Sightron "Blue Sky" II 8x32 (1 Viewer)

[FrankD]

BC,

Stet picked up the most expensive of the 8x42 models....the S III LR if I am not mistaken. I tried it up at Hawke Mountain when we were swapping bins back and forth.

Really good optics. On the optical scale I would equate it to the Zen Ray ED2 8x43 in terms of optical performance characteristics. Good apparent brightness, excellent apparent sharpness, reasonably wide sweet spot (around 80%). I liked the focusing too though John found some objection to the fact that it had more tension in one direction than the other.

The only "downside" in copmparison to the ED2 was a half degree narrower field of view....around 390 some feet.

 

[black crow]

Well I think you found the best bang for buck in the lot. I'm curious about their compact porro. It's a little more expensive than others on the market and I'm wondering if it's got better optics? Questions questions. Never ends.

 

[mooreorless]

Frank it seems the view count for this thread picked up quite a bit after Dennis posted his "review".

 

[Stet]

BC,

Stet picked up the most expensive of the 8x42 models....the S III LR if I am not mistaken. I tried it up at Hawke Mountain when we were swapping bins back and forth.

Really good optics. On the optical scale I would equate it to the Zen Ray ED2 8x43 in terms of optical performance characteristics. Good apparent brightness, excellent apparent sharpness, reasonably wide sweet spot (around 80%). I liked the focusing too though John found some objection to the fact that it had more tension in one direction than the other.

The only "downside" in copmparison to the ED2 was a half degree narrower field of view....around 390 some feet.

In the process of writing up a review for these. Should post it sometime this week.

John

 

[[email protected]]

In the process of writing up a review for these. Should post it sometime this week.

John

If you prefer a case with a strap and a belt loop like I do Eagle Optics Ranger case in a 42mm works perfect for the 8x32mm Sightron II with enough room at the top to put the small strap inside. I happened to have one in the house and it fit nice without being too bulky or large much like the case that comes with the Sightron except with the strap and belt loop on it. Here it is.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binocula...ptics/eagle-optics-ranger-42mm-binocular-case

 

[black crow]

Yesterday when everyone was discussing where to buy the 8x32 Sightrons, I went onto Amazon and reported a lower price of $180.42 at a website that was out of stock. When you are looking at an Amazon webpage their is a button toward the bottom to report lower prices.

I see today that Amazon has a price of $180.42 shipped for the Sightrons from OpticsPlanet

I think that price is incorrect. I went to optics planet and clicked on them for $180 and another price of $200 came up. So I went to Amazon and the price was back at $200

 

[black crow]

I had another hour and a half with them today. Right after a snow and partial clearing the viewing conditions were perfect with no rising heat to deal with. I have a need to gush a little here. The views were hard to believe. I took them up to my field where I test the new bins and I've never been able to see so clearly. I got a close up of a Stellar Jay that definitely had more WOW factor than I've ever seen before. They are bright, and very sharp to the edges, much like the Fury but with better clarity in the center. I can't imagine needing more. All I can say is thanks Frank.:t:

But nothing of course is perfect. While they are the first 32mm bin I did not feel around my neck even after an hour and a half they were hard to hold steady when breathing hard up those hills. I really could tell the difference with the 6x. I had to stop and collect myself before looking while with the 6x I can get some kind of decent view when breathing hard. The difference in power is not the fault of the optic and when relaxed that 2x and decent FOV is really nice but I wonder if the light weight makes them even harder to steady? Depth of field on these is excellent and much better than I first thought.

The only other hang up came when the bins got cold. The Focuser really does stiffen up considerably. It's still useable at around freezing but not fun with gloves, even thin gloves.

 

[eitanaltman]

yes, extra weight does help hold it steady, that little bit of "heft" kind of helps....

really want to hear more about the Sightron vs. the Fury, trying to decide if it's worth it to return my Fury's (which I love) for the Sightrons as my secondary backup / car / compact bin. Not just the optics, but please comment about the ergonomics (e.g. focus knob smoothness and eyecups, both of which I think are pretty darn perfect on the Fury).

shoot, I'll probably just have to try a Sightron while I still have the Fury and see for myself.... anyone selling theirs?

 

[Steve C]

yes, extra weight does help hold it steady, that little bit of "heft" kind of helps....

really want to hear more about the Sightron vs. the Fury, trying to decide if it's worth it to return my Fury's (which I love) for the Sightrons as my secondary backup / car / compact bin. Not just the optics, but please comment about the ergonomics (e.g. focus knob smoothness and eyecups, both of which I think are pretty darn perfect on the Fury).

shoot, I'll probably just have to try a Sightron while I still have the Fury and see for myself.... anyone selling theirs?

If it were me, I'd keep the Fury since they are no longer available and the one you have seems to agree with you. I perused my Fury alongside the Sightron and the Theron while I still had the Sightron. As far as I can see the hard reality is that the 6.5x will really do almost anything the 8x can do unless you really start pushing the distance envelope. The greater depth of the 6.5 is not trivial either, and there is nothing really lacking there with the Sightron either. The Fury is a little bigger and in many ways easier to hold. ANother thing I like about the Fury is that the extra eye relief keeps my face further away from the lens on cold days and the lens of the oculars tends to fog up less. I like the Fury for cold weather glass.

 

[black crow]

Well you read Frank's review which is pretty in depth. These are very light binoculars. Much lighter then I expected. One really nice thing is that I can wear them around my neck and actually forget they are there. That what a pleasant surprise. I find them optically superior to the Fury's and slightly brighter. Both are pretty sharp to the edges and both seem to have a large sweet spot but I don't have the skills to compare them. I think things look more natural/neutral in the sightrons and sharper in the center. For me it's noticeable. They handle very nicely imo and are well balanced and I have no trouble looking through them. If I could only have one, hands down I'll take the Sightron which imo is high praise because the Fury's are really good. I rank my three favorites.

1) Sightron Sll Blue Sky
2) Eagle Optics Ranger
3) Vortex Fury

There's not much distance between them to these amateur eyes. I love them all. I never thought when I came here a month ago I'd be using this caliber of optics on my budget. At what I want to spend for a single set there doesn't seem to be any need to go further.

 

[Steve C]

Actually I had Frank's Sightron beside my Fury and Theron. Frank and I swap stuff back and forth time to time. But I have no qualm about your ranking for your use. Yea, that Sightron is nice, and I may yet decide to go ahead and get one anyway. I didn't offer a ranking, but if asked, I would also put the Sightron a bit over the Fury.

 

[lilcrazy2]

The Sightrons are back on Amazon at $180.42 as I reported from OP
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846

 

[lilcrazy2]

Actually I had Frank's Sightron beside my Fury and Theron. Frank and I swap stuff back and forth time to time. But I have no qualm about your ranking for your use. Yea, that Sightron is nice, and I may yet decide to go ahead and get one anyway. I didn't offer a ranking, but if asked, I would also put the Sightron a bit over the Fury.

Steve
Obviously due to the magnification difference between the 8x Sightron vs 6.5x Fury, I would expect the Sightron to appear sharper than the Fury. What other catagories would you rate the Sightron ahead?

Tom

 

[Steve C]

Steve
Obviously due to the magnification difference between the 8x Sightron vs 6.5x Fury, I would expect the Sightron to appear sharper than the Fury. What other catagories would you rate the Sightron ahead?

Tom

I think the Sightron has better contrast. I personally prefer the color balance in the Sightron. The Fury seems to me to be a little cooler and slightly ....I guess Id call it a bit more washed out ( for lack of a better term) than the Sightron. Also when needing a compact binocular the Sightron is a fair bit smaller.

 

[lilcrazy2]

I think the Sightron has better contrast. I personally prefer the color balance in the Sightron. The Fury seems to me to be a little cooler and slightly ....I guess Id call it a bit more washed out ( for lack of a better term) than the Sightron. Also when needing a compact binocular the Sightron is a fair bit smaller.

Didn't mean to put you on the spot or get off track, but it seemed like for some it was degenerating into a Sightron/Fury shootout, so other than the obvious difference in sharpness due to magnification, just thought I'd ask.

I certainly didn't buy the 6.5x32 Fury or Meopro to replace any of the (9) 8x binos in my arsenal, but instead bought the 6.5x as an additional tool for it's much greater depth of field, great FOV, and lesser magnification. There are many activities and wildlife activities I engage in where the 6.5x is more suited to the job than my 8x's.

PS: For any with an interest, I left the Fury out all night and it was 20 degrees when I tested them this morning, and the focus knob turned fine with one finger - much stiffer than normal. but not twice as hard to turn.

 

[black crow]

The Sightrons are back on Amazon at $180.42 as I reported from OP
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938811&pf_rd_i=507846

With free shipping that's an incredible deal. :t:

 

[mulligatawny owl]

Hmmm must resist...I've just sold my Zen ED II's so could do with a lightweight waterproof bin for when my Nikon SE's are safely tucked away. But do the Sightrons really really REALLY compare well optically to the SE's?
People said the same about the Zens and the Hawke ED's and the like, but to my eyes anyway, they just don't compare at all, so I don't want to be caught out again.... but am oh so tempted.
Are the Sightrons that much better than the EDII 7x36 and the Hawke frontier ED 8x43 for example?

 

[Stet]

Hmmm must resist...I've just sold my Zen ED II's so could do with a lightweight waterproof bin for when my Nikon SE's are safely tucked away. But do the Sightrons really really REALLY compare well optically to the SE's?
People said the same about the Zens and the Hawke ED's and the like, but to my eyes anyway, they just don't compare at all, so I don't want to be caught out again.... but am oh so tempted.
Are the Sightrons that much better than the EDII 7x36 and the Hawke frontier ED 8x43 for example?

From my experience with the Sightrons, the EDII 7x36 and EDII 8x43, I did not find any one of them excelling over the other in terms of sharpness, brightness, resolving fine details etc. In those respects there were small differences but pretty much equal playing field. Which does say a lot about the Sightrons since they are $200 less. I did however find things I prefered about the Sightrons view over the others. I did prefer the the Sightrons better edges and also the color bias of the Sightrons.

Comparing the Sightrons to my SE's I find the view similiar in terms of flatness and good edges. Yet the Sightrons do not resolve fine detail like the SE's and I personally don't expect them to. I also have the top of the line Sightrons and they do not resolve fine detail like the SE's. Aside from some of FrankD's vintage porros, the only bin I have tried so far that has matched my SE's in this respect is my Nikon Premier 8x42's.

Funny though, with all these new posts about the Sightron, I'm begining to wonder myself if my Sightron is maybe a bad sample. Especially after reading the comparisons with the Fury's and remembering back to Frank's post on the Sightrons vs the Premier 8x32's. My experience of sharpness is not matching up with these recent post.

I'm off to do some more comparison test between the Sightrons and the Fury's and will post my findings later.

John

 

[bh46118]

Hi John

Maybe Frank would lend you his Sightron's to use as a reference.

Bruce

From my experience with the Sightrons, the EDII 7x36 and EDII 8x43, I did not find any one of them excelling over the other in terms of sharpness, brightness, resolving fine details etc. In those respects there were small differences but pretty much equal playing field. Which does say a lot about the Sightrons since they are $200 less. I did however find things I prefered about the Sightrons view over the others. I did prefer the the Sightrons better edges and also the color bias of the Sightrons.

Comparing the Sightrons to my SE's I find the view similiar in terms of flatness and good edges. Yet the Sightrons do not resolve fine detail like the SE's and I personally don't expect them to. I also have the top of the line Sightrons and they do not resolve fine detail like the SE's. Aside from some of FrankD's vintage porros, the only bin I have tried so far that has matched my SE's in this respect is my Nikon Premier 8x42's.

Funny though, with all these new posts about the Sightron, I'm begining to wonder myself if my Sightron is maybe a bad sample. Especially after reading the comparisons with the Fury's and remembering back to Frank's post on the Sightrons vs the Premier 8x32's. My experience of sharpness is not matching up with these recent post.

I'm off to do some more comparison test between the Sightrons and the Fury's and will post my findings later.

John

 

[FrankD]

I am sure John and I will be meeting up again some time soon.