| This waterproof Meade Glacier 8x42 roof prism binocular focuses down to a very good 6’, making it a sensible choice for butterflies, as well as close-in warbler, woodland, and backyard feeder birding. The good resolution and brightness of its 8 x 42mm optics make it equally at home examining the details and colors of distant birds in open field, lake, and shore-side birding. The high transmission multicoatings on all air-to-glass surfaces, the brighter BaK-4 prisms (compared with conventional BK-7 prisms), and the 8% improvement in prism reflectivity due to the phase-coatings on the roof prisms, all combine to provide up to a full hour of additional usable observing at dawn and dusk when compared with conventional binoculars in this price range.
The Meade Glacier weighs only a trifle over 23 ounces, surprisingly light for a full-size binocular. Combine that light weight with the Glacier’s comfortable-to-hold armor and waterproofing and you have an easy-to-carry all-day/all-weather birding bino. The Meade 8x42mm Glacier is a surprising performer across a wide range of observing conditions, bright sunlight and dim twilight alike. There is very minor curvature of field, so that a sharp focus at the center of the field will leave the edges of the field somewhat less sharp, but this is more noticeable when examining a test target indoors than it is when actually birding in the field. Barrel distortion is quite low, so that straight lines stay quite straight, rather than bowing in and out as they move across the field. The color rendition is good and chromatic aberration and astigmatism are well controlled, for a view that is easy on the eyes during extended observing sessions. Performance this good used to cost $500 to $600 only a few short years ago. Overall, the Meade Glacier is easy on the eyes, easy in the hands, and easy on the budget.
Features of this binocular . . . Roof prism optics. H-body roof prism design with internal center focus. BaK-4 prisms for high light transmission. Its 5.9" length is easy to handle, and its light 23.3 ounce weight won’t weigh you down during all-day birding.
Large aperture fully multicoated optics. Large 42mm objective lenses gather substantial amounts of light for bright images in twilight or overcast conditions. The twilight factor is 18.33, well above the 17 recommended as a minimum for a low light binocular. Broadband multilayer antireflection coatings have good light transmission for minimum light loss in dim conditions.
Phase-coated prisms. Special phase-correcting optical coatings are applied to the roof prisms for peak contrast, color fidelity, and resolution. The resulting improvement in color fidelity and detail is easily visible when looking sunwards and examining the shadowed areas of a silhouetted or backlit bird. The phase coatings also increase the prism reflectivity by 8% for extended observing time in fading light situations.
Waterproof and fogproof. Dry nitrogen-filled and O-ring sealed to be waterproof and fogproof in all temperature and climate extremes. Designed to operate reliably in rainforests and deserts alike. Armor. Black rubber armor absorbs noise and shock and provides a good grip when wet. Twist-up eyecups. An eighth of a turn of the rubber-rimmed eyecups retracts them into the binocular body for eyeglass or sunglass use, rather than rolling down. An eighth turn in the opposite direction extends the eyecups for non-eyeglass use. Long eye relief. Eye relief is specified at a long 19.5mm. While this is technically correct, the actual usable eye relief measures somewhat less due to the recessing of the eyepieces when the eyecups are in the down position for eyeglass use. A shorter eye relief than specified is typical of all binoculars. There will be some minor vignetting of the field for eyeglass wearers. Very close focusing. A little over one and a half turns of the comfortably-large ribbed focus knob moves from a y’ close focus out to the horizon and beyond. Rotary diopter correction. A continuously variable diopter ring on the right eyepiece allows you to match the binocular optics precisely to your individual eyesight for a sharp image. Supplied Accessories. The comfortable 1" wide woven cloth neck strap makes the lightweight binocular even less of a burden to carry during all-day birding sessions. An eyepiece rainguard is standard, as are snap-in objective lens covers similar to those used to protect camera lenses. The soft case sheds water and comes with both a belt loop for no-hands carrying and a wide shoulder strap.
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