Customer Reviews

Olympus Pathfinder EXPS-1 8x42 Porro Prism Binocular

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are not Olympus' low-priced line. Only the roof prism Magellan line is more expensive, so these are in the high-end porro prism line for Olympus.

I really like the design of the binoculars. They feel quite solid, come with quality lens caps, and have plastic eye caps that turn out into place instead of rubber eye caps. I'm sure these will outlast any rubber eye caps.

However, in the pair I received, the two sides are out of alignment. What appears in the center of one the field of vision of one eye is well to the side of the field of vision of the other eye. This shouldn't be and makes it very difficult to look through them for more than a minute at a time. Also, it seemed to take a lot of effort to avoid having part of the field of vision obscured by the edges of the lens.

This may not be a manufacturing defect. I ordered two pairs of binoculars from Amazon (two different models), and the packing was woefully inadequate. The only concern seemed to be that the smaller box not be able to slide around inside the carton. The binocular boxes were in full contact with the cardboard box and therefore subject to the impact of any handling by UPS. It's very possible that Olympus quality control did ensure that the sides were properly aligned at the time of manufacture, but that they assumed that, if shipped, the box containing the binoculars would be padded on all six sides inside the shipping carton.

I'm also suspicious that I was shipped a set of binoculars which had already been returned by another customer. While everything was there, the box looked like it had been previously opened. It's possible this was just caused by rough treatment during shipping.

I am very happy with the binoculars. Very sharp and clear. I don't know much about binoculars but I am satisfied with how it works.