Replacing Eyecups on the Habicht 8x30 W (1 Viewer)

I have tired of cleaning eyelash grease from the eyepiece of my set of habicht 8x30 W binoculars. I have also found the eye cups to be too narrow. This appears to be a common problem. As suggested in https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=318770 and other threads, swapping over with the green rubber eye cups from the habicht 10x40 can solve the problem.

My question: Are the fitted eye cups on the 8x30 W easy to remove by simply unscrewing them from the binoculars? My first tentative attempt to remove them found them to be held firmly and I didn’t want to force the issue for fear damaging this fine set of binoculars.

Yes, I found them to be easily screwed off. Tightness will probably only be initially if they’ve never been unscrewed. They screwed back on nice and firm as well. But, I agree, the rubber habicht eyecups were infinitely better for me than the narrow ones.

Thank you for that information.

I don't understand what is happening here. While waiting for the green Habicht 10x40 eyecups to be forwarded to me, I bought these https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2PCS-Bi...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649 . They appear to fit perfectly. These have turned my Habicht 8x30 W binoculars from "I'll keep them but I am not sure what all the hype is about", to "These are magnificent binoculars". I no longer have to fiddle to find just the right spot to hold the binoculars against my eyes, there is no side glare, they just fit into place on my face. How can something so low cost and simple transform my Habicht 8x30 binoculars so much. They are now a joy to use. What is going on?

Whey-Hey! I've just ordered a pair of those replacement eye cups, too - I hope they have the same effect on me!

Just bought a second hand habicht and thanks to this thread ordered the recommended eyecups. Will let you know what i think.

Just got a wonderful set of Habichts - still waiting for the eyecups from China. Managed to take these out today for the first time. Quick thoughts:

Cons:
- Tricky eye placement, as everyone has already observed, however: It doesnt take long to get used to it and figure out the proper placement.
- Stray light: Hopefully the eyecups help!
- Not much else!

Pros: where to begin...
- Perfect form-factor. Extremely easy to hold steady to due the wide body.
- Looks gorgeous, classic.
- Lightweight: Barely felt them around my neck.
- Neck Strap: Very nice material, very comfortable.
- The view: Supremely bright, three-dimensional, cool and natural. I know its been compared to the EII's extensively. I had the EII a while back and didn't recall it being this bright.
- Focus: Buttery smooth, a little stiff but with the way the body is designed, its really easy to use two fingers to focus.

Overall these are coming with me everywhere I go. I have the 10x50EL ill use for long distance viewing and astronomy, but these will be for everything else. A true gem.

Nice photo Samolot - winter is here...nice combo you have there (10X50 SV and the Habicht), let us know how the new eye-cups work out.

Andy W.

The eye cups finally arrived from China. They are an absolute game-changer for any Habicht owner. What's best is how perfectly they fit on the Habicht. What I did is unscrew the original eyecups first, then place the replacement cups on. Finally, for extra security, I managed to screw back the original eyecups onto the new ones, as shown in the photo. Not only does it look much better, but it just feels solid, and its all black! The eye placement is perfect; these binoculars are now as easy to use as my former EII's.

Thanks to this thread I also ordered a pair of eyecups from China. They arrived a few days ago and what shall I say ... they are simply perfect for my Habicht. I placed them as recommended by Samolot and they feel rock solid. They do not only make eye placement much more comfortable, but also add 1-2 mm to the eye relief, so there is no eyelash oil on the lens anymore. Moreover, they fit perfectly under the original eyepiece cover.

Henning86 said:

Thanks to this thread I also ordered a pair of eyecups from China. They arrived a few days ago and what shall I say ... they are simply perfect for my Habicht. I placed them as recommended by Samolot and they feel rock solid. They do not only make eye placement much more comfortable, but also add 1-2 mm to the eye relief, so there is no eyelash oil on the lens anymore. Moreover, they fit perfectly under the original eyepiece cover.

Click to expand...

Short update. I unscrewed to the original eyecups and only use the eyecups I ordered from China which further reduces glare.

I got the 8x30W Habicht and also found the ease of view far from ideal. I'm not sure how much of that is related with the narrow (for my facial features, at least) eyecups. So I contacted Swarovski saying that I was interested in getting information regarding the green rubber eyecups of the GA. The first sentence of their reply:"Provide us with your address and we will send you a pair free of charge". To say that I'm impressed by their customer service is an understatement. Just WOW. I would have thought that they'd charge me 20 - 30 € for the eyecups plus shipping.
I finally got them today (they said delivery would take three weeks, but it was here in less than one).
Fitting them to the binoculars is easy, but I found one of the eyecups pretty hard to unscrew; if it hadn't been for this thread, I would have assumed that it simply wasn't meant to be unscrewed. So, off the black ones and in the green ones: quirkly looking little device (well, the 8x30W Habicht is already kind of quirky in its original state; and I absolutely love it).
The first impression is a good one, way more comfy than the black ones. Now I have to put good glassing hours on them to see if they make a difference. In the meantime, I've already ordeder the Chinese winged eyecups as well. Let's see, the ease of view has been a pretty hard letdown for me, I could have written downunder impressions word by word.