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ORIGINAL: vichris


The 1st thing I do before I look through a bino is look AT it. Hold them at arms length pointed at a light source, eyepieces toward you. Look at the exit pupil.....is it a perfectly round dot or does it have a flat area on one side of the dot? Look carefully while you move them up and down side to side. I've seen some with two flat sides. If it does reject them. Look IN the dot. Is the dot evenly bright or does it have a shadowy box in it? Or does it have a shadowy dot in the middle of the exit pupil. Reject those too. Now I'm not saying reject the brand just ask for a different pair. If you see that in several pairs then I'd probably reject the brand or model. Look at the coating in good light make sure its even and no splash or oiley looking spots. Look through the objective lens into the body make sure theres are no foreign objects and that the prisms and mounts properly seated and are painted evenly black. Make sure the objective lense is not chipped or has reflective looking areas near the edges. Any of those things I would reject also. Now look through them.


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