I came across the Binoculars.com 2010 Binocular of the Year Awards page the other day and what really interested me on it was their winner for the best birding binocular - The Pentax 8x43 DCF SP Binoculars.
I know that everyone will have their own opinions and I will admit that these Pentax Binoculars are a great pair of optics with plenty of great features, but they have selected a pair that in my opinion has a pretty poor field of view for an 8x binocular: 330 ft @ 1000 yards.
If you compare that to a few others you will see what I mean:
- Swarovski 8.5x42 EL: 399ft @ 1000 yards
- Swift 8.5x44 Audubon: 430ft @ 1000 yards
- Nikon 8x42 EDG: 405ft @ 1000 yards
Unless you do most of your birdwatching out in open areas like on a river or at the sea, a wide field of view is one of the most important features you look for and is something that I stress in an article I wrote on choosing the best binoculars for bird watching on my binocular reviews website.
I am not saying that these Pentax's are not good binoculars, but I just don't believe that they a worthy of winning an award for the best birding binoculars.
I would love to hear if anyone else has any thoughts on this?
