Customer Reviews

Pentax 65809 PCF II 12x50 Waterproof Binocular

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

 

 

As expected, this Pentax product is excellent value for the money. This model has superior sharpness and provides a bright field of view. IMHO, overall optics are A+. The ability to mount it on a tripod makes it great for using it for bird watching. For it's size it is not excessively heavy. Overall, well constructed. Water ressistance is another plus.

The only draw backs I note are:
1. The cover for the eye piece is a one-piece design that fits over both eye pieces. One needs to "spread" open the binoculars in order for the eye peices to grip the cover.
2. The covers for the main lenses tend to come off when the binoculars are removed from the carrying case. Not a big issue...perhaps a hard case would have solved that issue. The lens caps them selves seem to fit snuggly.

Binoculars are used for ocasional long distance viewing in mountain terrain. The clarity is remarkable. They are a little heavy, but this does not cause a problem. Wish I had had these binoculars years ago.

I had been looking for binoculars for general use and astronomy. Look at a constellation with 10 stars to the naked eye and then there's hundreds! The crispness of the image was stunning, in all conditions from dull to bright sunlight, with light transmission excellent and minimal obvious internal reflections even looking towards a source of light. These feel incredibly good in your hands. They have slight ergonomic depressions as though someone squeezed their hands into them so hard it left a slight imprint. The Pentax uses a flatter lens system which effectively makes all of the field of view you see very sharp.

We purchased this pair in December of 2007 for use at our condo in Naples for viewing the wildlife around the lake. These are superb glasses giving us great views of bald eagles, otters, turkey vultures, etc. All from a great distance. While they are a bit heavy, they are not too heavy for enjoyable viewing. I plan to buy another pair for use at our home in Cincinnati. You can't go wrong with these if you want detailed views of whatever it is you are viewing.

The binoculars are pretty much what I expected. They are not the much better optically than
lower priced binoculars but are much better construction. They will take more punishment
I expect. I hope I do not drop them, but if I do I think they will survive the incident better
than cheaper binoculars. I use them primarily for astronomy and they provide great
views of the stars.

bought theses used from Amazon Warehouse. Descriped as slight blemished. Received them in original packaging and noticed one cosmetic flaw near the lens. other than that no problems. Very easy to focus, slightly heavier than I thought but easy to hold steady. Compared these to nikons I thought the Pentax are better in all respects, not by much but better. and for 89 bucks I can't complain.

These binoculars were a replacement for a set of Pentax 8x30 that got damaged. I can really see the game upclose. The focus wheel is somewhat hard to turn and sometimes locks when I put them back in the case. The weight is not too bad, but they ARE big binoculars.

Bought these as a housewarming gift. Fortunately, tested them before making the present.

Disappointing optical quality and build/finish. I'd hoped that such a reputable company would use at least second-rate optics, perhaps in a cheap case. But these have few if any redeeming qualities. Optical quality is so low (even at center) that real improvement over naked-eye is marginal. I was unable to achieve good image alignment with any combination of ocular separation and diopter adjustment.

I returned these and bought the Nikon Monarch 10.5x45 binocs, a bit over twice the price (with current Amazon sale and company rebate) and at least ten times the value. Still nowhere near as good as my Nikon 8x32 LX, much less the real top-end gear, but a whole lot cheaper and good enough for most uses.

At this price point (or even cheaper), I'd recommend getting a lower-power compact or mid-size with better performance. Might just be a QC issue, but I didn't want to try another pair.