I'm enjoying them. Bright, clear image!
I’ve been enjoying these binoculars this winter and spring for my bird watching walks. They have a good weight and feel without being too heavy. They feel very solid. They are not massive nor are they tiny. I live on an isthmus between two lakes so bird watching is a great and easy way to get out in nature and enjoy the beautiful landscape and life around me. It’s calming to the nervous system.

I had been in the market for 8 x 42 binoculars which are the most recommended magnification for birdwatching, because a lower magnification makes it a little easier to get the birds you are seeking in your sights. However since I so often look at things far-off across the lake these are kind of a nice idea since they give a little bit more magnification for distant objects. If all your birding is trees relatively near by the 8 x 42 is easier and sufficient.

When I got these it was really still wintery and I had to wait till spring had sprung for more birds to come back to our area. Yesterday was perfect for that. I took my time getting accustomed to these binoculars, adjusting the eye pieces and practicing “acquiring” the bird in my sights and adjusting the focus with the central knob. Early spring’s chickadees and robins were out, and on a distant thermal I saw a soaring bird that I could not identify with confidence with eyes only. Through the 10x magnification of the Bostron binoculars I could see for certain that it had a bright white head and broad white tail. We have a lot of Bald Eagles here but it’s always a real delight.

There were ducks on the water, mallards but mingled with them a flock of some ducks I wasn’t completely certain of the identity of. I studied them through the binoculars and memorized their field marks so I could look them up in my bird book at home. They looked as crisp and bright as a nature film, and I could see beautiful subtleties of how their neck feathers shifted colors in the light. At home I could see that they were, as I suspected, blue-winged teals. There were tree swallows difficult to capture because they don’t hold still for long, a downy woodpecker, and Canada geese across the path way which looked as big as tyrannosaurs if not brachiosaurs through the high magnification. No, I didn’t really need binoculars to see them. I watched a crow at the water’s edge fishing in the water for, probably, bugs. Even a lady red-winged black bird and a male grackle looked very beautiful under magnification and crisp focus.

I kept going further, seeking more birds, so the binoculars encouraged me to get more exercise, four or five miles. I’m a bit out of shape after having been fairly lazy over the winter, so I needed it.