Opticron 6x32 Traveller BGA Mg (1 Viewer)

I just ordered a pair of these for my 85 year old mother to use watching birds at the feeders right outside the window. She wears glasses all the time and told me she couldn't easily use any binoculars. So I wanted something hopefully easy for old eyes with glasses, good sized exit pupil, good eye relief, wide view, and with good close focus (feeders are only ~7-8 feet away from where she sits). So do you think these will work well for her? I can always return them so any other suggestions are welcome...for about the same or perhaps a bit more money... I liked the compact form factor of the Traveller, wanted something mid-size or smaller. These Travellers are sort of a hybrid size between compact and mid-size. I think they will be easy to put in the purse or a coat pocket or just leave on the kitchen table all the time.

Dave

I was going to recommend the Kowa 6x30 but it has a ridiculous 16 feet minimum focus.

I do have the Opticron 6x32 Traveller BGA Mg. Its optics are very good and it is very well made. It has 19mm eye relief and a wide FOV of 420'@1000 yards so that should work for your mother. I tried it wearing both thick and thin reading glasses and they both worked fine with the eye cups. It also focuses nicely on objects as near as 4 feet.

You do have to focus it with your ring finger because the focus wheel is located at the far end of the hinge. I don't know if that could be a problem for your mother. In any case it has a very smooth turning Focus Wheel which is ideal for the close up work on the nearby bird feeders that you noted. And then, of course, there is the great depth of field that all 6x binoculars have which is ideal for close up work.

Bob

PS: This binocular also has a "hinge lock" wheel at the back end of the hinge. The wheel has notches which tighten the inner portion of the IPD keeping it from moving the individual tubes inward; but it still allows you to open the binocular and make the IPD wider. Of course you aren't required to use it either.

Dave,

I think Bob summed it up nicely. It should suite your mother very well. I'll just point out that the latest version, the Mg Black, no longer has the hinge lock.

David

Thanks Bob and David.

The bins arrived yesterday from B&H. Overall, I'm fairly pleased and they are what I hoped and expected they would be. I was looking for a mid-size, mid-priced bin, 6 or 7x, good close focus, good eye relief, and as high quality optically/mechanically as possible at the ~$300 price point. I did not seek something so compact, but after looking hard at what is out there I don't know if I could do much better than these even if I looked for something slightly larger.

With the eyecups all the way down, I was glad my mom said she could see the whole circle with her glasses on. I think she will still struggle a bit simply due to her age, and I wondered if something a little larger would be easier, but she said she liked the small lightweight compact design, and she managed to view several birds who showed up at the feeder/bird bath while she tried them out.

I think the Traveller is an appealing and unique offering, sort of a hybrid between a mid-size and compact design, very solid mechanically and very good optically. I also liked the relatively flat field... The sweet spot is pretty large, at least central 50% of the circle, but outside of that, things are not distractingly out of focus right out to the very edge. A couple snapshots attached.

Dave