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A Newly Designed Chinese 9x63 Bino

Started by Kimballcorson, 03/30/2003 03:46AM
Posted 03/30/2003 03:46AM Opening Post
My wife broke her sunglasses frames
yesterday so we dingied over to Point
Loma in San Diego, found the optical
shop where she had bought them sometime
back, and did my eyes pop open on going
in the store. This guy picked up a new
line and now also carries virtually every
Chinese binocular made, or so it seemed,
including three or four versions of the
25X/40x100s, with tripods. Although her
frames cost me $275 to get the same ones,
I did manage to make the trip worthwhile
and picked up an Oriental Industries Co.,
Ltd. newly designed 9x63 for $145 which
is really very, very good optically. Even
the diopter adjustment is properly
calibrated and zeroed. I was shocked at
the bang per buck. Last night I tried them
out astronomically and was underwhelmed,
largely because the magnification is too
low for my preference. But terrestially
and around and across San Diego Bay, the
binocular is stunning. Highly recommended
and sold under the Soleado Brand, which I
had never heard of. These puppies are
pretty big (est. = 12" high), but not
particularly heavy. They can be easily
hand-held for extended viewing. The central
focusing is very, very smmoth. Contrast is
stunning. Also, it is optically very, very
sharp, all the way to the very edge. FOV
could be a tad larger (5.4 degrees), but who
is complaining. The binocular has the same
shape/configutration as the Zeiss 10x40 BT*P.

I'm binocularly incorrigable, but at least
I know it. Using binoculars is like taking
photographs but without having to develop
the film and then fuss with the pictures,
. . . at least for me.

Kimball Corson

Posted 03/31/2003 07:50PM #1
Thanks for the tip. What's the name/location of the store?

I agree binocs are better than a camera if I could bring only one or the other... Best,

-- William