Opticron Adventurer 10x50 vs Olympus DPS1 10x50.

[Paranoidsam]

I have about £50 to spend on a binocular, and these two models have caught my attention.

Binocular Sky gave the Opticron Adventurer a really good review, describing it as "a stunningly good binocular for fifty quid." That's basically enough to sell it to me, but I notice the Olympus set has a lot of very positive customer reviews, plus it comes with a 25 year warranty...

Has anyone on here got any thoughts on or experience with either models? 

Thanks.

Opticron Adventurer 10x50

Olympus DPS1 10x50

[mark81]

Hi, I can only comment on the Olympus 10x50's which I really love - not sure how they compare to the Opitcron but from what I hear you cant get much more for your money if you chose the Olympus.  Really nice crisp clean views and a great size for daytime use too.  I do have a dark site here so I really do get the most out of them and I feel they are good enough for those quick short sessions when you don't want to use a scope.  Star clusters can be seen - not in any detail - but faint smudges can be fun. Andromeda also.  I also use them a lot for hunting objects down as I only have a red dot finder on my st80.

You wont be disappointed with these.

 

   

[BinocularSky]

Both very good for the money; I've not actually compared them side by side (I tried the Oly several years before I tried the Opticron), but there won't be a lot in it and I doubt you'd be disappointed with either. Don't get caught in "paralysis by analysis" - just get one of them and start enjoying it. (But remember that they are both budget binoculars and prisms can get knocked out of alignment during transport factory > importer > distributor > you, so check the returns policy.)

[Mr_Simnock]

Before I bought my 8x32 binoculars I had a lot of "paralysis by analysis", what solved it for me was a trip to a birding fair at Martin Mere in Lancashire. Had a chance to look through binoculars big and small and at all sorts of price points (£100 - £1500+). I know it would be overkill to do this for £50 bino's so as stated above just grab either one (toss a coin) and start to enjoy them.

[Alan White]

I have the DPS-1 and they behave far above the Budget Range suggests.
So much so that I feel I would need to spend hundreds of pounds for a small improvement.

As Steve says above, don't over analyse, buy either and get observing. 

[Paranoidsam]

Thanks guys... Very easy to get bogged down going over specs etc. Best to just put the money down and start using them.

[daveintheshire]

I'm a bit late to the party on this one - I wonder if you bought your binocular yet @Paranoidsam? 

I use a Helios Apollo 15x70 as my main observing instrument, but I wanted something easily hand-holdable for those times when there are clouds scudding around and my wife is (correctly) telling me I really should be asleep by now!  FLO were kind enough to let me have a look through an Adventurer, but try as I may I could not seem to get a satisfactory single image.  Don't get me wrong - as best I could tell they were collimated OK, I just couldn't get the edges of the two images to overlap properly, especially when wearing spectacles.  I've been using binoculars since I was a kid and as such am pretty familiar with their use, but this seems to be something that crops up for me occasionally.  A shame because I really wanted one after reading Steve's review!

Anyhow, move forward a few months and it was anniversary present time!  My wife got the hint (or was it the email? ?) and I blindly took a punt on an Olympus DPS1 8x40.  I am extremely happy with this binocular for the price.  The image is crisp and bright to a good way out and control of CA is extremely good for the price point, even off-axis.  The expected pincushion distortion is present at the edges.  Collimation is fine.  The wide field of view is just beautiful and makes scanning around constellations a very relaxed pleasure.  The trade-off is perhaps a little loss of contrast vs a 10x50, and of course a bit of magnification.  With the eye cups folded back, eye relief is sufficient for me to see the entire FoV with my glasses on.  The exit pupils show the vignetting common to BK7 prisms (although I have not been able to find a spec sheet for the unit that describes what glass has been used). I have not found this to be a problem in use.  A major benefit is that when scanning around the skies I can hold a pocket sky atlas in my left hand and the binocular in my right (for short periods). Overall I think the build quality is superior to the various United Optics BA1's that are out there.  Notably the rubber covering is just that - a fitted slab of rubber rather than a thin coating as an afterthought (such as on my Opticron Oregon 11x70).  My biggest criticism is the flex in the eyepiece arms - they are made of plastic and can be deflected fairly easily by thumb pressure.  That said, I certainly can't say I've noticed this being a problem in use, even when using the "Tonkin Embrace" (AKA "The Triangular Arm Brace" http://binocularsky.com/binoc_hold.php). I also appreciate the honesty that Olympus have employed in marketing these units: there's no boasting of being "fully multi coated" (they are coated, but I'd be surprised if it was anything like FMC), using "BaK4" prisms or any other form of dubious claim.  It's a budget binocular that punches above it's weight but has no delusions of grandeur.

I haven't tried the 10x50 yet, but I'm very keen to give it a go based on my experience with the 8x40.  Funnily enough, my wife started dropping hints about Christmas present ideas only this morning... ?

[mark81]

I

2 hours ago, daveintheshire said:

I'm a bit late to the party on this one - I wonder if you bought your binocular yet @Paranoidsam? 

I use a Helios Apollo 15x70 as my main observing instrument, but I wanted something easily hand-holdable for those times when there are clouds scudding around and my wife is (correctly) telling me I really should be asleep by now!  FLO were kind enough to let me have a look through an Adventurer, but try as I may I could not seem to get a satisfactory single image.  Don't get me wrong - as best I could tell they were collimated OK, I just couldn't get the edges of the two images to overlap properly, especially when wearing spectacles.  I've been using binoculars since I was a kid and as such am pretty familiar with their use, but this seems to be something that crops up for me occasionally.  A shame because I really wanted one after reading Steve's review!

Anyhow, move forward a few months and it was anniversary present time!  My wife got the hint (or was it the email? ?) and I blindly took a punt on an Olympus DPS1 8x40.  I am extremely happy with this binocular for the price.  The image is crisp and bright to a good way out and control of CA is extremely good for the price point, even off-axis.  The expected pincushion distortion is present at the edges.  Collimation is fine.  The wide field of view is just beautiful and makes scanning around constellations a very relaxed pleasure.  The trade-off is perhaps a little loss of contrast vs a 10x50, and of course a bit of magnification.  With the eye cups folded back, eye relief is sufficient for me to see the entire FoV with my glasses on.  The exit pupils show the vignetting common to BK7 prisms (although I have not been able to find a spec sheet for the unit that describes what glass has been used). I have not found this to be a problem in use.  A major benefit is that when scanning around the skies I can hold a pocket sky atlas in my left hand and the binocular in my right (for short periods). Overall I think the build quality is superior to the various United Optics BA1's that are out there.  Notably the rubber covering is just that - a fitted slab of rubber rather than a thin coating as an afterthought (such as on my Opticron Oregon 11x70).  My biggest criticism is the flex in the eyepiece arms - they are made of plastic and can be deflected fairly easily by thumb pressure.  That said, I certainly can't say I've noticed this being a problem in use, even when using the "Tonkin Embrace" (AKA "The Triangular Arm Brace" http://binocularsky.com/binoc_hold.php). I also appreciate the honesty that Olympus have employed in marketing these units: there's no boasting of being "fully multi coated" (they are coated, but I'd be surprised if it was anything like FMC), using "BaK4" prisms or any other form of dubious claim.  It's a budget binocular that punches above it's weight but has no delusions of grandeur.

I haven't tried the 10x50 yet, but I'm very keen to give it a go based on my experience with the 8x40.  Funnily enough, my wife started dropping hints about Christmas present ideas only this morning... ?

'm always pleased with image quality from the 10x50s - although I did upgrade to them from an old cheap mass produced pair from Argos...but I did compare them to a pair of Zeiss on daylight and I really couldn't see the difference. Of course, with Zeiss you are also paying for the brand name, the slightly lighter materials used and the general finish.  But as far as a handheld pair for astronomy goes, the Olympus 10x50s you can't go wrong - unless you can successfully hold a pair of 11x70s - which I guess is only viable in a recliner of some sort.