Helios Nitrosport 8x26 Binoculars

+ Bargain price for thoroughly decent performance. These are certainly not toys.

+ Adequate case and straps provided.

+ Sharp enough to be truly useful but…

- It doesn’t ‘pop’ into focus as well as many better binoculars.

+ That means you don’t feel the urge to constantly re-focus.

+ Nice smooth focus knob, easy to move.

+ Nice smooth dioptre ring, stiff to move (as it should be).

+ Insignificant colour fringing.

+ Decent contrast but….

- Prone to glare with bright light falling on the lenses.

+ Light & robust enough to take anywhere.

+ Perfect to keep in the glove-box, ‘just in case’.

+ Objective lens covers provided but….

- The objective lens covers are not very secure and are likely to be lost.

+ Rain-shield included but…..

- The rain-shield always moves the twist-up eye-cups when you remove it but….

+ It does have twist-up eye cups.

- With or without spectacles, I cannot find an eye position where I can move my eyes much to look off-centre without the image blackening. It MAY just be me but I have to move my head and the binoculars together if I want to see anything that is very far off centre. That is not a killer problem but it is something that you may notice if you are used to better optics. (I do NOT have this problem with my Nikon Active EX 10x50s or my Opticron BGA 8x42s or my beloved Swarovski CL 8x25s that I recently lost – boo hoo. I will explain below why the Swarovski 8x25s are as good as pretty well any other binoculars FOR ME and maybe for others too.

- Because I personally am unable to assess the accuracy of focus off-centre, I cannot say anything reliable about flatness of field or sharpness away from the centre. My peripheral vision tells me it is not particularly impressive – but that really doesn’t matter for short-term use.

+ The rubber casing doesn’t smell like old car tyres (My Nikon Active EX 10x50s do!)

+ Brightness is fine FOR ME. As you probably know, the binocular’s exit-pupil size is theoretically Objective lens/magnification i.e. 26/8 = 3.25mm. As long as your pupil size is less than 3.25mm, which mine are, then these little binoculars will be as bright as bigger ones of the same quality. My own pupils are the limiting factor. I can see a FRACTIONALLY brighter image through my 10x50s and 8x42s binoculars which have a theoretical exit pupil of 5mm and 5.25mm, not because they have bigger exit-pupils but because their coatings and/or the glass is better.

Bigger exit-pupils do make it easier to see the whole of the available view and easier to avoid ‘black-out’ if you haven’t set the inter-pupillary distance or the eye-cups right but a bigger exit-pupil will not make the image brighter if, like me, your own pupils are the limiting factor. That was why I loved my Swarovski CL 8x25 binoculars. Their image was super-sharp almost across the field which I WAS able to see easily without any ‘black-out’ even though their exit-pupil was only 3.125mm. They should be better than the Helios, much better, because they cost >13 times as much – boo hoo.

- The Helios 8x26 are not ideal for long-term viewing. Sorry to keep harping on about my other binoculars but all the ones I have mentioned ARE comfortable for long-term viewing. These budget Helios binoculars are perfectly adequate for short-term viewing. Their use as a tool for checking something is beyond doubt; they give a clear magnified x8 view BUT I wouldn’t want to use them for hours on end. For long-term use, I personally would NEED something better to avoid eye strain. As ‘starter’ binoculars or to keep handy in the kitchen or the car, they are just about perfect and are thoroughly recommended. At £50 they are a bargain

Really pleased with this purchase, Helios are great value for money at this price point. Grabbed as a lightweight, general use pair for when I'm out and about in the countryside and I'm sure they'll fit the bill perfectly.

Love the close focus on these too, at about 1 to 2 meters I can get some crazy detail on birds visiting my feeders. There's a little bit of fringing on high contrast targets but it's barely noticeable to my untrained eyes. Chuffed!