Telescope Reviews: Very First Impressions: Garrett Grizzly 10x50s

I've been in the market for an upscale (at least for me

) handheld. I've looked at and through many Nikons, Fujinons and Steiners but decided to try the new Garrett Grizzly, a tailored import of the United-Optics Series 8. I received these yesterday and, as luck would have it, we've had two days of non-stop rain. So here's just some very first impressions based on appearances and some daylight observing.

First, these are big, solid and weighty binocs. They provide a good heft and they feel steady. If you're like me and are more comfortable holding a Porro design than a roof prism, these won't dissappoint. The green coloring doesn't do anything for me - binoculars, especially for astronomy, just ought to be black

. The eyepiece cover is one of the new style with that flexible hinge that works well, while the objective covers are rubber inserts that are "hinged" (with a rubber strip) so that they're held in place on the binocs - dangling from the ends when not in use. This is convenient - you'll never go searching for them in the dark - but I have mixed feelings about the appearance of it.

Looking at the objectives and eyepieces, I have never seen glass this beautiful. Holding the binocs pointed up and looking through the objectives, you get a sense of two mesmerizingly clear deep pools of liquid with the blackest of blacks on the edges and the sharpest of images (usually of my shoes) at the bottom of the pools. The imagery is so strong I found myself being careful not to tilt and "spill" them. There is no noticeable reflection directly back. When tilted to catch background lighting from an angle there were translucent reflections of light fixtures in pale purple and green.

The eyepieces are large and the eyeglass is among the largest I've seen. The left exit pupil is perfectly round and sharp edged, but the right exit pupil has a very slight edge visible in the upper left. After noticing this, when I viewed through the objectives again, I could see something just slightly impinging on the light path.

The individual focusers are very solid - no sense of the eyepieces wobbling or loose. They're stiff but smooth once turning and easy to adjust in use. These are not meant for terrestrial viewing where the focus is constantly changing - the individual focus wants to be set and left rather than constantly adjusted for each eye.

That being said, there's no sense looking at clouds at night (would rather be writing?) so my viewing has been limited to the woods behind my house and some careful looking around the neighborhood - I already have a reputation as "the binocular guy", I'd rather not extend it to "the weird guy with the binoculars".

But looking through these in daytime has been a treat - especially comparing them to my Meade 10x50 Travelviews. I'd always thought those provided pretty good daytime views. But by comparison, the Grizzlys were much brighter and with a uniform level of brightness that extended across the field. The collimation seemed fine - especially in comparison to the Meades which seem to need adjusting in conditional alignment everytime I pick them up. The colors in the Grizzlys were richer without being exaggerated. The drastically improved sharpness - right down to the veins in the leaves - was obvious and also uniform across the field. While focusing you don't have that sense of "snap to focus" that you get in a some refractors - instead you're rewarded with steadily more detail and depth until suddenly you know "you're there". The views are incredibly three dimensional. I can't wait for some clear dark sky.

All that being said, I do have a problem with these that may prevent me from keeping them. The IPD is adjustable and seems to have plenty of range. But my eyes are set fairly close together - I've never measured my IPD, but I tend to be at the narrow end of most binocs so I'm probably down in the fifties somewhere. And I have a broad nose at the ridge between my eyes. Combined with the very large eyepieces on the Grizzlys, the geometry just doesn't seem to work - there's not enough room to squeeze the bridge of my nose between these large eyepieces unless they're set so far apart that they form two separate images

. Alternately, I can set the eyepieces at the correct IPD but then have to stay back so far that I can't see the full field of view

. I'll have to see how they actually feel at night before I decide.

So first impressions are very positive - the glass is impressive, the mechanical quality is evident, they seem more rugged than any others I've held - with only a few negatives - they are heavy and they may not fit my face. I like them alot - but not enough to get a nose job in order to use them.

- Art

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2006 "Bagging on a Budget" Award for Excellence in Binocular Astronomy
Garrett 25x100 IF, Oberwerk 15x70, Celestron Noble 10x50, Meade 10x50 and 8x42 Travelviews
William Optics Zenithstar II 80mm APO
Teleport 10" - an incredible all-in-one Planetary/DSO/"Grab and Go"