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Bushnell Trophy 9 x 63 Binoculars |
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Preamble
- We received these as part of a batch of samples
when we first started stocking Bushnell binoculars and as such we have
to declare an interest. These were brand new out of the box and came
from our suppliers through the normal channels. It is therefore
reasonable to assume, but not guaranteed that these are representative
of normal production batches. The particular pair reviewed here are used as the AstroShop display model for the Trophy range, and can be viewed by prior arrangement. |
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At a retail price of around £250 these binoculars are not cheap, but they by no means fall into the premium binocular category either. They come in a green canvas like soft case which is lightly padded and include a cleaning cloth. Review - The initial impression you get on removing them from the box is that these things are built like a tank. You get the distinct impression that were you to reverse the car over them in the dark that they would survive - please don't try this at home as it's not covered by the warranty! There is of course a price to pay for this ruggedness in that the binoculars weigh in at just over 1kg. The binoculars have a rubberised finish which some people may not like, but it does aid your grip especially with cold hands and personally I prefer it. I also like the twist up eyecups and the focus knob which I found very comfortable to use.
According to the manufacturers the binoculars are 'o' ring sealed and
nitrogen purged, not
I think if you are used to the more common 50mm binoculars or smaller then a first glimpse though these will blow you away - for either daytime or night time use the extra 13mm of aperture sets them in a different league. Once over that initial wow factor that the larger aperture provides how do they measure up to more critical appraisal? Eye relief is quoted as a respectable 17.3mm and I think that is possibly on the conservative side. In fact for me I found that the eyecups could have done with just a little more adjustment. I found that on occasions I was holding my eyes back a little from the cups. I
don't wear glasses myself except for very fine work, but tested the
binoculars out with them on anyway. I found that even wearing glasses
the eyecups could still be twisted out a fair way making these
binoculars a good choice for those who do have to wear glasses. As you might expect on axis, as your eyes should be for proper use, at 9x magnification CA is not troublesome and I think some would possibly describe them as CA free - of course this is very subjective and a matter of degree. As terrestrial instruments go these binoculars are a pleasure to use; my interests lay elsewhere but I think bird watchers will love them. Compared to 10 x 50 binoculars the difference in image brightness is quite unmistakable giving an overall impression of far greater clarity. For both astronomy and terrestrial use these binoculars provided very crisp views indeed. There are faint ghost images when used on the moon, but the image quality was extremely good with the larger craters being very well defined indeed. Jupiter, which is quite a tough test for low power binoculars was nice and sharp, although obviously tiny. On Saturn it was easy to see that there was definitely something wrong with the shape although I would stop short of saying it was oval - bearing in mind that these observations were made with the binoculars being hand held. As mentioned earlier these binoculars are quite heavy so for long observations and particularly astronomy most people would probably wish to mount them, to which end they come with the standard thread in the front. You simply unscrew the little logo to get at the thread... Obviously when it comes to astronomy the main targets for binoculars are not the planets, so moving on... I had never observed the beehive through binoculars before so it was a pleasant surprise, albeit a little smaller than I am used to. The area around Taurus made a great target and at times it looked like you could wander among the stars. The Pleiades as always were a real winner and I quickly gave up on a half hearted attempt at counting the stars - again a mount would make all the difference. On one clear night I just wandered aimlessly and lost track of time... all in all I thoroughly enjoyed rediscovering parts of the night sky through different eyes. I'm not a regular user of binoculars for astronomy and simply don't have the same wealth of experience with as wide a range of instruments as I do with telescopes. I guess I could have shut one eye and reviewed them as a telescope! Lacking a large number of benchmarks made this review an interesting experience for me to say the least. That said comparisons with 10 x 50s that I have used in the past were obvious, and even without comparison I was very pleased with the overall performance. Minus points - On the set I tested the front lens caps were a little loose and prone to come off unintentionally. Also I found the dioptre adjustment a little awkward as it is a narrow ring and was quite stiff. That aside I think you would have to go a long way to find a pair of binoculars with this performance and specification at the price. In my opinion top marks to Bushnell for having produced a very nice product. |
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features you normally look for in an astronomical
instrument, but all the same I thought I would put it to the test. The
binoculars were left outside in the cold for several hours and then
brought back into a warm steamy kitchen... As you might expect the
external lens surfaces and even the rubberised case were dripping wet
within minutes, but upon gently clearing this with a few dabs of a soft
tissue it was clear that none of the internal surfaces showed even the
slightest signs of fogging up. We would never recommend trying this as
it is our opinion that dewed up lenses should always be allowed to clear
themselves in free air, but it did prove a point.