Optics4Birding.com: Optolyth Reviews

The following comments are the opinions of the writers. We're publishing them here with the permission of their authors, with minor edits for clarity or brevity. If you would like to submit a comment, send me an email.

I bought my Optolyth 10x50 Alpin four months ago and am very satisfied. It is very light (660g) and rubber-armored. I wear glasses, and can see almost the full field of view. No other binocular I tested in this price range was able to give a comparable field of view. I had some trouble in the beginning to hold the binocular steady, which has stopped by now. A definite minus is the location of the focus wheel. If you grip the binocular at the point where you can turn the focus wheel it is very nose-heavy. The only solution I found for this is an asymmetric grip (right hand at focus wheel, left around the objective tube), which works well. The big plus of this model is the great contrast and full sharpness in the whole field-of-view. It does not look *that* bright at first (during day light), but in the dawn it outlasts most other binoculars I have seen till now. I have not tested the robustness of my binocular up to now. However, while the body looks very solid, the attachment of the oculars looks a bit weak. There are no lens caps for the binocular. You can get others that work. Don't bother to try the original "leather etui", it is worthless (very thin leather, no additional protection besides dust-covering). The binocular fits perfectly into a Curver (tm) plastic container (the big, high, flat, rounded one, used for rice, wheat etc.), which makes a very good case.

Christian Lemburg, 27 Sep 1996