GMGold Black Wooden Picture Frame, Wood, Lot de 1 NOIR, 10x15 cm

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Made from a very fine woven nylon type of fabric, the included soft case is pretty basic, but functional: An important thing to consider when looking at the size of a compact binocular is how small they are when they are folded. When you are are looking through them, just how small they are is not that important, but size is far more important when you carrying them around with you. Different designs of compacts fold up in different ways and this can make a big difference is their size.

The focusing mechanism is geared so that it takes a full 2 and 1/4 turns to go from infinity to it's minimum focusing distance of 13.1ft (4m).What this means is that focusing from near to far (or vise versa) takes a little longer than ones that take less turns, but it does have the slight advantage of making fine tuning your focus just that bit easier and more accurate. I think Nikon have got this about right with these as it really helps you to get the correct focus when you have the magnification at the higher settings like it's maximum of 24x. With their eye-cups fully retracted, they have a length of 11.9cm (4.7in), this increases to 12.4cm (4.9n) when you fully twist out the eyecups. Fully folded, the width of the binocular is 9.2cm (3.6in), fully opened it is 11cm (4.3in). Their height is 6.3cm (2.5in), which once again all on the larger end of the scale for a full compact binocular but nothing excessively so. At 8x Magnification: All binoculars with an 8x magnification and 25mm objective lenses have an Exit Pupil of 3.13 (25/8) and a Twilight Factor of 14.1, which if you compare them to a full size 8x42 binocular, which has an exit pupil of 5.25 and a twilight factor of 18.3, it shows that the increased objective lens diameter of the 8x42 binoculars will gather more light and make it possible for the binoculars to transmit more light to your eyes. This is the main compromise to using a compact over a larger pair of optics, but having said that in reasonably good lighting conditions like during the day, where your eye pupil size is only about 2 to 3mm, this will not be much of a factor, it is just at twilight and under poor light where you can really notice the difference. You must also remember that having a good pair of compacts even in poor light is still much better than having no binoculars at all! This IPD (Inter-Pupillary Distance) range is very good and therefore they should be able to accommodate a wider range of faces than many, including those with closer set eyes like children and thus in this area and the fact that they are small and lightweight, it makes them a good choice of binocular for kids.Also included within the box is some basic and generic instructions that covers the entire Discovery Gator series. Also included is the international warranty card that covers these binoculars for 2 years and entitles you to free repair or replacement in any country where a Levenhuk office is located.

The slider is nice and smooth and is large enough to make even quite fine adjustments to the magnification straight forward. At 350g (12.3oz), it must be said they are on the heavy end of the scale when compared to most other compacts, they do however still feel very light compared to most standard full sized binoculars. What I can say is that these use reverse porro prisms to turn the image upright. Whilst this design may not be the most compact design, it is both relatively cheap and simple to make as you do not need the same level of tolerances or the extra coatings to produce the same level of optical performance as that of a roof prism which is why it is a popular and usually the best choice for a cheap binocular. This is why I would suggest trying to mount any high power binocular onto a steady base like a tripod/monopod if you are going to use a magnification above 12x to 15x. Thus for me it is a shame that these binoculars are not easily tripod mountable using a standard binocular tripod adapter and thus to do so you will have to think a little outside the box and come up with your own plan or at the very least try and rest your elbows onto a steady surface like a table to minimize image shake.But other than these minor points, I would say that as you would expect of any Nikon product, they look pretty well made and considering that they have a plastic shell, they still feel fairly solid and robust and in terms of build quality are as good as any compact porro prisms found in this price range.