Nikon Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 Black binocular Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 Black, 8x, 2.5 cm, Black, 305 g

Product Information

But other than these minor points, I would say that as you would expect of any Nikon product, they look pretty well made and considering that they have a plastic shell, they still feel fairly solid and robust and in terms of build quality are as good as any compact porro prisms found in this price range. They’re lovely to use with a bright image that’s well magnified. They’re great outdoorsy all-rounders. A close focus range of just 1.9m means you can magnify even quite near objects. Thankfully these aren’t just for night manoeuvres, offering a nicely detailed and bright image during the day, although you’ll need a tripod for the best results. As you would expect on a low cost compact, these don't come with a vast array of expensive coatings and things like super high quality extra-low dispersion glass, but because they are a porro prism binocular their prisms have total internal reflection and as such they do not need some of the coatings that roof prism's do to achieve the same quality of image. This is one of the main reasons why you often get a better performance from a low cost porro prism binocular than that of a roof prism one in the same price range.

As with other small binoculars, they come with a strap and a case (but the case doesn’t have its own strap). The case is simple but functional. The eyepiece cap is attached to the strap so you can’t lose it. While the objective lens caps flip down so you can’t lose them either. At 24x Magnification:When you increased to their maximum level of 24x the Exit Pupil reduces to just over 1 (25/24) which means that not a lot of light that enters the binocular will reach your eyes. At 16x Magnification:When you increase their magnification to 16x their Exit Pupil reduces to 1.56 (25/16) which means that even less light will be getting to your eyes. The focusing mechanism is geared so that it takes a full 2 and 1/4 turns to go from infinity to it's minimum focusing distance of 13.1ft (4m).What this means is that focusing from near to far (or vise versa) takes a little longer than ones that take less turns, but it does have the slight advantage of making fine tuning your focus just that bit easier and more accurate. I think Nikon have got this about right with these as it really helps you to get the correct focus when you have the magnification at the higher settings like it's maximum of 24x.These EagleView Zooms come with a fairly disappointing 13mm of eye-relief, which may be something to keep in mind if you want to use your optics whilst wearing glasses. Ideally and to be sure that you have enough distance to play with to enable you to see the full field of view without any vignetting when using your glasses most experts recommend that you should look for binoculars that have an eye relief of about 16mm or more. In most cases an eye relief of 14 to 15mm is adequate for most people who wear eyeglasses to be comfortable, so 13mm is a little on the short side. Most non-eyeglass wearers will just use the eyecups in the fully extended position. Nikon Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 binoculars come in a portable and compact body, and employ a zoom lever on the top of the body which gives a smooth 8-24x zooming experience. The focusing ring can be operated while looking through the binoculars during observation. Some cheap optics use coatings on the lenses to artificially tint the view, for example you find many cheap binoculars with ruby coated lenses which are used to filter red to compensate for their poor-quality optics that do not properly converge the color spectrum. Thankfully this is not the case with these and I thought that the colors that are produced by the EagleView look and feel natural, but with possibly a tiny bit less saturation than on my control binoculars. Even with two hands, the 20x magnification makes for a wobbly image. There’s an integral tripod mount (on a rail, so you can adjust balance) which is much better. If you’re using them handheld at home, it’s worth leaning them against the doorframe for a steadier picture. TOKYO - Nikon Vision Co., Ltd., (Nikon Vision), a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation (Nikon), is pleased to announce the release of a new binocular model, the Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25. The Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 binoculars feature a portable and compact body, and employ a zoom lever on the top of the body which enables smooth 8-24x zooming. The focusing ring can be operated while looking through the binoculars during observation.

The diopter adjustment like most binoculars is a ring located on the right barrel just under the eyecup and is used to correctly set up and focus the binoculars to your particular eyesight and only really needs to be done once when use them for the first time, unless the setting is moved accidentally or you share your binoculars with someone who's setting is not the same as yours. Optics-wise they use premium glass (Schott HT) for the roof prisms with phase-correcting coating P40 and HighLux-System HLS. This makes for a pin-sharp image without the loss of contrast that cheaper roof prisms can suffer from. Lenses have reliable HDC Plus-multicoating and AquaDura lens coating for maximum protection, while anti-reflective coatings make for great low-light capabilities. An important thing to consider when looking at the size of a compact binocular is how small they are when they are folded. When you are are looking through them, just how small they are is not that important, but size is far more important when you carrying them around with you. Different designs of compacts fold up in different ways and this can make a big difference is their size.Weak points? Their very narrow field of view, even at 8x magnification is really noticeable and their rather distant minimum focusing distance are definite weak points. The amount of eye-relief will also be disappointing to those of you who want to use them with glasses on. The fact that they are neither water or fogproof is also a shame, especially for those that like to use their optics in all weather conditions. With their eye-cups fully retracted, they have a length of 11.9cm (4.7in), this increases to 12.4cm (4.9n) when you fully twist out the eyecups. Fully folded, the width of the binocular is 9.2cm (3.6in), fully opened it is 11cm (4.3in). Their height is 6.3cm (2.5in), which once again all on the larger end of the scale for a full compact binocular but nothing excessively so. Despite the glossy plastic exterior to the Nikon Sportstar Zoom 8-24x25 binocular, there’s enough weight and heft that we found it easy enough to hold them steady when observing. Inevitiably though, the further we went up the magnification range amplified any exterior hand wobble, with resultant image judder. The twist-up eyecups look to be made from a very hard plastic that have a very thin rubber coating on them. The ocular lens has a diameter of 11mm and the eyecup has an external diameter of 37mm, which are both considerably smaller than what you find on most full sized binoculars, but is about average for a compact. This smaller size and very thin rubber covering mean that they are not the most comfortable eyecups that I have ever used, but any discomfort is only really noticeable when you push them quite firmly against your face. Ideal Uses: Like most compact binoculars, these are pretty good if you are looking for a take anywhere pair of binoculars, perfect for camping... although not if you are going to get them wet! I would take them hiking with me, if spotting birds and wildlife was not my main focus as they are let down by their poor field of view. I also see them sitting in the cubbyhole of my car, or in my golf or kit bag to be used at any time. I think where they may be ideal is at a sporting event, where you can use the zoom to take in some details on the field, although once again a wider field of view would have really been appreciated here.

With these Nikon binoculars, the minimum distance that you can focus on an object is a 4 meters (13.1ft) away, which once again is not great and quite a bit further than the best. I consider anything under 6ft to be very good. So if you are looking for a compact binocular specifically for things like observing butterflies then I do not recommend getting these. Rather take a look at these close focusing binoculars. You must remember that as well as the Exit Pupil, the performance of a pair of optics in poor light also depends a lot on the quality of the glass and optical coatings and not just the exit pupil and twilight factor formula. Good coatings on the lenses and the prisms can double the amount of light that gets through the binocular, when compared to those that have none or poor quality coatings.

To see this in action, you can hold these binoculars up at arm's length and look at the eyepiece lenses, where you can clearly see the circle of light in the eyepieces, this represents the exit pupil. As you increase the magnification you can actually see this circle of light in each eyepiece getting smaller and smaller - see my series of photos below that I took to demonstrate this: At 12x Magnification:When you increase the magnification on these Eagleviews to 12x their Exit Pupil reduces to 2.08 (25/12) which means that less gets to your eyes. There is no mention in any of their marketing of them being either water or fog proof and so I must assume that they are neither. In this price range, not many binoculars are fully waterproof or fogproof and so this is fairly understandable, but it would be nice to know that they were at least a little "weather proof" - anyway I am sure that they would survive a little light rain, but to be completely safe just make sure that you don't get them really wet in very bad weather. Comparing a low cost binocular like these with other binoculars that are far more expensive may seem a little unfair at first, but as long as you keep in mind the price difference, it does throw up a few interesting points and can highlight a few of their relative strengths and weaknesses and show where some of your money goes if you choose a more expensive pair of binoculars.

Strong Points: I think that on the whole their main feature, the 8-24x zoom works pretty well, which I have to be honest I was rather surprised about. Being able to zoom into something to view it in more detail is nice and the actual zoom adjustment dial is well positioned and it is really simple to adjust without having to remove the binoculars from your face, or even change your grip. In your hands the Nikon EagleViews feel good and I would say that they not only look good but also give off the impression that they are more expensive than they actually are. The image quality and brightness at 8x magnification is also pretty good for a pair of compacts.All lenses and prisms are multilayer-coated for brighter images and the body is a lightweight 305 g/10.8 oz. This model is the ideal companion when spectating sports events, nature-watching or pursuing other outdoor activities.