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Carson’s new hunting Binoculars


A new quality binocular is sure to grab its share of the hunting market – by Marcus O’Dean. Pics Juris and O’Dean.

It had been some time since I had seen Carson binoculars, which Zen Imports had been aiming at the entry level user for some years and they had appeared unlikely to stand up to the rigours and expectations of hard-core hunters. Well, that has all changed with these 3D Series binoculars.

Zen had sent me a pair on short notice to review and, being their only review pair, I had to turn them around quickly. It so happened that I was leaving for a hunt with my mate Alex and I got the chance to put them through two days of glassing and hunting.

Despite being a 10×42 optic, due to its light weight, roof-prism design and small dimensions, it felt and handled more like a compact binocular, something more like a typical 8×32. Its construction is of rugged, all-weather grey polymer with rubber armouring and scalloped hand panels, further enhancing its good ergonomics. Those who may poo-poo products coming out of China have obviously not handled these binoculars or products like LED Lenser torches – they are well-made with high-end specifications.

Those specifications that the experienced user wants are in this binocular, namely, BAK4 Phase-coated Roof Prism, fully multicoated lenses, waterproof and fogproof due to nitrogen purging and o-ring sealing, long 16mm eye relief, twist-up eyecups for naked eye or spectacle use. On the lens coatings, a Zeiss representative once told me that the most effective and durable lens coatings had a green tinge – for what it’s worth, these Carsons had green coatings. With a generous field of view of 104m at 1,000 and a minimum focusing distance of 3m, it promised to deliver. What can let even a highly spec’d binocular down though, is poor collimation, which manifests in fuzzy edges, colour fringing and headaches for the user after a short time.

 

 

 


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