Telescope Reviews: Re: William Optics 7x50 ED binocular minireview

Arek,

I have an Eagle Optics 10x50 ED Voyager binocular. It looks identical to the new Vixen 10x50 Geoma, same armoring and shape. To the best of my knowledge it is the only 10x50 ED model ever made.

Vixen and Celestron both offered a 9.5X44 ED, and Vixen made a 10x44 Ultima ED, but according to a recent email I received from Vixen-Japan, both ED models have now been discontined. If you've heard differently, please post.

"By Celestron" is printed on the prism housing of the EO ED Voyager; however, I suspect it was actually made by Vixen.

CA is just barely visible at the lateral edges of the moon, but I have to really look for it. Surprisingly, I see the least CA slightly off-axis rather than directly on-axis.

Brightly colored stars are quite vibrant, and night sky contrast is better than other 10x50s I've had (Ultima, Nikon Lookout, Olympus EXP 1, Orion Ultraview, Swift Sea Wolf).

Birds against extreme contrast backgrounds also show little or no CA.

Using a RAF chart, the ED matched the Nikon 10x42 SE in resolution. But what sets this binocular apart from the SE and other non-ED bins is its greater color saturation.

With the Nikon SE, I can see remarkable detail, however, the SE reveals only a few subtle COLOR variations in a male Cardinal's bird feathers (which other than the wings appears solid red at first glance). The 10x50 ED shows a wide range of color variation and some subtle colored details not visible with the SE.

Yesterday, I spotted two cedar waxwing families, who have taken up winter residence in my backyard "wildlife habitat" . I watched them for about a half hour with my 8x32 SE, Swift 8.5X44 Audubon, and 10x50 ED. All three bins are very close in resolution, despite their different powers and objective sizes. The colors looked somewhat "flat" in the first two bins (more contrast with the SE) whereas the red wing tips and yellow-tipped tail feathers popped out with the ED binoculars and showed subtle variations in color.

Given that COLOR variation is a key field mark identifier for birdwatchers, particularly when trying to discern different species in the same genus, I'm surprised there are so few ED binoculars made.

Cost is obviously NOT the reason since Celestron and Eagle Optics priced their ED bins between $300 and $400, and now WO has a ED bin for under $300.

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Oscar Zoroaster Diggs
"O.Z."

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