Intro and my Steiner 8.5X26 Wildlife experience (1 Viewer)

[Tzahoy]

Howdy, I've been browsing these forums for some time and learned a great deal from them. Thanks to all who contribute! I thought I'd post my experiences with a recent acquisition of mine.

I bought these Steiner 8.5x26 Wildlife bins looking for something compact to hike, hunt, and spot birds with. I was attracted to them as I thought they would be brighter than the 8x20 format, seemed to have good field of view, and were still very compact. I have a good amount of experience with quality optics, I have a Kowa TSN-821 scope and several fine rifle scopes including Leupold and a couple fine vintage Redfields. I certainly know what I don't like when looking through glass. I found that they are excellent in all regards mentioned above, and have very good image quality, and color. The full field of view was quite sharp, and they were perfect in almost every way. Unfortunately only almost. They had one fatal flaw, and that was internal reflections that caused ghost images and internal glare that made them just about worthless any time you view towards a light source or in bright light.

I really wanted to keep these, as they were so close to perfect for my use. I even prefer the diopter adjustment on the left side. I emailed my comments to Steiner and expressed my sincere regret after returning them, and told them I'd happily buy them again if the problem were fixed. So far no response though but I do hope I hear back from them.

Does anyone else own a set of these and find them as objectionable as I did? Does anyone have any recommendations of other compacts a little brighter than the 8x20 format? I'm considering the Kowa 8x25s Pentax 8x28 and the Leupold 8x25. I'd like to stick to a roof as they are more compact, particularly flatter and easier to slip into a pocket.

In the mean time I've ordered a set of Kowa 10x32s. I'm still after a set of compacts to keep in the truck and for traveling, but the 10x32s will probably be my primaries for most hunting and birding. I'll be sure to post my impressions when they arrive. Unfortunately nobody has Kowas around here so I'm stuck with buying them to try them and exchanging them if I don't like them.

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[ceasar]

Ahoy, TZ,
Welcome to Bird Forum!

You can simplify you choices greatly if you don't rule out Reverse Porro Prisms and decide that you really don't need 8.5X. Why don't you take a long, hard look at Bushnell's 7 x 26 Custom Classic. It costs 30 bucks less than the Steiner. It's brighter, has much better depth of field, better eye relief and a wider FOV. It's optics are MUCH better. For Instance, the Steiner doesn't have Phase Coating which is now a virtual requirement for any Roof Prism binocular. And, take it from me, a single hinged binocular is ALOT easier to use than a double hinged roof prism. It's much faster and more instinctive in aligning up your exit pupils. Size wise, it's a Jacket Pocket size binocular, which is about the same thing your Steiner is. You would be hard pressed fitting 2 26mm tubes into a shirt pocket with or without a double hinge.

I have a Bushnell 7 x 26. I also have a Leica 8 x 20 Trinovid. Optically, they are both great binoculars, but they are 2 different animals. The Leica, which cost twice as much is better suited for sports events, concerts and other events where size is a critical factor. The Bushnells ergonomics make them a much more serious birding binocular.

Cordially,
Bob

 

[Tero]

There really are not that many mid price 8x30s, but if you can get to a store that carries Bushnells, there may be a few 8x30 models worthy of note, and one 8x28 Excursion which I have not been able to see. The only other compact 8.5x out there is a Vortex Spitfire, which is not phase coated, have not seen it.

I use an 8x32 RedHead, a Bas Pro Shop store brand. Warranty is only 1 year and I wil never get anything back trying to sell them. They are adequate. Your stores may have similar models of various brands, and a few may be OK. ProMaster, from camera stores, is poor.

 

[Otto McDiesel]

Try a Minox BL 8x32. Small, light, good optics, and $300. Not much larger than the 25mm toys.

 

[Tzahoy]

Thanks everyone, I by no means am limited to 8.5X, in fact I'm surprised there are not more options in something like a 7X25 format. It seems it would make the most out of the shortcomings of a compact format. I'll expand my search to include some porros, but I really prefer the flat profile of roofs to slip into a jacket pocket, it doesn't seem like any f these fit into a shirt pocket very well once you are in the 25-28mm range.

I also agree the single hinge is preferable to the dual. I really wish I could try out the Kowa 8X25 as it has all the features I'm looking for, but nothing beats trying them!

Thanks again for the comments!

 

[keithdrengen]

I have tried Kowa 8x25 and i like the "big" focus wheel. They were easy to focus and easy to get a good view with. I tried 8x20/10x25 leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, and they are too difficult to get a comfortable view with for me. Kowa 8x25 is also very sturdy built quality. I may get a pair myself.

Carsten

 

[trashbird]

I have the Bausch & Lomb 7x26 Custom Compacts (now being sold as Bushnell).

Some reviewers of this glass have commented that it is the only compact that could be used as your *only* bino. I agree. There have been times when it has been *my* only bino.

The 7x26 configuration lets in a lot of light -- almost as much as an 8x30, which most people consider a mid-sized bino. The relatively large exit pupil is not too bad to deal with for all day birding. Most compacts get fatiguing -- even the Nikon compact LXL I used to own.

But the Custom Compacts aren't as sturdy as roof prisms, and not even water resistant. So it's all a trade off. What's the most important thing to you.

Moving up to an 8x32 gives you a lot more of everything -- except compactness!

I've ordered a Pentax 8x25 MCII roof prism compact -- phase coated, dual-hinged (which makes it more compact) -- to carry *everywhere*. But I certainly wont be using it on any planned birding trip.

This whole thing about having a grab and go bino, a close-up bino, a low-light bino, a high-power bino, a low-power bino, etc., etc. Where does it end? Stop me before I buy again!!!!

 

[Jim M.]

Hello original poster,

Here is some more info for you to consider:

-- here is a link to a chart ranking midpriced binoculars according to a recent review (http://www.birdwatching.com/optics/2007roundup/chart_main_extended.html). You may notice that the Steiner binoculars are all at the bottom; so it looks like they concur with your opinion. ;-) You might want to look at the other compact binoculars listed in the chart above those.

-- here is a link to a page from the same site with their recommendations for compact binoculars. (http://www.birdwatching.com/optics/binocular_advisor/binocular_advisor2.html#audubonvector). I think the recommendation that most fits your situation is the Vortex Fury 8 x 28. The thing I would wonder about though, is that the Furies have good eye relief, but the Steiner's you use have terrible eye relief. This makes me suspect that you do not wear eyeglasses when using them. So the Furies might have more eye relief than you need -- but that is not necessarily a problem.

Of course, these are just the recommendations of one site, so take it for what it is worth.

Hope this helps,
Jim

 

[ksbird/foxranch]

I use a pair of the B&L 7x26 Customs but while they are very good for eye relief, and the image is pretty decent, they aren't rugged by any means. Since they are highly recommended, everyone I know has a pair, and since my friends try to carry them in the pockets of their canvas coats, the Customs are constantly in need of repair.

I usually prefer the 8x or 9x by 25 Nikon Diplomats that aren't waterproof but in 7 years of use, have not fogged up or gotten dusty inside and Kansas gets dust Clouds that roll down from the upper plains at times. The Diplomats are sharper than the Customs with slightly less FOV but better coatings, and they are more rugged, as well as being MUCH smaller, so they easily fit in the shirt pockets on my flannel shirts.

But the binocular many of my friends and I have taken up recently is the waterproof Nikon Prostaff 8x25 and 9x25. As far as we can tell they just took the Diplomat optics, changed the structure from being a really small reverse porro and made it into an over-the-top underslung porro, where the objectives are slightly below the eye lenses and then made the whole thing waterproof. I've looked through them and like them allot. They sell at the discount places for about $110-120 + $10-15 for shipping. But the extreme small size of the Diplomats could not be retained with the Prostaff models. I can't fit them in a flannel shirt pocket, but they fit the pocket on my canvas jacket easily (even in their case). The Prostaff is very rugged and recently a few friends carrying Prostaffs took 15 foot high falls off muddy cliffs into ravines full of boulders and downed trees while trying to find out where some Canada Geese were stopping, while they were heading north on a few nice days (of course now the weather has been below freezing with sleet for 3 straight days [day and night and that pattern won't break until tomorrow noon]. Now the temp is 18 degree F so those geese look pretty stupid. On the other hand I wish I had gotten photos of them winging north 10 days ago).

My friends are still recuperating from the tumbles 10 days ago, but the Prostaffs were all just rinsed off and look and function great. I borrowed a pair while my buds hobbled around with canes and I was impressed. I heard that they were so light when worn around the neck that most of the users didn't need a padded strap. But one guy got a black eye when his pair of Prostaffs whipped around during his roll-down the ravine's side and whacked him above the eye. His shiner is just getting yellow now, but he doesn't hold it against the binocular.

I use an 8x30 Bushnell Natureview, 6x30 Meopta, 8x30 Hensoldt DF or Steiner 8x30 or a 10x30 Leupold when I don't use the Diplomats or when it is raining/storming, but they are all much bigger than the Diplomats. There aren't many times when I feel I can risk the 7x26 Customs out here in horse country because I wouldn't want to drop them, even on frozen ground. I keep the Customs by the rear door to scan the horse pastures, but they don't go outside any more. So I'll probably get a pair of the Prostaffs in either 8x or 9x.

 

[Gorgo]

They had one fatal flaw, and that was internal reflections that caused ghost images and internal glare that made them just about worthless any time you view towards a light source or in bright light.

I really wanted to keep these, as they were so close to perfect for my use. I even prefer the diopter adjustment on the left side. I emailed my comments to Steiner and expressed my sincere regret after returning them, and told them I'd happily buy them again if the problem were fixed. So far no response though but I do hope I hear back from them.QUOTE]


Hi Tzahoy,

I had a Steiner Wildlife 8x24 for some years. It also had terrible internal reflections. Because of this and other reasons I finally I sold them. I don't think Steiner could fix the flare issue or did they meanwhile?
For me it seems that internal glare is a problem in all those (little) Steiner Wildlife bins.

Markus