My Sky Rover MS ED 6x30 Direct From China Has Arrived. (2 Viewers)

[gcole]

Out of curiosity on Jun 28 I ordered these from Sky Rover. Fast shipping to my home here in Florida, less than 10 days. They were nicely packaged in a plain brown box with adequate packaging material. First thoughts as I took them out of their soft case, very impressed. Solid Feel, Visually and Cosmetically … not a flaw I could see. They ooze with quality, not a scratch or smudge. Their black color, along with their leather appearance looks flawless. The lookalike leather really does look real. No mention on these anywhere that these are China sourced, just a very long serial number. If these were shown to a novice buyer who had little to none binocular experience, I feel I could easily pass these off as being made in Japan or Europe. Their build Quality(look) is that good, at least the pair I received. Now for their handling/optics. Looking into their oculars/objectives … squeaky clean. Glass coating with no imperfections that we could see. Both barrels impressively darken. Focuser perfect not to stiff, just to my liking. The Optical view, as stated by my better half … I can not believe how crisp/bright and sharp they are. My eyes are not so good anymore but even I was impressed. Both of us seeing no CA. I know many here have said ED glass in a 6x binocular is overkill/not needed but the first thing that we first noticed when we brought these to our eyes, the pop in its color rendering on everything we looked at. The APM version we owned of these did not have that immersed pop in color as these. Though I was really impressed with the APM version optically and knowing the fact that they lacked any type of ED glass, is the only reason I can think of why the Sky Rover colors view optically just stood out. Sky Rover states these have some type of ED glass, I know some here question that due their low cost. Maybe their definition of ED is better glass coatings or their glass is an upgrade of some sort. All I can say from our handling of these, we have no reason to think otherwise. Saying again that we are impressed with the overall Optical/Build Quality of these, would be overkill. For $199 shipped and China Sourced …. Very impressed indeed!

 

[Pinewood]

Hello,

Use it well! As it is called a "Sky Rover," you might try it on the heavens if you enjoy clear skies. With a Fujinon 6x30, I did see two moons of Jupiter on a cold clear night. Even the Pleiades should sparkle with a 6x30.

I would guess that a 6x30 would be most useful for bird watching in forests.

Stay safe,
Arthur

 

[gcole]

Hello,

Use it well! As it is called a "Sky Rover," you might try it on the heavens if you enjoy clear skies. With a Fujinon 6x30, I did see two moons of Jupiter on a cold clear night. Even the Pleiades should sparkle with a 6x30.

I would guess that a 6x30 would be most useful for bird watching in forests.

Stay safe,
Arthur

Thanks

 

[Foss]

9.3° FOV. Nice. How sharp and bright are the edges?

 

[gcole]

9.3° FOV. Nice. How sharp and bright are the edges?

I do not consciously look at the edges to test their brightness or how sharp they may be when viewing any subject, especially with a wide field binocular. My eyes instinctively just do not go there, so I can not answer your question right now but I will test their edges tomorrow and get back to you.

 

[Binocollector]

With a Fujinon 6x30, I did see two moons of Jupiter on a cold clear night.

True -- that will work pretty easily. I managed to do that with an old Japanese skeleton 6x25 even. Depends on the light pollution I guess. I'm at C5.

 

[gcole]

9.3° FOV. Nice. How sharp and bright are the edges?

I just came in after looking at the edges. I did this with my glasses on. They are sharp/bright pretty much right out to the edges. I know this is a subjective opinion based on my eyes and facial features but whether I say these give a 95 percent or a little less or more bright/sharp view right to the edges is mute in my opinion. When I used to glass on a daily basis. I would focus my attention to seeing the entire center focus of the view when possible. For me to take in the entire FOV with these binoculars all the time when handling, would be physically impossible not to mention it would be very uncomfortable. For $199, sourced from China these are very impressive. Are their edges as bright/sharp as the Nikon’s EII ? I can not say, I have never handled a pair. A China binocular or a Made In Japan binocular costing three times more, I can hear those EII owners saying …. No way in Hel……

 

[pat mitchel]

Gcole; I'd appreciate a peek under night skies as to the edge sharpness. If it isn't sharp, can it be focus adjusted to be sharp at the edge?
Thanks, Pat

 

[gcole]

Gcole; I'd appreciate a peek under night skies as to the edge sharpness. If it isn't sharp, can it be focus adjusted to be sharp at the edge?
Thanks, Pat

I will the next time our sky’s here offer me clear star views.

 

[gcole]

A few more pic’s close up. Using Meopta Meostars 8x32 rubber lens covers when the rubber eye piece oculars are folded down.

 

[has530]

After seeing your praise I decided to buy these as I had been eyeing the Kowa 6.5x32 for a while and never quite pulled the trigger. Initial impressions line up with yours. Really nice feel in the hands. Focus is perfectly smooth with no backlash. Everything seems internally good and there are no problems with glare. Really nice image. With the depth of field of a 6x bino and the nice bright clear image they really dissapear and place you in the scene more so than anything else I have tried this side of $500. ED glass really does it's job. CA is corrected better than most binoculars at any price (only I have that are distinctly better are the Bushnell legend M which show practically none ever). Rubber eye cups aren't great but they fit my face reasonably well and I have no trouble with eye placement or flares from stray light from behind. If I had to pick one (and a half) gripe(s) it would be that the edge sharpness is worse than I would have liked to see for something with a <60* AFOV. It is mostly field curvature with some astigmatism but the last 15% or so of the field is poorly corrected. My other half gripe is there is practically no focus travel past infinity. Less than 1 dpt so it may be a problem if anyone needs that for nearsighted viewing without glasses. Lucky for me my vision is pretty good so it is not a problem for me.

 

[gcole]

After seeing your praise I decided to buy these as I had been eyeing the Kowa 6.5x32 for a while and never quite pulled the trigger. Initial impressions line up with yours. Really nice feel in the hands. Focus is perfectly smooth with no backlash. Everything seems internally good and there are no problems with glare. Really nice image. With the depth of field of a 6x bino and the nice bright clear image they really dissapear and place you in the scene more so than anything else I have tried this side of $500. ED glass really does it's job. CA is corrected better than most binoculars at any price (only I have that are distinctly better are the Bushnell legend M which show practically none ever). Rubber eye cups aren't great but they fit my face reasonably well and I have no trouble with eye placement or flares from stray light from behind. If I had to pick one (and a half) gripe(s) it would be that the edge sharpness is worse than I would have liked to see for something with a <60* AFOV. It is mostly field curvature with some astigmatism but the last 15% or so of the field is poorly corrected. My other half gripe is there is practically no focus travel past infinity. Less than 1 dpt so it may be a problem if anyone needs that for nearsighted viewing without glasses. Lucky for me my vision is pretty good so it is not a problem for me.

Nice write up. …. I guess having to wear glasses while using these and depending on who the user is, it could be a plus. With glasses on stiff rubber eye cups rolled down solves that not so good eye cup possible issue. We also had no problem with infinity issues due to wearing our eye glasses. The edge sharpness on each individual pair is subjective and depends on each individual’s eyes, whether you wear glasses and or quality control. We have handled two pair both mirrored each other in all categories. Are the Sky Rover perfect ? No but I do believe they pack a lot of quality in a sub $200 binocular. The question is …. Is it worth spending that xtra $150 plus for the Kowa 6.5x32 or buy these ?

 

[Patudo]

Has anyone here tried the Moon Star 6.5x32 IF that's received good reviews on Cloudynights?

 

[gcole]

Has anyone here tried the Moon Star 6.5x32 IF that's received good reviews on Cloudynights?

Where are these available to purchase ?

 

[Patudo]

The folks on CN obtained theirs from Japanese vendors like Rakuten, I think, but the first batch is all gone now. Someone ought to bring it back (don't folks in the binocular industry read web forums like this? 😸). There was apparently an 8x32 that would have been really interesting to see. 9.3 degree FOV (for the 6.5x32) and 21mm eye relief sounds like a pretty impressive combo...

 

[Cest]

I had the 6x30 skyrovers. The IPD didn't work well for me. There was a speck on the inside of the lens, which doesn't speak well of quality control. They were okay, but didn't wow me.