Winchester 12x50 OEM porros, who makes these? (1 Viewer)

I stumbled across these on the net and was intrigued by their design and on-paper specs. They are obviously OEM but I can't seem to determine which. The design is so different that its hard to tell. Its decently wide angle with 66deg AFOV. Stock photos show a light green coating on the objectives. Eye relief is lacking but I don't really care because I don't wear glasses. Claims to be water proof.

I think Vanguard may have something to do with them but I was under the impression they are also just another importer, not maker but the Winchester has a vanguard model prefix.

Anyway, I picked up a pair on ebay for a song ($40) and I'll post a review once I get them.

Well, I wish you luck. I have not seen these particular binoculars, but I have looked at several other Winchester spotters and binoculars. they were, to the last instrument........GARBAGE. Long live Barska. SInce you have bought this, I hope you maybe got a decent sample. The ones I looked at gave real life meaning to cheap chinese...

I won't be bummed either way. These cheapie binos make great gifts. I'll be pitting it against my "$40" Olympus 12x50.

BTW, I've seen the other Winchester branded binos and they do look awful but this pair seem to be totally different at least in appearance. The big difference seems to be the coating color. All the other junkier looking ones had a consistent yet different coating.

I have a Remington 32-30. In this case, a pair of long johns. So, I sort of support the bird hunting industry, too. What an age of marketing diversity we live in.
Ron

Well, like I say, good luck. The ones I've seen I wouldn't gift to anybody. In fact the best use for them would have been a target for a Winchester rifle.

Now those do look decent. I guess what you will find out is how they look when you look through them.

The only firearm manufacturer that ever marketed decent optics was Browning.

Steve C said:

The only firearm manufacturer that ever marketed decent optics was Browning.

Click to expand...

What about Springfield?

shaocaholica said:

I stumbled across these on the net and was intrigued by their design and on-paper specs. They are obviously OEM but I can't seem to determine which. The design is so different that its hard to tell. Its decently wide angle with 66deg AFOV. Stock photos show a light green coating on the objectives. Eye relief is lacking but I don't really care because I don't wear glasses. Claims to be water proof.

I think Vanguard may have something to do with them but I was under the impression they are also just another importer, not maker but the Winchester has a vanguard model prefix.

Anyway, I picked up a pair on ebay for a song ($40) and I'll post a review once I get them.

Click to expand...

a couple of years ago, when I picked up a pair of Vanguard to try out (I have never heard of that brand before), the sales person told me it is the same brand behind winchester. I have no clue about Winchester either.:-O

Well they came in sooner than expected. The ergonomics are pretty good. I like the one piece rubber covered design. The "less complex" closed bridge is nice too, IMO. I've only had 3min to play with them at work so keep an eye for the full...autopsy after the weekend.

Pros:
-Build very good for ~$40
-Canvas padded carry case with side pockets pretty nice. Don't care for the side pockets but whatever. Build quality of the case is very nice for $40.
-Textured finish is comfy, overall look is very pleasing.
-Focus is nice and smooth. Not too tight, not too loose.

Cons:
-Twist up eye cups feel flimsy
-ER is a joke, the eyecups only extend ~7mm but they still work for me since I don't wear glasses.
-Focus turns ~0.7 turns past infinity. Maybe mine is mis-indexed, I gotta check again.
-Wide FOV looks wierd. Collimation is on but still the 2 images don't "merge" as nicely as I'd like to.
-Contrast is pretty mediocre bordering on bad
-Resolution is...horrible. Even worse than my Olympus 12x50 EXPS I. Further testing will needed to gauge how horrible it is.

Well it seems the root of the problem is that these binos are not very sharp AND have huge amounts of CA which makes focusing them almost impossible. Well, the final word is stay away. Hopefully this thread will get picked up in some search engines.