SWFA has Burris Signature Select 8x56 roofs on clearance for $200. They were previously $530 and supposedly had an MSRP of $893. I bought myself a pair for Christmas. It was a gamble because I once again couldn’t find a single review anywhere on the web. I’ve had them for three days now. Overall, I’d say that they are a fantastic bargain at this price.
I had decided that large exit pupil bins were a waste of time for me. I’ve 53, so it’s not likely that my tired old eyes can make use of a 7mm exit pupil. However, I read a post by Henry Link about the Zeiss FL T* 8x56 which explains that there are two big advantages of large exit pupils in daylight use. One is that the aberrations are worst at the edges of the exit pupil, so if the exit pupil is much bigger than your eye’s pupil, the aberrations will be outside your pupil and won’t affect the view. The other is that the focal length of the Zeiss 8x56 is longer which allows better optical quality. I don’t know how to determine the focal length of the Burris, but I assume it is longer as well. For whatever reason, the optical quality of the Burris 8x56’s is pretty impressive. The FOV is somewhat narrow at 6.5 deg, but they make good use of it. The image is sharp over 90 or 95% of the field. They are very bright as well. Flare seems to be pretty much nonexistent. The first day I used them, I was at a lake at sunset. I looked towards some reflections from the sun on the water and got close enough that the brightness was starting to get painful. There was no flare at all, but I found that if I moved my eye position around a bit, there was flare at the edge of the exit pupil. It was just outside my pupils.
The Burris 8x56 focus down to 6 ft. Surprisingly, I can focus them all the way down to 6 ft without the images separating. This surprised me because I used to own Minox 13x56. They have a published close focus of 22 ft but I found that they were actually capable of focusing to 12 ft. However, the optical quality was miserable closer than 22 ft. Your eyes converge when looking at something close, so you have to reduce the IPD to keep your pupils centered. I decided that with my 63mm IPD I couldn’t get the Minox’s IPD small enough to keep my pupils centered at close distances, so I was looking through the edges of the exit pupils. This isn’t the case with the Burris. The optical quality is excellent at close focus. Perhaps the over sized exit pupils are helping me here again.
The Burris 8x56 are heavy at 36 oz. But, they come with a good strap so it doesn’t bother me. They are made in China and focus counter clockwise to infinity. They have lots of eye relief. The eye cups have one detent half way up and I’m using them at the half up detent with my glasses on. Build quality is excellent. The focus wheel is smooth and light. Focus speed is fine at normal birding distances, but going from close focus to infinity takes longer than I would like. They come with Burris’s “Forever Warranty”, which I believe is one of the better warranties in the business.
I haven’t done detailed comparisons with other binoculars yet, but my initial impression is that the optical quality is near alpha. I live near the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, where they do rock concerts. The trading post has bird feeders out back which have be attracting lots of rarities this winter. I got some jaw dropping close views of birds that showed spectacular detail in the feathers. We’ve had perfect viewing conditions these last three days with clear skies and gorgeous winter light. This kind of golden light makes binoculars look good, so I’ll have to see how they do in poorer light. Still, I wanted to do a quick review while they still have some for sale. I highly recommend them. If you are willing to live with their weight and somewhat narrow FOV, I don’t think you’ll find other roofs of this quality for $200.
http://swfa.com/Burris-8x56-Signature-Select-Binocular-P11023.aspx
I had decided that large exit pupil bins were a waste of time for me. I’ve 53, so it’s not likely that my tired old eyes can make use of a 7mm exit pupil. However, I read a post by Henry Link about the Zeiss FL T* 8x56 which explains that there are two big advantages of large exit pupils in daylight use. One is that the aberrations are worst at the edges of the exit pupil, so if the exit pupil is much bigger than your eye’s pupil, the aberrations will be outside your pupil and won’t affect the view. The other is that the focal length of the Zeiss 8x56 is longer which allows better optical quality. I don’t know how to determine the focal length of the Burris, but I assume it is longer as well. For whatever reason, the optical quality of the Burris 8x56’s is pretty impressive. The FOV is somewhat narrow at 6.5 deg, but they make good use of it. The image is sharp over 90 or 95% of the field. They are very bright as well. Flare seems to be pretty much nonexistent. The first day I used them, I was at a lake at sunset. I looked towards some reflections from the sun on the water and got close enough that the brightness was starting to get painful. There was no flare at all, but I found that if I moved my eye position around a bit, there was flare at the edge of the exit pupil. It was just outside my pupils.
The Burris 8x56 focus down to 6 ft. Surprisingly, I can focus them all the way down to 6 ft without the images separating. This surprised me because I used to own Minox 13x56. They have a published close focus of 22 ft but I found that they were actually capable of focusing to 12 ft. However, the optical quality was miserable closer than 22 ft. Your eyes converge when looking at something close, so you have to reduce the IPD to keep your pupils centered. I decided that with my 63mm IPD I couldn’t get the Minox’s IPD small enough to keep my pupils centered at close distances, so I was looking through the edges of the exit pupils. This isn’t the case with the Burris. The optical quality is excellent at close focus. Perhaps the over sized exit pupils are helping me here again.
The Burris 8x56 are heavy at 36 oz. But, they come with a good strap so it doesn’t bother me. They are made in China and focus counter clockwise to infinity. They have lots of eye relief. The eye cups have one detent half way up and I’m using them at the half up detent with my glasses on. Build quality is excellent. The focus wheel is smooth and light. Focus speed is fine at normal birding distances, but going from close focus to infinity takes longer than I would like. They come with Burris’s “Forever Warranty”, which I believe is one of the better warranties in the business.
I haven’t done detailed comparisons with other binoculars yet, but my initial impression is that the optical quality is near alpha. I live near the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, where they do rock concerts. The trading post has bird feeders out back which have be attracting lots of rarities this winter. I got some jaw dropping close views of birds that showed spectacular detail in the feathers. We’ve had perfect viewing conditions these last three days with clear skies and gorgeous winter light. This kind of golden light makes binoculars look good, so I’ll have to see how they do in poorer light. Still, I wanted to do a quick review while they still have some for sale. I highly recommend them. If you are willing to live with their weight and somewhat narrow FOV, I don’t think you’ll find other roofs of this quality for $200.
http://swfa.com/Burris-8x56-Signature-Select-Binocular-P11023.aspx
