Hawke Endurance ED 12×50 binoculars. Blog post 2nd Aug 2020

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Reviewer

A customer came to the Northern optics Optics weekend looking for a set of good quality binoculars for birdwatching. Knowing the reserve they visit, I was aware that they needed a little extra magnification without reducing image quality.

After try 8x and 10x options, they tried the Hawke Endurance ED 12×50 binoculars. There was an instant WOW reponse from the buyer, who had no hesitation in purchasing. The clear view with reduced chromatic aberration ticked two very large boxes.

With a field of view at 105m @ 1000m , plus a 60 degree apparent field, these give a very comfortable and wide view for such a high magnification set. The new 2020 design not only looks the part, but are very easy to hand hold despite weighing just over 800g.

Focusing is very easy , with a better than expected 2.5m close focus. This means they are not just for ling distance observations.

FMC optics with ED glass and silver coated BaK-4 prisms, together with larger 50mm objective lenses give excellent brightness with minimal chromatic aberrationn. Click HERE to buy

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Hawke Endurance ED 12×50 binoculars. 2020 update

Posted on June 26, 2020 by Reviewer
Hawke Endurance ED 12×50 binoculars

The Hawke Endurance ED 12×50 binoculars have made a come back in 2020, featuring a brand new body design and look. Available in black or green , with a textured rubber finish for easy handling. Despite weighing 805g, I found them very easy to hand hold. On paper 5.2 degree FOV may seem narrow. But with a generous apparent field, the view seems wider than expected when you look through the eyepieces.

ED stands for low dispersion glass. This helps reduce the effects of colour fringing , but not fully eliminating chromatic aberration, with just a little showing around high contrast subjects. With an exit pupil of just over 4mm and 50mm objective lenses, the image is very bright with punchy contrast. A little fall off towards the edges, but well within tolerances.

Overall build quality is excellent. This extends to the solid but comfortable twist eye cups. With eye relief of 15mm, they may not suit all spectacle wearers, so best try a set if in doubt. The focus wheel is a little stiffer than some, but not an issue. Close focus is very good for a set with 12x power.

Accessories include a semi soft case, padded strap and lens covers. Warranty is the now standard but excellent life time offering.

12×50 is a great choice for looking at distant wildlife, ships at sea and plane spotting, where a wide field of view is not at the top of the list. But make no mistake, they are just as capable looking at wild life in the back garden or when out on bird watching walks.

Click HERE to buy

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Hilkinson 8×25 monocular review

Posted on February 13, 2020 by Reviewer
The Ultra compact Hilkinson WP 8×25 monocular

Entry level 8×25 monocular from Hilkinson. Being only 131g and 110mm long , they are perfect for wildlife watching on the go. So lets take a closer look.

The monocular comes in a plain box show the brand name and bar code. Inside we find a very basic nylon soft case with belt loop and a useful leaftet showing how to care for the product and a simple to understand glossary.

Taking the monocular out the case, the wrist strap is already attached. The monocular itself feels very solid and has a rubber covering with finger grips. Looking at the controls, the focus moves very smooth with no tight spots. Unlike some with an internal focus, this one extends outwards from the body as you focus closer. One minor potential issue with this, is that dust may gather on the extended section and risk penetration. But keep dust at bay with a dust blower after use, and this should not be a problem.

The eye cup is twist type. It only quotes as 13mm eye relief, but I found I could easily get full field of view with spectacles on. One thing to note, that with the focus and eye cup twisted out, the monocular will be too long to fit back in the case. So simply return the focus to the start position and it will fit.

At 105 m @ 1000m (6 degrees), it may not be as wide angle as some 8×25 monoculars (The Helios nitrosport for example) . But what you do get is better eye relief and a much flatter field. Edge of field sharpness is outstanding for optics in this price range, with very low levels of barrel distortion. So what you lose in FOV, you gain with the extra eye relief and image sharpness.

Colours and contrast are very good for optics in this price range, with chromatic aberration well within tollerences. Lastly a great feature of the Hilkinson 8×25 monocular is the close focus. On the body it shows as 1.6 metres. Elsewhere I see quotes of under 2m and 1.2m. On testing I actually found I could focus down to 1.1m. This is perfect if you like looking at Butterflies and Bees etc without disturbing them.

Now discontinued

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Viking traveller 8×21 binoculars review

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Reviewer
Viking Traveller 8×21 binoculars

The Viking traveller compact binoculars are aimed at the beginner. So lets have a look to see how the build quality and optics perform for such a low price (around £25 – £30 at the time of this review)

First thing you will notice is the plain outer box, showing minimal info such as the logo, name of binoculars , bar code and address of the importer. No tech spec or image is shown.

Opening the box, you are greated with a basic nylon strap and soft case. No surprises here considering the price. The case also has a handy belt loop.

When you take the binoculars out, the first thing you notice is how solid they feel. The slightly textured feel is better than many in this price range. They are a compact double hinged body which stays nicely in place once the IPD is set. A nice feature on a sub £30 set is the twist eye cups. They feel well built and operate smoothly. Does not seem to be much in the way of 2-3 clicks, just in or out. On the subject of eye cups, the eye relief is quoted as 17mm, which in theory should be enough for spectacle wearers. Sadly with the eye cup in a down position I could not get the full field of view with glasses on. But saying that, people wear different types of spectacles, so may differ from one user to the next. Lastly with regards handling, the focus wheel is a little small, so may be tricky to use with large gloves on. But small focus wheels are on most compacts. That`s just the nature of the beast. The right eye dioptre adjustment is very easy to use and smooth in operation.

So to finish things off lets have a look at the optics. These are Bk7 prisms and fully coated optics. So do not expect the same cutting edge sharpness of a £100 set. But what you do get is a clear view considering the price. Compared to some budget binoculars I have tested, there is very little fall off in sharpness towards the edge. Also there is very little evidence of chromatic aberration in the centre, with hardly any purple colour fringing when looking at back lit branches.

Summing up. Very good optics for the price with low levels of CA and better than expected build quality. Slight minus point, the short eye relief for (some) spectacle wearers and the small focus wheel. Very good value for money.

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North Lincs Astro meeting 3rd February 2020

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Reviewer
Will Man ever walk on the Planet Mars ?

We had a great turn out, including a new face , to watch John Dunthorne give an excellent talk at the February 2020 North Lincs astro society meeting. His talk entitled The challenge of transporting Man to Mars.

This was a well presented talk, lasting over an hour, with some excellent facts and figures, backed up with some stunning images and videos. Who would have thought there were so many barriers to clear, from the effects of radiation, to handling isolation and the mind blowing $$$s needed to fund such a project.

Skies were clear. But the blustery conditions made using the telescope a difficult task. But we got some delightfull views of the Moon.

Thank you as always to Malcolm and Glenys for the refreshments , and the Lincolnshire wild life trust for the use of the venue.

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Olivon PC-3 8×34 binoculars. Blog post December 2019

Posted on December 31, 2019 by Reviewer
Olivon PC-3 8×34 binoculars

A customer visited the Northern Optics Optics weekend looking for a good quality set of binoculars. And I would imagine they would also need to be lightweight for travels on his bike.

He looked at a couple of 42mm models in 10x and 8x magnification. But when he tried the Olivon PC-3 8×34 binoculars, they were an instant hit. The customer mentioned they gave a brighter and sharper view than the 2 larger sets tested. Just to prove quality can outperform size when it comes to optics.

The buyer liked the lightweight body , long eye relief (for use with cycling glasses) and the handling. Phase coated BaK-4 prisms and FMC optics give excellent contrast and colours, with an acceptable level of chromatic aberration.

I also pointed out the size (width) of the eyepieces, which I would say are wider than the average in this class. This makes them very user friendly. The Olivon PC3 8×34 come with a soft carry case with strap, and a high quality padded neck strap.

They have one of the smoothest focus wheels in binoculars in this price range.

Available to purchase from Northern Optics

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Olivon PC-3 8×26 binoculars. Blog post 15th December 2019

Posted on December 17, 2019 by Reviewer
Olivon PC-3 8×26 binoculars

The Olivon PC-3 8×26 binoculars were the optics of choice when a customer visited the Northern Optics display at their Optics weekend at Barton Upon Humber , Lincolnshire.

Their main requirement was a light weight set that was “grab and go” , so could easily be used if needed in a hurry. After looking at some 32/ 34mm options , they decided the compact size was the best way. The sets tried were in the £79 – £119 range, where one set stood out (in their opinion) from the rest. At only 290g the Olivon PC-3 8×26 binoculars were the lightest. Other factors, apart from the clear optics was the handling, extremely smooth focus wheel, and long eye relief , as the buyer liked to keep glasses on.

The Olivon come with a 10 year warranty , which is 2 years parts and labour, with the remaining 8 years parts only. A soft case , lens caps and a standard nylon neck strap is included. But on this occassion we upgraded to a padded strap, without the customer even asking.

The larger eye pieces compared to many 25mm models makes for easy alignment, with the 124m @ 1000m field of view making tracking of moving targets easy.

Available to purchase from Northern Optics

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North Lincs astro meeting. 2nd December 2019

Posted on December 4, 2019 by Reviewer

We had a good turn out of members and guests for the North Lincolnshire astronomy society meeting on Monday 2nd December 2019.

As it was the last meeting before Christmas, Glenys and Malcolm treated us to some mince pies in addition to the usual teas and snacks. All of which went down well.

Paul Money was the speaker on the night, who gave us as excellent (as always) talk called The Vikings at Barsoom part 2. This was a very entertaining talk about the Viking 1 and 2 missions to Mars. This included some impressive images from the red planet, and lots of facts and figures about the missions. Who would have thought that simple human error ended one of the missions, and how close the two Viking landers were to landing on large rocks, that may of ended the missions before they began to gather information.

More more info on future meetings and news visit the North Lincs astro society

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Hawke Frontier EDx 8×42 binoculars. Blog post November 2019

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Reviewer

It was a very dull and damp day at Northern Optics when a customer visited our Optics weekend at Barton`s Waters` edge visitor centre. So you could say it was perfect conditions for a customer looking for a set of high grade binoculars for observing in low light .

They liked the idea of ED glass and a wide field of view. But was open to options from non ED binoculars and 10x versions. After trying the Hawke Frontier HD X 10×42 , 8×42 and the Hawke Frontier ED X 8×42, it was a very close run thing. But in the customers opinion the EDx 8×42 gave the best results, and made the purchase. Other key factors that impressed the customer was how easy they were to handle, wide field of view, quality case and starp , plus the comprehensive Hawke lifetime warranty. But the other Hawke tested all did the job in the awfull conditions.

As always, our customers get the chance to test binoculars looking across a nature reserve lake, and after an initial introduction to the binoculars are left to see which set suits them with no pressure from us. Imahe top right shows the view from our shop window. Hope to see you there.

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Hawke HD X 8×42 binoculars. Blog post November 2019

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Reviewer

It`s always nice when a customer visits our Optics Weekends as a result of a recommendation. In this case the buyer needed a good quailty set of binoculars with 8x magnification. But were open to options with 10x.

It was a difficult choice, as they were impressed with all the choices. After trying the Hawke Endurance  ED 8×42 , 10×42, EDx 8×42 and HDx 8×42, it was the later set that gave the best spec for the money. The binoculars they went for were the Hawke Frontier HD X 8×42. Despite not being ED glass, they were happy with the very low levels of chromatic aberration. As I often do, I asked the customer to look at some brightly back lit lamp posts to test for CA.

Handling was also a factor, together with the comphrehensive life time warranty. They also asked about waterproofing, which is standard on all Hawke binoculars from the current range, with the EDx and HDx models giving the best weather protection for use in most conditions. Our buyer was also impressed by the wider field of view conpared to the Endurance ED range

Available to purchase from Northern Optics

 

 

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