Hi, I am considering buying a pair of lightweight compacts to take away on holidays and on a business trip that might allow a weekend hiking.
Normally, if there were a fair chance of a little birding (generally woodland birding), I would take my full sized roofs, but am thinking of something lighter and less bulky.
Recalling my time with cheap 8x25 roofs, I had a problem with the small eyepiece surrounds on all of them. Now I can see an advantage in the reverse poros, plus some of them have large twist-up eye relief.
There are some models that go to 8x30.
Is there a nice pair on the market? Otherwise would the extra 5mm from 25 to 30 give a clear advantage.
I can (and probably will) pop down to the binocular shop, but they tend to run only one or two makes in this range, so some pointers based on your experience would be useful.
Dave.
Dave,
The Olympus PCI 8x25 is the best of the cheap reverse porros I've tried. It might look like a toy, but if you search the forum for 'Olympus Tracker' you'll find plenty of favourable comments. Note that it's not waterproof.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Olympus-8x2...20&sr=8-1-fkmr0
The Opticron Taiga also gets some good comments. If waterproof is essential than the Nikon Travelite EX is worth considering.
http://www.uttingsoutdoors.co.uk/Pr...-8x25-baa704aa/
Probably the best of the reverse porros is the Bushnell Elite 7x26, but likely more expensive than you had in mind.
http://www.microglobe.co.uk/bushnel...lar-p-6528.html
The Opticron Discovery 8x32 is compact and light for a roof. I'm not going to claim it's the greatest pair out there but really not bad for the money. It is phase coated, got a wider view than the reverse porros mentioned and bigger eye-cups if I remember correctly.
http://www.microglobe.co.uk/opticro...lar-p-5875.html
A 32mm objective will gather about 65% more light than a 25mm but that will be offset a little as the reverse porros will tend to transmit light a bit more efficiently than the roofs in this price range.
David
Thanks for those possibilities, David.
It's interesting that you mention that the Opticron Discovery 8x32 has larger eyecups than the others mentioned. My wife uses a pair of these (presently needing some attention, I will see if Opticron is able to do anything with them) and the eyecup feels too small for me. A smaller eyecup is something that I could get used to though.
Recently I bought a used "new" pair of Vortex Raptors. When I tried them I was quite impressed by their optical qualities. These are not as light as the compacts and a good bit bulkier. I had to return them as they were damaged, but I might just spring for a new pair.
Dave