BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Martin Fagg" data-source="post: 1656324" data-attributes="member: 50232">Minerva 8x30s first impressionsHi all,they arrived today and I managed to find a couple of hours before dusk to do a little birding with them. I took my Meopta 8x32s along for comparison. Unfair I know given that the porros are fairly old and cost £230 new in their time and the Meoptas are £550 now but have been considered by some to be as good as or better than £750 bins but that's all I have to compare them to. For that reason I haven't gone to town on comparing them, I've just made some observations on them both.The bins themselves are tiny. Almost toy like. I'll post a pic at some point. It took a while to get used to the porro shape and they are so small that there is very little room to manouvre without getting a little finger in the view. I think I may get some bushwackers to put on the objectives to make them a bit more ergonomic. I have small hands by the way so these are probably not for anyone with big mitts.Looking through them, what struck me straight away was the three-d effect. There is such a big difference between the 'feel' of the view of the Opticrons and the Meopta 8x32s. I definitely thought wow when I first looked through them. I would love to have a waterproof porro with the same view as my Meoptas.The sweet spot is pretty large. I don't know how to factor it as a percentage but while looking at lettering on a sign I worked out that everything was sharp from the centre to about two thirds of the way out to the edge.In the centre the view was nice and sharp. i could see brickwork in a distant building almost as well defined as in the Meoptas. Colourwise they are colder more blueish when compared to the Meoptas which seem much warmer yellower.The Meoptas are brighter. Noticeably so, I didn't have to keep looking from one to the other to work this out, it took just one look. Having said that I used the Minervas until almost dark, on open marsh and in the woods too, and I could still ID finches and other small birds in the undergrowth so they are totally useable all day, I would say.The sun was very low and there was quite a lot of flare when looking towards the sun but to be fair the same could be said of my Meoptas.What I really like about them though is the focus wheel. It is wide so you can use two fingers on each sie of it so although it is fairly stiff it is easy to move. Focussing is really fast. About three quarters of a turn. At first i thought it was too fast but i got used to it quickly and the wide wheel  made it easy to adjust. Also the depth of field is really big so that makes life easy. Close too you get the usual need to adjust the IPD.I stepped out the close focus distance and reckon it to be about ten feet.They are also very light, I haven't weighed them yet but I wore them for 2 hours on a 10mm wide nylon strap and couldn't even feel them even thoughthey toe-in in very definite manner. I was wearing a thick fleece collar though.The coatings are a purple/green colour.Although they arrived without a case they look absolutely brand spanking new as though they have never been in the field until today. Not a mark on them.They have rubber fold down eyecups but I can't use them with my glasses on and can't quite see full field when I wear my contact lenses.The hinge is much stiffer than the Meoptas. it's not a problem, it just takes abit of effort to adjust and there is no way you will accidentally move it unless you drop them or something.The diopter adjuster doesn't lock. It's the usual porro right eye twist type. It didn't slip out of place while I was using them though.Published specs are below:Specifications8x30Field (m)144Min Focus3.3HxW (mm)97x170Weight (g)570All in all I'm well please with them. I'd like to know how they compare to Nikon SEs and EIIs as they are the porros that are rated the best by most people. I dare say they don't match them entirely but for £99 I reckon I got a bargain. Perhaps one day I'll get to compare them. And with the Swaro Habicht 8x30s for that matter which have caught my eye recentl, and they're waterproof too! Hmmm, I wonder.........................................................................................</blockquote>

Verification