Lidl Bins

[Astroscot2]

Agreed , avoid the zoom binos from Lidl, its like looking through 2 straws from what I remember.

Regards

Mark

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Agreed , avoid the zoom binos from Lidl, its like looking through 2 straws from what I remember.

Regards

Mark

And that is not the worst of it! I have yet to encounter a pair that showed a really sharp image, and were properly collimated. And of course the zoom mechanism itself adds a whole new degree of wobble.

[Ventolin]

Hi,

I just bought the 10x50 bins from my local Lidl in London. These bins compelled me to sign up and write a very mini review.

Branded as Auriol the specs on the box are:

Mag: 10x

FOV:114m wide (at 1000m distance)

Lens: 50mm

Optical Glass Material: BK-7 fully coated

Blurb on Box:

"Razor-sharp distance viewing with powerful 50mm lenses"

"Detail and colour fidelity with high-quality optical glass (BK-7)"

"Large field of view thanks to wide-angle eyepieces with rotatable eyecups"

"Optimal adjustment even for eyeglass wearers"

"Easy-grip focussing wheel - allows precise use even with gloves"

"Integrated tripod connection thread"

"Includes shoulder bag with belt strap, protective lens caps, eyepiece rain cover, extra carry strap and cleaning cloth"

"Continuous Diopter compensation"

"Non-slip rubber coating with ergonomic finger hollows"

First impressions in store:

There was a box open with a pair available for people to try. Looking through these, my first impression was "Wow, these are really good for the price!" Focusing was smooth and solid feeling, image was bright, clear and detailed, round circles looking through the objective lenses at arm's length, nothing rattling, didn't seem too heavy and seemed to be very good value for the money.

However, the bins had a very cheap "plastic" feel to them and on closer examination the build quality was poor, but felt acceptable due to the price.

So I picked up a box which was still sealed, opened it up to check the bins before buying. Sadly, one of the objective lenses seemed to be misaligned when comparing it to the other lens, and with the sample on display. So I picked up another and found a very similar problem. Same on another, and another. Another had dust on the inside of the lenses. Another had the lenses poorly glued. I went through all of them and ended up with the best of the 8 or so boxes available, which still had some dust on the inside of the objective lenses, but the rest seemed o.k.

So I bought these, the best hand picked ones and took them home where I tried to put the neck strap onto the binoculars. This proved to be quite difficult as the instructions were mostly a picture affair and it was very fiddly to fit the thin nylon strap through the binoculars, plastic tension guides and rain cover. Eventually I did though but found the strap quite uncomfortable around the neck. I could forgive this I thought given the price.

After the sun set, I was lucky enough to have a reasonably clear night and I pointed the bins at the stars. I should point out that I am in a very poor location in London, with a bright yellow street lamp right outside my window and a lot of light pollution from the city and certainly not dark skies.

I pointed at some stars at random just to set the focus and that's where the real problems started. I just couldn't get the focus right. I was able to focus on the houses opposite me and set the dioptre setting for my right eye correctly, but trying to focus on any star was a real problem. Furthermore, as I pressed the eyepieces to my head the eyepiece bridge would move fairly easily causing more focusing issues. I had to do a lot of back and forth focusing and dioptre resetting to try and focus on the stars. At my best attempt at focusing, I still could not get sharp single points of light, instead they were distinctly "star" or cross shaped, even when looking with one eye closed. Furthermore, I soon got very tired at holding the bins due to the weight.

On the plus side, I did see many more stars than the naked eye, which was interesting as I could do some star gazing.

It didn't take long to know that I had to return these binoculars as I just couldn't live with the image quality or focusing issues. I don't think these are the same binoculars that were on sale in previous years, especially as they specifically state BK-7 glass on the box.

I'm a very inexperienced amateur that has very recently got the astronomy bug due to Pan-starrs, so I might be a bit harsh on these binoculars, but I have the benefit of borrowing my friend's 40 year old Zeiss Dialyt 8x30B and these show very sharp points of light in comparison. I really wanted my own bins thought so thought I'd try the Lidl bins out.

So I'm still looking for a pair and will ask for advice in another thread, but thought I would share my experiences of these Lidl bins with you all.

Best Regards,

Vent

[8kids]

I bought a pair of these last week and I think they're great value for the money paid.

I'm struggling with choice at the moment, I've got a couple hundred to spend but can't make my mind up, so I bought these just to tide myself over.

Unlike Ventolin above (is he a cousin of Salbutamol?) my bins were optically fine no collimation issues and the are es bright and breezy, stars looked sharp for 70% of the view.

I guess it means quality control is poor but I seem to have a good pair. Excuse my terminology, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Gary.

[BinocularSky]

... I might be a bit harsh on these binoculars,

No, I don't think so. Realistic, perhaps, but not harsh. I played with some on Saturday in my local Lidl and was definitely underwhelmed. About the only thing they got right was not wasting resources by using that grotty Chinese BAK4 phosphate crown glass for the prisms; BK7 is far more appropriate in a binocular like this.

... but I seem to have a good pair.

... as the actress said to the Bishop.

Excuse my terminology, I don't know what I'm talking about.

I'm sure!

[inedible_hulk]

Thanks for the heads up. Looking forward to first light

[bogdog]

i never bought the bino's but i did buy the spotting scope from them for 25 euro,figured as they were cheap on price not to expect much

but i was wrong,they are solid made and have great vision,zooming on anything gave a crisp picture,decided to try it with a webcam

just to see how it would go,still have to get used to using the software for stacking but here is a pic of moon from other night

[SilverSurfer]

The Auriol 10x50 bins will be back on sale for £14.99 in Lidl (in England) from this Thursday (8th April).

I’m thinking that I might try and pick up a pair just to be able to casually keep in the car. Not sure if it’ll be money down the drain though as £15 is £15. Maybe I’d be better off putting the £15 towards some other piece of equipment.

[GazOC]

Just picked up a pair from Lidl. They look decent enough and are in collimation.