First thoughts on Libra Superview 4x22mm binoculars

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

These bins were discussed elsewhere, and spent a whopping 6 euros, and then later order a pair for Steve (BinocularSky), because the shop won't send things abroad (??). Mine are currently still at a friend's place, but I gave Steve's pair a quick check to see that all was well. They feel more solid than I expected, sport individual focusers (ideal for astronomy, and with rubber eye cups folded back allow people with glasses to see almost the entire FOV (17 deg!!). The image is sharp in the centre, and goes softer to the edges. Collimation seems OK, and a quick look at street lights shows some internal reflections. The hinge is the only thing that might worry me a bit, but for 6 euro, I cannot complain. These are clearly a step above toy binoculars. They are now winging there way to Steve, and my pair should arrive in a week or so, when my friend drops by. More testing, under starry skies will follow.

[rowan46]

A fool and  his money eh. Do we need a whip round?  seriously though for some reason I get quite excited at the prospect of cheap usable astro gear. I am looking forward to this review.

[BinocularSky]

A big thank you to Michael for doing this for me -- breath now appropriately  'bated pending arrival of the binocs .  Review will follow!

Buying from this UK by this method quadruples the actual price, but it's still a lot less than the  sixty squids asked by Monk Optics in the UK!

[BinocularSky]

Well, the binocular arrived today (thanks, Michael!). The predicted deluge for the weekend has duly begun.  On a first look, they are certainly worth the tenner (over half of which is delivery!) that it would cost someone in Holland. The retail price is EUR6 with VAT -- this is for a roof-prism binocular with IF -- silly money. Pretty clear, not as much breakdown towards the edge as I was expecting, slight pincushion distortion (a good thing), no objective caps, eyepiece caps are loose and separate, not a tethered rain-guard, I suspect that the coatings are cosmetic rather than functional (more testing required), the strap and case absolutely ooze "made down to a price rather than up to a specification" (but what is it reasonable to expect for something that costs four quid before VAT?) and, as Michael indicates, the hinge is far too loose:  warranty will soon be voided .

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I think I might get an extra pair to demolish for a 4x22 finder for the kids' mini-Dob. An upright image and wide angle view could be very useful. I will have to see if a cross-hair is easily made

[BinocularSky]

Skies cleared in the early hours and I gave them a run. To put it bluntly, I am underwhelmed with their astronomical use: I'd rather have more aperture and a smaller FoV  and pan around. The coatings are, at best, rudimentary. Lots of internal reflections, and I'm pretty sure there are no phase coatings on the roof prisms. Quite sharp in the middle 50%, but gets a bit soft outside that. Collimation was spot on -- and there are prism-adjustment collimation screws under the rubber at the eyepiece end of the body. They do have a decent close-focus: a bit under 2m.

Also, for the reference of anyone else who wants to try, the hinge tension is not adjustable. The (hollow) hinge pin is cemented to the right hand tube, and the left hand side rotates on it. It is incredibly flimsy and is probably the "most likely to fail" bit of the entire binocular.  I "opened" the hinge slightly too enthusiastically, and it failed - seriously, I did not apply a lot of force!  I recommend checking, on receipt, that the LH side of the hinge is not cracked.

Surprisingly, holding the two halves together onto the hinge pin, the collimation was still spot on (star-tested).

The early destruction of this binocular solves one problem: which grand-daughter to give it to if I didn't get on with it: They can now each have a monocular.

I will have to see if a cross-hair is easily made

I just had a look: the eyepiece rubbers are glued on. They remove easily to reveal a couple of grub-screws at the eye-end of the focuser. The eyepiece is "splined" into the focuser, but, even after removing the grub-screws, I could not remove it to gain access to the field stop. Might be possible with a "sucker" directly onto the eye lens, but the only ones I have (on arrows for a toy bow) are too big.

Despite my experience with this, I still think it's incredibly good value for EUR 6, and I'm not that upset at getting a couple of pretty decent monoculars at what has ended up costing me around a tenner each.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Thanks for the report. I had the impression that the details became a bit mushy outside the inner 50%. Internal reflections were indeed rife when I looked, so coatings are indeed not good. I might use the bins for sweeping the milky way in summer, when truly wide-field vistas might are more readily available. Otherwise the kids can use them

[melsky]

^{I'm interested in giving these a try, do you have a website link where they can be purchased from please.
Mel}

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

^{I'm interested in giving these a try, do you have a website link where they can be purchased from please.}

^Mel

I ordered from here:

http://www.fotoprisma.nl/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=58&products_id=5894

but they do not ship abroad (or accept payment through credit card or paypal, only the Dutch iDeal banking system).

[avtaram]

Tried to order the Dowling & Rowe 4x22 from the Monk Optics website but they were updating so rang instead to place the order.

The lady on the phone told me that they hadn't stocked these in a long while and were unlikely to get anymore.

Avtar