Great Binoculars at a Reasonable Price

After quite a bit of research I recently purchased a pair of Swift Audubon ED binoculars. This is my fourth pair of binoculars, which I use primarily for birding. After looking through as many binoculars as I could get my hands on, and reading as much as I could on the internet, I finally came to the conclusion that nothing provided a better image than the Audubons, except the Swarovski ELs, which cost about $1000 more. I paid $370 for my Audubon EDs, but you can get the regular Audubons for about $120 less. The EDs supposedly give you 10% more contrast, though to my eyes the difference in image quality between the two is negligible. I really can't justify why I was willing to spend more on the EDs, other than they were within my price range, they are supposed to be a little better, and I liked the black covering more than the gray.

The Audubon is a porro-prism design. (For several good descriptions of binocular features and reviews of the Audubons see www.betterviewdesired.com or www.astronomics.com.) This design is older and less expensive than roof-prisms, and therefore less 'cool', if that's important to you. It also makes them a bit bigger and heavier. They are at the high end of my 'acceptable' range in weight at 28oz. But I've always felt that balance and feel are more important then weight, since most of the weight that you are holding up is your arms, not the glasses. As far as those qualities, the Audubons are very good. They are very comfortable to hold and have a nice tactile feel. They are however kind of fat. So if you have very small hands, it might be a bit more difficult to get your fingers around to the focus knob.

The 8.5 X 44 optical design works very well for birding. I have used mostly 10 x 50s in the past, and there is noticeably less jitter with the 8.5 magnification. The field of view is very good. The image is clean and bright. Sometimes surprisingly bright. The resolution is excellent.

My main complaint is in the focus mechanism. First of all, it is a slow focus, meaning you have to turn the knob quite a bit to change the focus. Since I usually focus by turning the knob in the direction that improves the image until the image starts getting worse, and then going back a bit, the slow focus means that I end up getting pretty far past the optimum focal point before I realize it's time to go back. I realize that this is all a matter of personal preference, and I'm starting to get used to it, but for birding there are times that you need to be able to focus quickly, and I find myself thinking more about the focus knob than what I'm looking at.

(Note: this is an update to my original review)
I also had a problem that the focus mechanism would stick, particularly when you first started using the binoculars. After about 8 months it started jamming, and I realized that a piece of the rubber covering was loose and getting caught in the focus knob. I returned the glasses to Swift for repair and got them back in several weeks with no charge. The focus knob works fine now, with no stickiness, so I guess it was just a problem with my glasses.

Minor gripes: It doesn't come with a rainguard. If you use your binoculars for birding, there are times that you need a rain guard. Astronomics sells a nice Zeiss rainguard that fits the Audubons. But by the time you pay for it and the shipping and handling it's another $20, which ticks me off when you figure Swift could have included one for no additional cost. The twist up / twist down eyepieces don't lock in place. So it's fairly easily to knock them out of position. The case is too small. It's a reasonably good hard leather case, but it's too small. The objective lens caps are bigger than the inside of the case. If you put the glasses in the normal way, objectives down, the caps get jammed in the case. So you have to put the glasses in upside down. It's also too short, so you have to crank the focus all the way down to be able to close the cover.

All in all the Audubons are great binoculars. Optically I don't think you can find anything better unless you are willing to spend $1000 more. But they are not for everybody. If you have small hands or are used to smaller roof prisms, they might just feel too big for you. Also, they have a short eye relief. So if you wear glasses this may be a problem.

Before you buy these, or any other binocular for that matter, try them out. It's best if you can compare glasses side by side. Unfortunately, that's kind of tough. If you live in the mid-Atlantic region, two places I've found with good selections of glasses are B&H Photo in New York City and the Cape May Bird Observatory in Goshen N.J. If you have any questions you can contact me at rmurray51@hotmail.com.