These particulars were released approximately 3-4 years ago

It has the following specifications and these are

• Multi-coated lens
• 342ft @1000 yds is the field of view
• Focusing distance is 23 ft
• Weight is 33.8oz
• Aspherical lens system – gives distortion free images
• BaK4 high index prisms
• Polycarbonate body shell
• Diopter control for regulating vision imbalancing

Another one which is very famous in the Nikon Action VII series is the

Nikon Action VII 8×40 CF

• Very light in weight
• Waterproof
• Wide angle
• Fogproof
• Ergonomic design
• Tripod adaptable
• Field of view: 430′ @ 1000 yds
• Fold out rubber eyecups
• Weight –26oz

Note : There is another Nikon in the8×40 specification and that is the Nikon Action Extreme 8×40. There are definitely some difference between the two which you can read in detail here at http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=1856112&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=all&vc=1

These binoculars though have significant image distortion as well as do not have a very good close focus.

These are just average prices however there are better brands from Nikon available which are better than this.

Within these series only there are binoculars which are definitely going to be better than this and these are the

Nikon 8×40 Action VII, Weather resistant Porro prism Binocular with 8.2D.

Here is the list of the Nikon Action Series binoculars

Nikon Action VII 8×40 Wide Angle Porro Prism Binocular

Nikon 7248 8×40 Action VII Binocular

Nikon 12×50 Action VII Binocular (Clamshell

Nikon 7218 Action 10 X 50mm Binoculars

Nikon Action VII 8×40 Wide Angle Porro Prism Binocular

Nikon 8×40 Action Binoculars VII Ultra NI-BI-Action Options

Nikon Action binoculars 7 x 50 Nikon Action VII – binoculars 10 x 50

Nikon Action VII Binoculars 16 x 50 CF review

• Length – 7in.
• Weight is – 34.9 oz
• Other specifications are
• Magnification – 16x
• Objective lens is – 50mm
• Focus – center focus
• Coating – Multicoated
• Relative brightness – 9.6
• Field of view is – 216ft @1000 yds

Most of these models are low cost and made in China but do not be disappointed as that can only mean fewer amounts you will be paying. This good for the price and the magnification. You can use it for bird watching as well as hunting or even for astronomy.

Other brands which are available in the similar category and price are

Bushnell Tactical Binoculars with Compass – 7×50

NRA Sports Optics by Brunton Bridger Binoculars – 8×28, Waterproof

Steiner Peregrine Binoculars – 8×42

About Nikon

Nikon is a precision optical company with worldwide manufacturing, research and marketing capabilities. The Nikon name is equated with extraordinary photographic performance, innovation, precision and optical quality.

Types of binoculars are:

Again based on the types of binoculars there are various binocular brands which have come up trumps over even the luxury binoculars

Compact binoculars -30mm objective lens or less
 
Mid-size binoculars – 32mm – 35 mm objective lens diameter
 
Full –size binoculars – 42mm- 50mm objective lens diameter

Use of binoculars

The next comes the brands which are associated with the use of the binoculars and these uses are in the following categories

Hunting binoculars
 
Birding binoculars
 
Astronomy binoculars
 
Marine binoculars
 
Boating binoculars
 
Travel binoculars
 
All purpose binoculars

Yuou can read about top 10 binoculars here and for best binoulars for football here

The best brands for the binoculars for all purpose are the
 
Nikon
 
Barska
 
Celestron
 
Leupold
 
Pentax
 
Bushnell

Best brands for Astronomy binoculars

Apogee
 
Celestron

Top rated brands for birding binoculars are
 
Audubon
 
Swift
 
Steiner

Best brands for the Marine binoculars are
 
Steiner
 
Nikon
 
Canon

The brands rated as best for the hunting binoculars are or the top hunting brands are

Leupold
 
Swarovski
 
Nikon
 
Bushnell

As far as the entire list of Binocular brands is concerned then here is the list though I must they are not in any order as far as top rated brands are concerned.

Aimpoint
 
Alpen
 
ATN
 
Barska
 
Beltronics
 
Blackhawk
 
Brunton
 
Burris
 

Bushnell
 
C-More Systems
 
Canon
 
Carson
 
Centurion Systems
 
Cobra
 
Cuddeback
 
Docter
 
Dogtra
 
Dtsystems

Elcan
 
EOTech
 
Escort
 
Galileo
 
Gomotion
 
Gordon
 
Hawke

Inova
 
Insight
 
Kahles
 
Konus
 
Kowa
 
L3 / Thermal-Eye
 
Lasermax
 
Leaf-Reaver
 Leica
 
Leupold
 
Lowrance
 
Meade
 
Millett
 
Minox
 
Moultrie
 
N-Vision
 NcSTAR
 
Newcon
 
Night Owl
 
Nikon
 
Oberwerk
 
Olympus
 
Pentax
 
Rocky Mountain Radar
 
Rokinon
 Sightmark
 
Sightron
 
Simmons
 
Stealth Cam
 
Steiner
 
Streamlight
 
Trijicon

US Night Vision
 
Valentine
 
Vanguard
 
Vortex
 
Walkers

Whistler
 
Xenonics
 
Yukon
 
Zeiss

One such from the Bushnell stable is the Bushnell 10×25mm Imageview Binoculars

The main feature of this Bushnell binocular is the 10×25mm specification and that will mean 10x magnification and the objective lens diameter of 25mm. This is absolutely very good specification as far the magnification goes. The digital camera that it has is the .35 megapixel camera. The camera magnification is 8x.

Some of the main specifications of the 10×25 Imageview binoculars with the digital camera are

10x magnification

Fully coated lenses

8MB internal memory.

Fold down rubber cups.

Eye relief – 10mm

The resolution of these pictures is …

Again as with the 7×18mm pocket digital camera binoculars these are very compact and are a value for money.

A couple of drawbacks are that this does not have a digital memory card slot which means that you have to rely on the internal memory and that can carry only about 150 pictures based on the resolution.

If you need the camera to have more pictures then I will suggest buying more expensive cameras which at least does have a memory card slot.

As far as the usability is concerned you will need to make sure that the camera is not shaky.

Initially that will happen and it will take a while before you get into the habit of holding the camera steady.0020

Bushnell range of 10×25mm Imageview binoculars have also other models such as the

10x 25mm 11-1026 VGA as well as the 10x 25mm 11-1211VGA .

Challenges

The handling of the computer and the digital camera interface is a tough game as you will need to load the drivers onto the PC and then have the PC recognize the camera. It is not as smooth as it can be hence a lot of people do not prefer this.

Some of the specification for this binocular is the prism design and the design is porro prism. Porro prism design is definitely cost effective to manufacture. For more on the porro prism design you can read my post here on the porro prism binoculars.

Specifications

Objective lens diameter is 18mm

The magnification is 7x

Exit pupil is 2.57 mm

Eye relief is 14.5mm

The field of view is 365 feet at 1000 yards

It needs two AAA batteries

As far as the lens coatings are concerned the lenses have the fully coated specifications. The prisms are made up of BaK-7 glass material.

The resolution of the digital camera binoculars can vary from the VGA resolution to the mega pixel binoculars and for these Bushnell binoculars the resolution is VGA.

It has a 16MB memory to hold the pictures taken in the internal memory.

If you buy these Bushnell Digital Binoculars then you will also get a USB cable, A image editing software as well as the a bag to carry all these toghers includig the binoculars.

Picture quality of this 7×18mm Imageview binoculars is juts about average though at the price at which you can get these is pure value for money. As far as use is concerned it is fairly easy to use and you can get pictures by just one click of a button.

Challenges with these binoculars

The challenge is getting the pictures off into the PC. You need to install a driver to get the PC to recognize the Digital camera binocular. This brand does not have the SD memory card slot and hence it becomes tough to get a lot of photos and you will have to offload these into the PC every now and then. If you are using these while hunting then at one stage you will feel a bit handicapped that you cannot take more pictures with it.

The resolution of the pictures is 640×480 only. This is small resolution as compared to what you can get for a lot of pictures today.

There are some PC requirements that are a must have for you top download the pictures

Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP

Intel Pentium 166MMX processor or better

32MB RAM or better

USB port

The best binoculars are definitely available at less than $100. There are some sacrifices that you will have to make when you buy the binoculars.

Let us talk about each one of these factors in detail before we discuss the best among the category.

Roof prism binoculars or the Porro prism binoculars. Most of the people will recommend that if you are trying to buy the binoculars under 100 then always buy the Porro ones. The reason being that Porro style binos are easier to manufacture and hence it ensures that the manufacturers are giving you a better quality as opposed to rood prism binos. If you need to understand the difference between these two types then read my guide here about the Porro Prism binoculars and the Roof prism binoculars.

The other factors to consider at this price range are the image contrast, brightness and quality of the image that it produces. Most of the binoculars in this range will produce some aberrations of the image and slight blurred image at the outer periphery.

As far as comparison between the brands is concerned there is the higher end models which are the Leica, Swaroski and the Zeiss.

The most popular and the best binoculars under $100 are the good brands which have years of experience behind them manufacturing the binos at all the price ranges and with various capabilities.

In my opinion Nikon comes out the tops when it comes to the producing the binoculars under $100.

The most popular Nikon product under 100 is the Nikon Action Series whether it is the Nikon Action 7×35. These are the best when it comes to the price and quality comparison with other binocular brands.

Here are some of the main features of the 7×35 Action Binoculars which have become the choice for beginner birdwatchers as well as for general field use

Nikon Action 7×35 series

Wide Field of View – The field of view is approximately 490 foot.

25 year no fault warranty – This is the best that you can get

Multi coated lenses

Diopter adjustable

BaK-4 prism

Adjustable eye cups

The wide field of view is very much needed for all the birding enthusiasts. This alone at this price is a good enough feature.

However there are some negative points that are there for this Nikon Action 7×35 Ultra wide.

It is heavy at a weight of 24.3 oz and secondly

It is not fogproof or water proof.

It has a Porro prism construction which can be a deterrent to many of you who are looking for that H-shaped design than the W-shaped design.

Bushnell Natureview Binos                  Bushnell H2O porro prism binoculars

Similar to this is Bushnell 8×42 H2O Porro and the Bushnell 8×42 Natureview Plus binoculars which again have been made just for the price conscious customers. Both of these are very in this price category and again have a very good field of view and a very good eye relief.

who makes the best hunting binoculars  – This is always a tough one to answer

I would like to say that it all depends on the needs as to who makes the best hunting binoculars as there are several of manufacturers who make the best hunting binoculars.

Nikon of course is very good at the compact budget binoculars while Leica, Zeiss and Swarovski are the very best when it comes to high end binoculars.

The company was founded by David P. Bushnell about 50 years ago. They now have binoculars for all ranges and prices.

Bushnell has these varieties of binoculars as mentioned below and they have that unmatched precision and quality and use the latest optical technology. The range will have you the most valuable of the Powerview series to the high end Elite and the legend series. This is definitely what I call as best hunting binoculars.

The parent company is Bushnell Outdoor Products and has these brands Bushnell, Bolle, Serengeti, Final Approach, Tasco, Uncle Mike’s, Hoppe’s, Butler Creek, Stoney Point, Simmons, Millett and Uncle Mikes Law Enforcement.

The following are the series of the Bushnell Brand of Binoculars

Elite
Elite2
Infinity
Legend Ultra-HD
Legend Roof prisms
Legend Porro prisms
Excursion Ex
Excursion
Trophy
Legacy WP
Marine
Nature view
H2O
Spectator
Xtra-Wide
Permafocus
Powerview
Image View

Bushnell also has a range of accessories which are needed with the binoculars like the Tripod, Window Mount, Doublers and Harness.

In my next few posts I will provide you with a review of these special Bushnell binos and also compare them with other brands of binoculars to provide you with all the insights into the binoculars that you are interested in. I already have a review of the Nikon Monarch binoculars on this site.

Image by Darthfett