William Optics 10x50 ED binoculars

[Astro_noob]

My new William Optics 10x50 ED binoculars arrived yesterday. Flo sent them very well packed in between Styrofoam chips and bubble wrapped. On opening the box I could tell these are substantial binoculars. Heavy for there size and exude quality. I checked the optics for marks or faults, nothing superficially obvious. I checked the body and flexed the hinge which operated with enough tension to hold their place once set. The eyepiece rotation is stiff but solid, very different to how a centre focus works and doesn’t snap into focus as much as I would have liked but maybe that’s not such a bad thing given that these binoculars are designed to be fine tuned more easily than dioptre control. I actually found '0' on both eyes was perfect for me. Last check was the contents of the case. The pack comes with a lanyard for the neck, padded suitably but only held on by looping the ends through plastic clips. My worry is that these may work loose through continued use. The case is soft and feels nice to touch and has structure to it. It is not a solid hard case like the 15x70 Apollo HD case. However this has its advantages such as I can carry the case around my neck and it feels like a binocular case rather than a suitcase. Provides enough protection that if placed on a hard surface the binoculars wont be scratched or scuffed and the weight is not increased significantly. One significant missing feature is the ability to screw in 1.25" filters. I thought this was a standard on BA8 series but it's possible WO omitted this from there specs to kinming Optical?

The view through these binoculars was somewhat marred by the weather. At first glance I though there was a lot of flare, stars were not pinpoint but had a lot of non uniform spikes. Changing the eyepiece focus changed the location of the spikes suggesting it was not an optical fault. I turned to Jupiter which was round and white with 4 moons. No features were visible on the surface and there was a lot of flare. Again rotating focus on both eyepieces changed the location of the flare so it possibly isn’t an optical fault but related to bad seeing. Absolutely no Chromatic Aberration. I also tried to view the Orion Nebula but only pinpoint stars were visible no nebulosity. Most of my viewing was done using the provided tripod adapter and a sturdy tripod.

My last view was of the moon. It was a beautiful site. Very clean and detailed. Gives a 3d like appearance and no CA. The seeing was bad though so the moon had a misty halo extending around it and because I was viewing from indoors through a window (moon only) had a reflection caused by double glazing.

I like these binoculars a lot, reassuringly heavy and solid. Work well with my tripod but can be handheld if necessary. No CA, red stars have a nice red colour to them. So far no new sites through them, I still haven’t seen a galaxy yet except Andromeda or a nebula other than Orion through my telescope so I am hoping during clear skies I will be able to use these for that purpose.

Richard.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Glad you like the new binoculars. You could have a go at M81 and M82 with these, those should be easy once the weather clears

[Alfian]

Really pleased you like them.

[Damo636]

Congrats on the new bins!

[Crebles]

Great report thanks for posting. I'm seriously considering a pair of these, so I'd love to know if the flaring settles with ongoing use and familiarisation.

[Scooot]

Good report Richard.

I haven't noticed any flaring on mine, I've had them since Christmas and been very pleased with them.

[andyman]

Been looking at getting a pair of these also...seem to get good reports...good write up

[Joseki]

Hi, great review. I also received a pair from FLO on the same day. I haven't been able to get much use from them yet but a quick 2 minute glance outside at the moon (ignoring the children I was supposed to be watching) was a pleasant experience - the view of the moon was something I enjoy through these whilst my cheap 12x60s was more 'meh' - a lot of internal reflection and washed out contrast. Individual focus is going to take a bit of getting used to and they're hefty bins so I need some support (AZ4 coming today, will get a monopod sometime too). I was a little disappointed to see a minor molding error on the removable eye cap (affects connection of a strap), but not enough to ask FLO for a new one (they even opened the box up at the last minute to combine postage with some baader wonder fluid). I can't wait to try them out at a proper dark site with good seeing - might have been the issue with your lack of pinpoint stars? Right now Id settle for no clouds though.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk

[BinocularSky]

 The pack comes with a lanyard for the neck, padded suitably but only held on by looping the ends through plastic clips. My worry is that these may work loose through continued use.

I assume that by "plastic clips" you mean the ubiquitous 3-bar slider buckles. Yes, they can gradually slip. Two solutions:

1. Loop the free end of the strap over the buckle and under the bar again. Rock solid, but not so easy to adjust.

2. Have the free end between the rest of the strap and the buckle.  Reasonably secure and dead easy to adjust.

As with all things, it's worth visually checking anything in any of your kit that might work loose (because if it does eventually fail, the laws concerning the sheer blumming-mindedness of inanimate objects dictate that it will do so at the least opportune moment)

(Edit: The profanity filter substituted "blumming" for a contraction of "by our lady" that is usually misinterpreted to mean covered in blood.)