Telescope Reviews: Ordered Swift ultra lite 8x42 porro

Shailesh,

Please post your impressions when you get a chance to use it. I'm wondering if the 18mm is all useable for eyeglasses. The older model was listed as 21mm ER, but only about 17mm was useable, enough for most eyeglass wearers, though I barely squeeked by with my deep-set eyes.

As you can tell from Edz's review, the older version was very sharp, bright (a slight yellow bias to my eyes), lightweight (new ones are heavier), had very nice rubber armoring, and the IPD adjusted small enough for even kids to use.

I traded my Ultralites for a Swift 820 Audubon and was disappointed. The views were sharper and the FOV wider, but the eyecups were too large, too hard, and the ER was only 12mm (listed as 17mm).

I'd like to see a new vs. old 8x42 Ultralite porro comparison.

The newer ones are bulkier, heavier, and my guess is that they have less ER due to the twist-ups, which usually subtract 2-3mm ER and then there's the lens recession, which could take another 2-3mm. Occasionally, binoculars advertised with long ER end up actually have short ER due to lens recession and eyecups. This was the case with the Orion 8x42 Vista, which Edz measured as 11mm ER. I couldn't see the entire FOV with the Vistas even w/out eyeglasses.

The other feature I'm interested in hearing about is the neckstrap connectors. The older version had low profile, smooth connectors in back of the binoculars, the new ones have protruding metal hooks on the side of the binoculars. I'm wondering if they will dig into my palms. If you have medium-sized or small hands, it probably won't be an issue.

Also, the new version has two kinds of rubber armoring. Wonder what that feels like and what it smells like (I'm sure Kenny is interested in the the smell too :-).

But, most importantly, I'd like to hear about the image quality. If it's as sharp and bright as the older version, the added WP/FP might be worth the trade-off in weight and bulk.

Also, what color scheme did your order? Interesting binocular in that you can buy it in various colors.

Keep us posted. Thanks!

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The Grinch
Troublemaker Extraordinaire

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