| This high power Swift 10 x 42mm Horizon roof prism binocular weighs only 26.8 ounces, surprisingly light for a full-size binocular. It is armored and nitrogen-filled to be fully waterproof and internally fogproof in all climate extremes. The Horizon’s compact 5.5" length is easy to handle, and its light weight won’t weigh you down during all-day birding. This is an easy-to-carry all-day/all-weather long distance birding bino. Although it will close focus to less than 5’, the Swift 10x Horizon is happiest when examining the details and colors of birds at intermediate distances and across open fields, lakes, and during shore-side birding. The high contrast of its phase- and silver-coated roof prisms and the good resolution and bright images of its fully-multicoated 42mm optics reveals enough detail and color in distant birds to make even a seasoned birder happy. This reasonably-priced 10 x 42 Swift Horizon is a surprisingly good high power performer across a wide range of observing conditions, from near to far, from bright sunlight to dim twilight. Geometric (barrel) distortion is modest, as is curvature of field. Some astigmatism is visible, so that images at the edges of the field are somewhat softer than they are at the center, but images stay usably sharp across most of the good 6.5° field. Overall, this is an optically and mechanically good high power binocular at a very reasonable price. It’s 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. Top-quality BaK-4 prisms for high light transmission. 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 20.49, well above the 17 recommended as a minimum for a low light binocular. The optics are fully multicoated with layers of antireflection materials for good light transmission and minimum light loss in dim conditions.
Silver coated prisms. The image-erecting roof prism have a mirrored surface that is coated with high reflectivity silver for neutral color reproduction and high light transmission through the prisms.
Phase coated optics. Phase-correcting roof prism coatings provide very high contrast and resolution. This is particularly visible when looking sunwards, where more color and detail are clearly visible in the shadowed areas of backlit or silhouetted birds.
Waterproof. The rugged die-cast magnesium alloy body is O-ring sealed and nitrogen filled to be waterproof and internally fogproof in all temperature and climate extremes. The Swift Horizon is designed to operate reliably in rainforests and deserts alike. In addition, the dry nitrogen filling prevents tarnishing of the silver prism coatings for years of unblemished optical excellence.
Armor. Fully coated in black rubber armor that absorbs noise and shock and provides a good grip when wet.
Good eye relief. Eye relief is specified at 15mm. While this is technically correct, the actual usable eye relief typically measures a millimeter or two less. This is due to the recessing of the eyepiece lenses to protect them from getting scratched when the eyecups are in the down position for eyeglass use. A shorter eye relief than specified is typical of virtually all binoculars. Some vignetting will be visible for those eyeglass wearers who must wear eyeglasses while observing due to severe astigmatism.
Twist-up eyecups. The rubber-rimmed eyecups twist counterclockwise to extend and clockwise to retract. There are two soft stops intermediate between the retracted and fully-extended positions to let you match the amount of eye relief to your eyesight. Three eye relief heights are labeled in mm on the eyecup barrels. Since this 15mm eye relief 10 x 42mm Horizon shares the same body as its longer 18mm eye relief 8 x 42mm brother, the eyecups extend further than needed to accommodate the shorter eye relief of this 10x binocular. Observers who do not wear eyeglasses should not extend the eyecups fully. This will place your eyes out past the optimal eye relief distance and will vignette the image. The eyecups should be extended only to the second intermediate soft stop in order to see the full field if you don’t wear glasses.
Very close focusing. Little more than one turn of the large focus knob moves from the close focus out to the horizon and beyond. Swift specifies an exceptional 3.9’ as the close focus, but we usually measure it as being closer to 5’ in our tests. A 5’ close focus is still very good for close-in birding and butterflies, although the somewhat shallow depth of field of this 10x Horizon would not make this our first choice for such an application. Like most 10x binoculars, the 10x42mm Horizon is best suited for intermediate and long distance observing.
Wide field. The field of view is a quite good 6.5° degrees (342’ at 1000 yards). This is wider than many binoculars more than twice its reasonable price.
Rotary diopter correction. A continuously variable diopter ring on the right eyepiece allows you to match the binocular optics to your individual eyesight for the sharpest images. The diopter ring is quite stiff and unlikely to accidentally shift out of position during use.
Tripod adaptable. A standard 1/4"-20 thread socket for attaching an optional tripod adapter is located at the front end of the binocular’s center hinge. A thread-in plastic plate covers the tripod socket when not in use.
Wide neck strap. The wide neck strap is padded with soft neoprene and cloth-wrapped for more comfortable long-term use in hot weather. It makes the lightweight binocular even less of a burden to carry during all-day birding sessions.
Other supplied accessories. A lightly-padded textured soft vinyl case with a belt loop and a shoulder strap is standard. Also included are snap-in objective lens covers to protect the optics during transport and storage and an eyepiece rainguard.
|
Printer friendly version
Email page link to a friend
Do you have a question about this product?
