Vortex Crossfire HD 12×50 Waterproof Binoculars

Je disposais déjà du modèle Diamondback HD et j’ai acheté un modèle Crossfire HD (génération précédente) pour des balades à deux. Personnellement je ne vois aucune différence de qualité. Les deux modèles offrent une vision très confortable et lumineuse (bien sur en 12x il faut savoir rester immobiles pour une observation agréable). La seule petite différence très subjective qu’il me semble avoir perçue concerne un léger halo lumineux légèrement plus présent sur les Vortex lorsque les rayons lumineux viennent des côtes (mais franchement c’est un ressenti très subjectif de ma part car ma compagne dit ne rien remarquer). Du côté des accessoires les deux modèles sont livrés avec exactement les mêmes sacoches et les mêmes sangles.
La seule différence que je vois d’après les données du constructeur est l’étanchéité à priori un peu améliorée sur le modèle Diamondback.
Donc si vous cherchez des jumelles de très bonne qualité et que vous hésitez en le modele Vortex et Diamondback vous pour prendre des Vortex les yeux fermés et vous économiserez plus de 80 euros à l’heure où j’écris ce message. Si vous comptez utiliser les jumelles dans un environnement très humide (environnement marin ou marécageux) à vous de voir si le supplément de prix des Diamondback est justifié, mais le modèle Vortex est déjà garanti étanche et est de très bonne qualité.

My husband loves these! Great value, especially with the case that came with them.

Good set of binoculars, clear I thought these would be heavy but they are ok , happy with them

Mal assemblato con plastiche leggermente deformate. Semplice ma impossibilitata la messa a fuoco. Molto pesante . conoscendo il marchio le mie aspettative erano decisamente superiori..

I love the clarity of these lenses. I purchased for a cruise we are taking next year. The weight of them are a little heavy but the straps that come with them help out a lot. I would purchase again.

These binoculars really blew me away with the visual quality compared to the price. Get ’em.

I had a small set of 8x25s from EMS that were OK, but were so old the rubber was getting tacky. I also have a pair of Celestron 15×70’s that are decent, but are heavy to hand hold. I like good optics (I spend on my scope) but I didn’t want to spend more than $100 just yet. At $139, I went over budget but I’m glad I did.

During the daytime in the backyard, the color and edges are crystal clear from edge to edge. The depth of field is short, so you do have to focus quite a bit when moving around but it’s pretty quick once you get it. But even looking at birds and trees 100’s of feet away, there is good detail and light. Looking at birds less than 20 feet reveals a great deal of detail. The binoculars are light and are easy to hold. Be sure to focus the diopter first, however, to get the best view.

I also do astronomy and I didn’t expect much from these binos, but I was impressed none the less. Looking south where the Milkyway is from a fairly light polluted area, the binos revealed a nice, crisp starfield in the lenses. The stars were pinpoint and clear. I saw a bit of shadowing from the Milkyway, too.

The only problem, and I didn’t nick a star, was that very bright objects like planets showed aberrations in the lenses. Both Jupiter and Saturn are in the sky and they are very bright. When I pointed the binos at them there were spikes from the planets. I didn’t expect to see any detail, of course, but the spikes were disappointing. I did, however, catch a few of Jupiter’s moons, which is cool.

In fact, looking at our own Moon was a delight. Good detail and contrast. The binos were light enough that I could stand for a while taking it in.

I just purchased the Vortex Crossfire HD 12×50 binoculars and have been putting them through their paces for a week, and had a few important thoughts to share. Firstly, I was looking for a true all-purpose binocular which was small/light enough to do birding in the day/dusk hours, plus do better than average duty as an astronomy binocular which could be either hand held or tripod mounted. I have many binoculars which excel at either of these tasks, but none really do both exceptionally well – until now.

The price/performance on these Crossfires is simply amazing – I have spent MUCH more on binoculars and not seen the combination of sharp center of focus, awesome light collection in a light, and manageable form factor.

The center field sharpness of the Crossfires is the best I’ve seen under $200 – and the 12x magnification takes advantage of this for easy marking identification on birds and wildlife. And the 50mm objectives keeps this identification available far later into twilight than any other handheld binocular I own.

These are remarkably light and hand-holdable for 50mm bins – they weigh in at only 29.5 oz, and are extremely well balanced, with a firm, yet tacky rubberized body – with proper technique, these are easily as hand-holdable as my 10×42’s. *** ALSO *** these close focus down to 6 feet! Yes, I said SIX feet. 12x combined with 6 ft close focus makes these perhaps the most powerful butterfly/insect binoculars ever made!

Another plus – these are simply the best looking binoculars I’ve ever seen – something about the smooth curves and materials transitions from front to back make people ask about them all the time.

All materials and mechanicals (focuser, diopter, body) are very high quality with near-perfect resistance to the touch. They are fully multi coated optics, including phase correction coatings, and waterproof/fogproof and O-ring sealed.

For Astronomy, these shine even more, and simply outclass any 7×50 or 10×50 I’ve ever used. The standard tripod mount works perfectly, and on the stand, the Crossfires can star split better than any binocular I own. They are even better with easy reach star clusters, like M7 and M44, which sparkle with life here and demonstrate the joy of binocular astronomy. And to think these are roof prisms (not normally associated with astronomy capability) is even more astonishing – the optics and build quality are to be commended.

They even throw in a full-blown binocular harness AND a neck strap – incredible value included at no extra cost.

Summary: Low cost, very high quality, good looking, wide array of functionality, terrific, usable optics, best value in binoculars available today. And I haven’t even mentioned the Vortex VIP unlimited warranty – how these guys pack so much quality and value into such a low price is kind of crazy – but you’d be crazy NOT to check these out! Highest recommendation.