'Widefield' 8.3° FOV Hawke Endurance ED 7x32 Marine - brief review

[chops]

Much has been written about the Hawkes, and I own their Sapphire 8x25 (which rivals, but doesn't match the venerable 90s Swarovski Habicht 10x25B). The Hawkes are wonderful for the price and so, when I recently spotted a display cabinet full of 'em in a Penzance's Perfect Photos, tried a few and settled on these 7x32 for £260, as something high quality, transportable, slightly different and very easy to handhold on target.

These binoculars are great for daytime and night: the usual bino of choice for astro is well... frankly, whatever's closest. But, if planning a session, typically a Helios Stellar II 10x50 (hand / chest or monopod mounted),  Opticron Adventurer T WP 10x50, or Helios Apollo 15x70 (parallelogram mount). Also owned and reviewed (then gifted) the Budget Helios Naturesport Plus, Weathermaster III and Fieldmaster here. Yes, binoviewers in the scopes too.

Compared with all of these, they're lighter and smaller and more robust. With the exception of the Apollo 15x70, they're better quality and with a better image too. They're also easy to hold for an extended period, being close to the body. They have foldable objective lens caps, included eyepiece caps, floating (or normal) neckstrap, and a solid semi rigid carry case. I expect they'll last a lifetime.

One reason to buy them was the utility of a more widefield bino. I've seen people with 2x (and wanted a 4x or 5x, but these aren't easily available), hence the purchase of their excellent Endurance 7x32 'Marine' (which will also be useful for their stated watery purpose), with BAK-4 roof prism, nice large, heavily knurled focus adjuster atop for cold fingers, and a good solid dioptre adjuster. They're waterproof (IP67) too and feel robust and solid (weighing 545g).

Quoted as Field of View 8.3° / Apparent Field of View 58° (435ft @1000yds / 145m @1000yds) it's plenty wide. Certainly enough to get all of Orion's belt, and his sword in too. Easily. 

Sweeping through the milky way and through star clusters is superb. The Hercules double cluster's sparkling, Auriga's M36 and M36 clusters are great. Could have sworn I could see IC405 (Flaming Star nebula) , something I didn't expect to see. They have limited Coma, great contrast and resolution. Great colour, no fringing.

Cons? Planets are miniscule, the moon is small and the inter pupil distance needs to be set accurately for me (i.e. the hinge to adjust distance for eye position) as exit pupil (4.6mm) and eye relief (17mm) feels startingly large, so perhaps getting harder as eyes age. but easier than others with specs (don't usually bother). Not as sharp to the edge as more expensive models, but really very good for the price.

Link here to manufacturer site: HAWKE UK | Endurance ED Marine 7x32 Binocular (hawkeoptics.com)

Comprehensive (non astro) review here: Hawke Endurance ED Marine 7x32 Binoculars Review (bestbinocularsreviews.com)

Field of View from astronomy.tools

 

Edited January 13 by chops
Adding FOV image and links

[chops]

I read this weekend of one of APM's 6x30s having a 9.3 degree FOV, plus TS-Optics seems to have a very similar model. I'm unsure whether FLO sell 6x30s but they're also on sale at a German retailer to the UK for 167EUR. Nikon 8x30 also have a 8.8 degree FoV, so very wide AFOV (mag x True FoV) of 70 degrees if I've understood correctly (?).

Plus there's the Helios 2x40 Star Field 2x with Angular Field of View: 24° (Actual Field of View: 445m@1000m) at FLO, although they sell other Hawkes, including the 8x32 (129m at 1000 metres /7.35°TFOV  / 58.8° AFOV ) it doesn't include the 7x32

So, price / performance from the list below and I'd go Hawke every time

• Nikon EII 8x30 = 70.4° (are these still available new - some on Amazon for £630?)
• Opticron Savannah 8x30 7.51° = 60° (£109 FLO)
• Hawke Endurance ED 8x32 = 58.8° (£239 at FLO )
• Hawke Endurance ED marine 7x32 = 58.1° (£240-250 similar sites - not yet on FLO's site)
• APM and TS optics 6x30s = 55.8° (£170)
• Helios 2x40 Star Field 24° = 48° (£89 at FLO)

Hope this helps you too