[westy]

Seben Desperado 10x42 BAK4
Waterproof, Fogproof, Nitrogen-Purged.

Keep seeing these binoculars on Ebay, saying they have a retail price of £250 and they often sell for around £50-£60.
Problem is i have never heard of them, as any body else heard of them or own a pair and could pass on some advice about these binos.

Cheers,
Westy

[AndyC]

I did a google search with turned up this web page:

http://www.burkhards-shop.de/electro..._10x421641.htm

I haven't attempted a translation but the price appears to be EUR 149.00 which is about £100. I would never take retail prices or 'worth' statements on Ebay very seriously!

AndyC

[Atomic Chicken]

Greetings!

Other than the rubber armoring, which is completely different and of a different color, these look almost identical to the Rugged Exposure (rebranded Barska) 10x42 binoculars I just purchased two days ago. All of these 10X42 BAK4 waterproof chinese binoculars are probably coming out of the same factory in China, and they are EXCELLENT binoculars for the price. Clean, bright image and wide field of view, nice ergonomics and low weight. I paid $60 U.S. for mine, and feel VERY, VERY good about the purchase. My only complaint is that the blackening paint they use on the internal surfaces is not a true matte, it has a slight amount of gloss to it which makes the binoculars glare and wash out a bit when viewing objects in the same general direction as the sun. However, I will happily live with that small flaw considering how excellent the rest of the binocular's design, manufacturing quality, and price is. The image quality is truly phenomenal considering the Chinese origin - I would say the image quality is equivalent to the Pentax SP series, with approximately the same amount of CA and the same sharpness and contrast across the field of view. Ergonomically, the diopter adjust is very stiff and won't jar out of adjustment accidentally, and the eyecups are twist-out type that lock positively. The focus wheel is as good as any high-end binoculars I have tried, if a bit on the slow side. The objective and eyepiece lens cap covers are pure crap, but they at least fit tightly and shouldn't be needed if the binoculars are kept in their supplied nylon bag. Overall, these binoculars are truly an unbeatable value in their price range.


Edit: Here is a link I found for the model I bought:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...results1.jhtml

Best wishes,
Bawko

[MikeC]

I tried a bid on ebay and they still hadn't reached their reserve price at £25.
I maxed out at £24.01 and they gave me a second chance, so I've just got them for £34.00, with postage!
Might be worth a gamble to see how low you can get away with bidding, and get them cheap.

I bought a seben scope from them the other year and didn't have any trouble.
MikeC

Originally Posted by westy

Seben Desperado 10x42 BAK4
Waterproof, Fogproof, Nitrogen-Purged.

Keep seeing these binoculars on Ebay, saying they have a retail price of £250 and they often sell for around £50-£60.
Problem is i have never heard of them, as any body else heard of them or own a pair and could pass on some advice about these binos.

Cheers,
Westy

[Tero]

AChicken, looks OK at Cabelas, but no 8x models or compacts. I don't need more 10x right now.

Who makes the Cabeals brand binoculars? I did not really like the FOVs on many but at least part are phase coated.

Good to see some porros there too
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...rue&hasJS=true
but once again FOV is small.

[MikeC]

Well they arrived and so far so good. Really clear, but focus a bit slow. Hopefully that'll free up a little bit. Twist up eyepiece nice and solid and thy fit quite well in the hand. Though the attached covers get in the way.
Worth the trouble. I keep these Seben 10x42's, and my son gets the old Opticrons.
I'm not into the world of Leica and Swarovski. Wife not convinced I should spend £700+ for a pair of bins.

Originally Posted by MikeC

I tried a bid on ebay and they still hadn't reached their reserve price at £25.
I maxed out at £24.01 and they gave me a second chance, so I've just got them for £34.00, with postage!
Might be worth a gamble to see how low you can get away with bidding, and get them cheap.

I bought a seben scope from them the other year and didn't have any trouble.
MikeC