Praktica Falcon 7x50mm Porro Prism Field Black Binoculars - Fully Coated Lenses, Sturdy Construction, Aluminium Chassis, Sharp Clear Image, Bird Watching, Sailing, Hiking, Sightseeing, Astronomy

Pleased with the quality of these. Found that i shake more than i realised, so had to get the ones with the tripod attachment. Image quality is good, and focus adjustment is firm but not too stiff. Carry bag is nice, and i found these excellent as a starter into watching the night sky. Lens covers fit snugly but don't have anti loss straps, so i put them safely to one side before going out. Overall weight is good, look nice, and reasonably priced. well known make.

I bought a pair of these 8x40 Falcons two years ago now and I realised I have not made any comments on them which considering how well they have performed, I really should.First up, I'm going to get the negative stuff out of the way as I like to finish on a positive. The single worst thing about these binoculars is the lens caps. They are horrible and keep falling off. Not exactly a big problem though given the over all picture. Second is the case which is thin neoprene. It does the job, but feels flimsy and not exactly that nice. Again, not a major issue.Anything else negative? Hmmmm, not really. No water proofing or anti fogging Nitrogen, but that's not surprising given the price. Just don't use them in the rain or at extreme temperatures. Bit of a struggle to find anything else bad to say about them. They look slightly strange to my eyes, but handle pretty well. Certainly better handling than I expected. The focus wheel on my pair honestly is absolutely perfect. Its extremely smooth and slow which is exactly how I like it. I have about 15 different pairs of bins for me and my wife to go birdwatching and the focus wheel on these is amongst the best even though matched against bins costing around the £300 mark.So on to the optical performance. Cheesy as it sounds, but these have out performed numerous other pairs of bins I own that are a fair bit more expensive. How so? Well firstly my pair show next to no chromatic blur on sharp contrasting edges like telegraph poles and wiring. The view is nice and sharp even on birds further away at the edge of focus limit. Also birds in darker areas in trees can appear as just silhouettes. But the colour does still pop out a fair bit on mine allowing me to still see and identify them. Yes I have two pairs of bins that do this even better, but they both cost a lot more. These are the cheapest full sized binoculars I own, yet they basically still outperform all but two of my substantially more expensive bins.They have lower specs like BAK7 lenses and are multi coated rather than fully multi coated, but even the brightness of image is good. Certainly not darker than other 8x42 BAK4 Fully multi coated bins I have bar the two pairs I already mentioned that perform better. Bit of a head scratcher really as to why they are so good given the difference in price and specs.It might appear I have a load or rubbish bins then if these perform so well compared to them. But I don't! These just have a fantastically sharp, bright and 3d view with great field of vision. Other binocular users have had a view from these and all have been surprised by how good the optical performance is. At the end of the day, I put this down to them being Porro prisms rather than the newer less bulky Roof prism design. Porro's often perform well as they don't need all the extras like phase coating and such. If you get a pair of Porro prism binoculars that have been manufactured well, they will perform as well as Roof prisms that are substantially more expensive with much higher specs. Just take care of Porro prism bins even more than Roof types. Porro's are more delicate than Roofs.I bought a rain shield for these so I could ditch the horrible lens covers and picked up a cheap £19 padded case for them. Its completely transformed the overall feel of using them. They feel excellent. Some have commented that they are unsure of the durability of them which is a fair comment. I am careful with all my binoculars, but 2 years of solid use and I have had no issue with these.All in all I would say these would be a go to binocular for anyone getting into birdwatching for the first time. The price is extremely low so first timer's can toe dip to see if they like it without spending loads cash on a pair that then just gather dust on a shelf. Even without the extras I spent on mine, a first timer would still be getting a pair of binoculars that punch well above their price in optical performance. I can't recommend these enough really.

Great value for money- it's hard to believe Practica can make these very reasonable binoculars for such a low price.I saw other reviews and thought I'd give them a go. Practica is a name I recognise- a long-established camera/lens brand- not high-end/pricey, but affordable and reliable. The quality of the Practica Falcon 10 X 50s optics is really good - at this price it compares very well against others that cost far more. They are great for general watching birds or star gazing. They also have a screw hole (under the bridge cap) in the middle between the two lenses which allows an adapter/ bracket to be used to attach the binoculars to a tripod- (these aren't supplied with the bins but are really great for holding them steady for long periods- I find this feature very useful for astronomy). The binoculars are actually fairly light to hold and they focus very crisply. The build feel is solid. 10x magnification is really just about right for most uses, (powerful enough to see details but without the noticeable wobble that comes with much higher magnification. The 50mm objective lenses are also much better for gathering available light - really noticeable when compared to the compact 10 x 25mm binoculars I often take with me on hikes.Disadvantages? well, it states the lenses/binoculars are not weatherproof - so not completely sealed or nitrogen-filled etc- something more common in higher-priced binoculars. So probably not ones to take out on a boat etc- but for general use and stargazing (not done in the rain!), they are really great value. They come with 4 detachable lens caps (ie they are "just" caps- not secured in any way to the body of the binoculars when removed) and a (very) soft neoprene case- which is not all that great, but fine for storage. (You don't want to choose binoculars based solely on the case they come in!).Overall, for the money, these are really great value.UpdateAdditional comment- (June 2021- added after using them for a month or so)- they are still great, continue to be impressed with the optics, both in terms of the crispness and the light transmission. I was recently able to compare these 10 x50s with some (admittedly smaller and lighter) roof prism 12 X42 binoculars - which I found to be noticeably "dimmer", compared to the Practicas. (As you might expect, given the Practicas have 50mm objective lenses). I much preferred the Practicas!Also worth noting that the Practica Falcon binoculars have a worldwide 25-year guarantee (according to the Practica website) so that also says something about the build quality.

Way underpriced, great value for what you get, for astronomy, you can see the moon extremely clear, all I would say is a tripod would benefit the experience a LOT.

These binoculars are excellent value for money. They compare favourably (or a maybe even slightly better) than my 'premium brand' 10X50 binoculars.They are well above my expectations for the money and are brilliant for general viewing and excel at 'night sky watching' since the image is very bright, and very little shake (since the magnification at 7X is easier to use without a tripod), so 'star spotting' is right in its 'sweet spot'They feel very well built and of good quality, and the package come with carry case, strap, optical cleaning cloth and 4X lens caps.Highly recommended