bill Cook's article on the Cloudynights forum ("Will the REAL Audubon Please Stand Up) where he stated that because of the collimation with eccentric rings, once these these suckers get collimated they stay collimated. Ah well, off to York Optical again.

My question for you Ed: Where do you look for the serial number? I've looked all over the binoculars but can't find one.
 
downunder said:
Ed, the second pair have arrived; exactly the same story as the first pair. The seller said they were giving great images when he sent them but they have arrived needing collimation. I know cbushme believed that the vibrations from airline travel could very well have caused this, however I am still surprised after reading Bill Cook's article on the Cloudynights forum ("Will the REAL Audubon Please Stand Up) where he stated that because of the collimation with eccentric rings, once these these suckers get collimated they stay collimated. Ah well, off to York Optical again.

My question for you Ed: Where do you look for the serial number? I've looked all over the binoculars but can't find one.
Downunder,
Look at the bottom of the hinge, opposite from the interpupillary distance scale.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
 
Pinewood said:
Downunder,
Look at the bottom of the hinge, opposite from the interpupillary distance scale.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood

Arthur, thanks for the help but the only number I can make out down there is B56. Am I looking at the right number?

Glenn
 
downunder said:
Arthur, thanks for the help but the only number I can make out down there is B56. Am I looking at the right number?

Glenn
Glenn,

I do not think so, but the Audubon has had a lot of variations. I should have written on the hinge bottom where it pivots, to be clearer. The placement of the serial number may not be consistent. Other places serial numbers may be found are the cover plates over the prisms and on the hinge itself.

Perhaps Ed would know, if you know the variant or can describe it.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood
 
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