Steve C
Well-known member
Every so often I come across a binocular that distinguishes itself within its model class, and this one did just that. Conventional wisdom tells us that a 32 mm simply does not have enough light in the system to stand with a similar quality 42 mm., or that they won’t resolve as well. I am finding that with recent experience with some newer 32 mm binoculars that this may no longer be a significant reason to avoid the 32’s. They can't overcome physics but can come closer than one may believe.
The Verano is a new class of binocular recently released by Opticron. Along with the 8x32 there are also 8x and 10x 42 versions, which will be a separate review. I won’t bore you with the particulars, but the specs and technical information can be found here. They all seem to be in line with reality.
Verano BGA VHD 8x32 | Opticron
The eye cups are removable. This leads to a comment or two. This unit had what seemed to be a lot more glue applied than is necessary to secure the rubber eye ring. Some glue was forced into the extension adjustment slots, causing a binding when moving the eye cup. Adjustment movement was stiff enough at one point that the eye cup started to unscrew. Being somewhat curious I went ahead and unscrewed it. Once off it is pretty obviously standard removable eye cup fare. With the eye cup off, I was eventually able to figure the issue out, saw the glue smear, fixed that and replaced the eye cup. Stiff extension movement solved. This was a bit of an issue with the x42 units too. Easy fix if this is a problem greater than my Verano units.
There is another issue that will occur before you can even get to looking at the view. The rain guard on this specimen is so tight as to be mostly unusable Fiddling with it I found it is possible to actually pull the rubber eye cup ring off the assembly when trying to get the thing off. The inner inner surface of the rain guard is somewhat textured, and the rubber eye cup ring is even more heavily so. So when the guard is pushed on there is too much friction to easily over come. Whoever put the accessories on the binocular for sale evidently didn’t want the rain guard to come off in shipment. It is not the typical slick Opticron labeled rain guard, so the easy fix here is to use that one on the Verano 32 as well. The one from the Aurora series fit fine and I think should be used here. Those are just loose enough they will fall off just holding the binocular upside down with a quick flick of the wrist. Makes one wonder about current supply issues.
This comes with a case, strap, microfiber cloth, and objective covers and the previously cussed rain guard, which is pretty standard fare from Opticron. The case is somewhat different as well, this one being a slicker, Velcro closed nylon. The Verano case should become the official Opticron case. The Verano cases are blessed with enough interior room to handle the binocular with the eye cups extended ,with the rainguard and objective covers in place, and with the strap attached without it making you think you need to be a magician to get it all put in place, much less all fastened down. This makes a huge difference in usability of the supplied accessories. The more typical Opticron case with the woven texture and the faux leather fastener are just too small for my liking. Now that they have access to the Verano case, the cost to make the Verano case the Opticron standard should be negligible.
Removing the binocular from the box reveals a kind of plain looking binocular with a grayish black, textured rubber armor. The first thing that struck my attention was that it both looked and felt somewhat larger than other 32’s with similar housings. I got my Maven B3 and Traveller ED and the Verano does come in larger. This is due to a more robust armor and a differing eye cup design.
The single hinge 32 mm binocular format seems to be either like it for the small size if the user has small hands, or dislike it for the small size if the user has larger hands, but still wants something smaller than their 42 mm. You may find this a very useful size if you are in the latter category. The eye cup diameter of the Verano is more similar to what is typically found in 42 mm glass. The ocular lens diameter of both the Traveller and the Verano is 22 mm. The tubes are the same length, but the rubber armor is about 4 mm thicker than the armor on the Traveller. The entire ocular assembly of the Verano is much closer to that of a 42 mm glass, being about a half inch longer that the Traveller ED. The size increase is noticeable. That being said, the Verano is still much smaller than a 42 mm glass.
The focus is clockwise to infinity. There is a total of two full turns of wheel travel, however only three quarters of a turn are needed to go from close focus to infinity, leaving a full one and a quarter turn past infinity. For me this needs three pulls of the focus to go from close to infinity. If going from 50 or so feet to infinity, there are two finger pulls required. The focus is smooth and over travel is non existent. Diopter adjustment is among the best I have seen. Opticron’s standard right eye diopter ring with its slight extension snaps the right eye into adjustment perfectly and effortlessly.
The image is bright, sharp, and clear. The contrast is very good. Overall a very satisfactory view, this binocular hangs right with the Aurora 8x42 in resolution ability. While the 42 mm will display some superiority on low light or other adverse conditions, the overall ability of this binocular will surprise a lot of people. There is something with the coating formula here that makes this glass show a slightly greener green in the image than other Opticron binoculars. It is particularly striking alongside the Traveller ED. Both show an identical very slight green tint when viewed backward through the objective with the ocular pointed at a bright white surface, but the Traveller has a slightly less saturated color display. The Verano has a quite neutral image (not showing an obvious green tint in the image at all), excellent contrast and color saturation and is surprisingly sharp. The Traveller ED tends to wash out colors a little in bright light, but the Verano does not. The small degree of darker green really was only obvious the first time or two I used it alongside the Traveller ED. After using the Verano for awhile it is almost impossible to notice. Familiarization at work I suppose.
I would caution potential users not to automatically dismiss the 7.5* field as too small. At 60* old fashioned afov, this is still classified as a wide field binocular This is the only other place I might be convinced to maybe pick another nit. I personally would like to see a field to match the Traveller ED, but if Opticron did that, the Traveller would pretty much cease to have a reason to exist . In actual field use, the view is not at all restrictive.
Picking detail at the 8x level is not an issue here. This small Verano resolves detail at any distance right in with the 8x42 Aurora, or other good 8x42’s. The 42 gains a few minutes of light, but even a good x42 is not of much use when light gets that low. If going low light most would need to go to a 50 mm glass.
I’d call CA correction very good, the anti-reflection coatings do their job and veiling glare is pretty much a non issue.
This is not a flat field design, but as with many recent conventional curved field designs, the edge is pretty well done. There is not enough distortion to be noticed in my peripheral vision. I’ve had some migrating Warblers bouncing around the yard and there is no problem with either the edges or the width of field to bother me. Others may well differ. If one specifically cranks the eye far enough to actually examine the edge there is a slight amount of distortion to be found. I may be the odd one out, but I am not a particular fan of flat fields, so keep that in mind. I suppose it could be said that if you don’t go looking to convince yourself this is neither flat enough or wide enough you can convince yourself. Just go use it and enjoy it and there should be no issue.
I can get full fov this the eye cups retracted when using reading glasses, so my feeling is this glass should be OK for eye glass wearers.
The image of this is good enough it took me by surprise, particularly how well it stands up to the Aurora. I’ve seen a couple of posts wanting an Aurora 32 mm. I’ve also seen Pete Gamby saying that is not in the works. If you are one of those folks, try this one. If you are looking for a really nice 32 mm binocular, I recommend you give this one a look. The Verano 42 review up coming, but this 32 is the class act of the series. This is a very good, smaller binocular and will have its fans.
The Verano is a new class of binocular recently released by Opticron. Along with the 8x32 there are also 8x and 10x 42 versions, which will be a separate review. I won’t bore you with the particulars, but the specs and technical information can be found here. They all seem to be in line with reality.
Verano BGA VHD 8x32 | Opticron
The eye cups are removable. This leads to a comment or two. This unit had what seemed to be a lot more glue applied than is necessary to secure the rubber eye ring. Some glue was forced into the extension adjustment slots, causing a binding when moving the eye cup. Adjustment movement was stiff enough at one point that the eye cup started to unscrew. Being somewhat curious I went ahead and unscrewed it. Once off it is pretty obviously standard removable eye cup fare. With the eye cup off, I was eventually able to figure the issue out, saw the glue smear, fixed that and replaced the eye cup. Stiff extension movement solved. This was a bit of an issue with the x42 units too. Easy fix if this is a problem greater than my Verano units.
There is another issue that will occur before you can even get to looking at the view. The rain guard on this specimen is so tight as to be mostly unusable Fiddling with it I found it is possible to actually pull the rubber eye cup ring off the assembly when trying to get the thing off. The inner inner surface of the rain guard is somewhat textured, and the rubber eye cup ring is even more heavily so. So when the guard is pushed on there is too much friction to easily over come. Whoever put the accessories on the binocular for sale evidently didn’t want the rain guard to come off in shipment. It is not the typical slick Opticron labeled rain guard, so the easy fix here is to use that one on the Verano 32 as well. The one from the Aurora series fit fine and I think should be used here. Those are just loose enough they will fall off just holding the binocular upside down with a quick flick of the wrist. Makes one wonder about current supply issues.
This comes with a case, strap, microfiber cloth, and objective covers and the previously cussed rain guard, which is pretty standard fare from Opticron. The case is somewhat different as well, this one being a slicker, Velcro closed nylon. The Verano case should become the official Opticron case. The Verano cases are blessed with enough interior room to handle the binocular with the eye cups extended ,with the rainguard and objective covers in place, and with the strap attached without it making you think you need to be a magician to get it all put in place, much less all fastened down. This makes a huge difference in usability of the supplied accessories. The more typical Opticron case with the woven texture and the faux leather fastener are just too small for my liking. Now that they have access to the Verano case, the cost to make the Verano case the Opticron standard should be negligible.
Removing the binocular from the box reveals a kind of plain looking binocular with a grayish black, textured rubber armor. The first thing that struck my attention was that it both looked and felt somewhat larger than other 32’s with similar housings. I got my Maven B3 and Traveller ED and the Verano does come in larger. This is due to a more robust armor and a differing eye cup design.
The single hinge 32 mm binocular format seems to be either like it for the small size if the user has small hands, or dislike it for the small size if the user has larger hands, but still wants something smaller than their 42 mm. You may find this a very useful size if you are in the latter category. The eye cup diameter of the Verano is more similar to what is typically found in 42 mm glass. The ocular lens diameter of both the Traveller and the Verano is 22 mm. The tubes are the same length, but the rubber armor is about 4 mm thicker than the armor on the Traveller. The entire ocular assembly of the Verano is much closer to that of a 42 mm glass, being about a half inch longer that the Traveller ED. The size increase is noticeable. That being said, the Verano is still much smaller than a 42 mm glass.
The focus is clockwise to infinity. There is a total of two full turns of wheel travel, however only three quarters of a turn are needed to go from close focus to infinity, leaving a full one and a quarter turn past infinity. For me this needs three pulls of the focus to go from close to infinity. If going from 50 or so feet to infinity, there are two finger pulls required. The focus is smooth and over travel is non existent. Diopter adjustment is among the best I have seen. Opticron’s standard right eye diopter ring with its slight extension snaps the right eye into adjustment perfectly and effortlessly.
The image is bright, sharp, and clear. The contrast is very good. Overall a very satisfactory view, this binocular hangs right with the Aurora 8x42 in resolution ability. While the 42 mm will display some superiority on low light or other adverse conditions, the overall ability of this binocular will surprise a lot of people. There is something with the coating formula here that makes this glass show a slightly greener green in the image than other Opticron binoculars. It is particularly striking alongside the Traveller ED. Both show an identical very slight green tint when viewed backward through the objective with the ocular pointed at a bright white surface, but the Traveller has a slightly less saturated color display. The Verano has a quite neutral image (not showing an obvious green tint in the image at all), excellent contrast and color saturation and is surprisingly sharp. The Traveller ED tends to wash out colors a little in bright light, but the Verano does not. The small degree of darker green really was only obvious the first time or two I used it alongside the Traveller ED. After using the Verano for awhile it is almost impossible to notice. Familiarization at work I suppose.
I would caution potential users not to automatically dismiss the 7.5* field as too small. At 60* old fashioned afov, this is still classified as a wide field binocular This is the only other place I might be convinced to maybe pick another nit. I personally would like to see a field to match the Traveller ED, but if Opticron did that, the Traveller would pretty much cease to have a reason to exist . In actual field use, the view is not at all restrictive.
Picking detail at the 8x level is not an issue here. This small Verano resolves detail at any distance right in with the 8x42 Aurora, or other good 8x42’s. The 42 gains a few minutes of light, but even a good x42 is not of much use when light gets that low. If going low light most would need to go to a 50 mm glass.
I’d call CA correction very good, the anti-reflection coatings do their job and veiling glare is pretty much a non issue.
This is not a flat field design, but as with many recent conventional curved field designs, the edge is pretty well done. There is not enough distortion to be noticed in my peripheral vision. I’ve had some migrating Warblers bouncing around the yard and there is no problem with either the edges or the width of field to bother me. Others may well differ. If one specifically cranks the eye far enough to actually examine the edge there is a slight amount of distortion to be found. I may be the odd one out, but I am not a particular fan of flat fields, so keep that in mind. I suppose it could be said that if you don’t go looking to convince yourself this is neither flat enough or wide enough you can convince yourself. Just go use it and enjoy it and there should be no issue.
I can get full fov this the eye cups retracted when using reading glasses, so my feeling is this glass should be OK for eye glass wearers.
The image of this is good enough it took me by surprise, particularly how well it stands up to the Aurora. I’ve seen a couple of posts wanting an Aurora 32 mm. I’ve also seen Pete Gamby saying that is not in the works. If you are one of those folks, try this one. If you are looking for a really nice 32 mm binocular, I recommend you give this one a look. The Verano 42 review up coming, but this 32 is the class act of the series. This is a very good, smaller binocular and will have its fans.
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