Bresser Condor 10x42 Binoculars Review

New Version Available

Please note that this review is of an old version which has since been updated. You can find a the New Bresser Condor 10x42 Binocular Review Here.

After opening the box and taking out the excellent quality carry bag, I just had to check again to make sure that these Bresser Condor 10x42 binoculars really are in the budget category. I have often reviewed far more expensive optics with far less impressive carry bags as to save money many manufacturers often skimp on the accessories, this is not the case with these. So off to a good start, time to see if the binocular can match it's case!

Bresser Condor Optics

My first impression looking through the roof prism Condor's was good, the image was bright, clear and sharp. During my review I compared the view through them with another Bresser binocular the Bresser Luchs 8x42: I had to swap them often, each time looking very, very carefully and to be honest the image produced by the far more expensive Luch's is ever so slightly better, just that little bit sharper and brighter. This is not to say that the image that the Condor's produce is bad, far from it and considering how much they cost it is very, very good.

Lens & Prism Coatings
Bresser use quality BaK-4 roof prisms in these Condor binoculars, meaning that they are made of superior optical glass that produces clearer images. The optics are also fully multi-coated, which means that all air to glass surfaces have received multiple layers of antireflection coatings meaning that more light gets to your eyes. So where are they missing out, well more expensive binoculars often have phase correction coatings on the prism glass that keeps light in correct color phases. This is an expensive process and is why you almost never find it on cheaper optics.

The Main Body

An impressive feature of the 10x42 Bresser Condor binocular is it's weight, at only 666g (23.5oz) they are lighter than most full size roof prism binoculars and their dimensions too are fairly compact for a 10x42 binocular. According to Bresser, these are made of the latest engineering polymer, a product of the space research industry, for lightness and strength.

The rubber armoring on the binocular is not as rubbery as you find on many binoculars, but will help protect the optics from any minor bumps. Overall this Bresser Condor is a well balanced and light binocular an important quality when used for extended periods.

Waterproof
The Condor 10x42 is waterproof (Immersion tested 1m for 60sec) and nitrogen filled to prevent internal fogging making them a good choice for those wishing to observe in extreme weather conditions and places with high humidity or rapid temperature changes.

The Eye Cups
The twist-up eyecups work well, and lock into place in either the fully extended or retracted positions. They do not have fixed intermediate stops as you sometimes find on other binoculars.

Focusing
Focusing is smooth and fairly accurate with the central focusing wheel that takes about 2 full turns to go from infinity to it's closest focusing distance of 3 meters (9.8ft). Personally I like to be able to go from far to near focus with fewer turns of the wheel, but this less agressive gearing does make fine tuning your focus that much easier.

The diopter adjustment is on the right barrel and is smooth and easy to adjust, whilst tight enough that it should not be moved accidentally. This adjustment allows you to adjust the lenses separately to allow for differences in each of your eyes and plays an important part in correctly focusing your binoculars.

Also Included
These Bressers have an excellent quality soft carry bag, that includes a pocket on the inside to carry items like a lens cleaner or even your car keys. It is also designed in such a way that even though it is a "soft" bag it will provide a fair amount of protection to it's contents. This is made even more impressive considering that these are essentially low cost binoculars. I have reviewed many binoculars with a price that is more than twice the cost of these with far worse accessories. It is a pity that the neck strap is not as impressive, but does the job fine.

The lens caps fit well and should not accidentally fall off and I really like the fact that the objective lens caps are tethered to the barrels of the binocular (See video below). I am always misplacing my lens caps and this really helps. What is also good is if you don't like them attached to your optics, they can be removed, so everyone is a winner!

Stats

It is no secret that the combination of a 10x magnification and 42mm objective lenses is my favourite setup for general use and especially for wildlife observation. It has always my size of choice when working as a safari guide. For me they are the ideal compromise between a powerful magnification, field of view, light gathering potential and size. A 10x42 binocular is ideal for getting as close to the action as possible without the need for image stabilization or a tripod, yet still has a wide enough field of view to make them more than decent birding binoculars.

10x42 binoculars like these Bresser Condor's have an Exit Pupil of 4.2 and a Twilight Factor of 21, both of which are fine fine for most low light conditions like twilight. (I often use a 10x42 binocular on game drives that either end just after sunset or leave at sunrise without any problems). Whilst these figures do not take into account the quality of the prisms, lenses and their coatings, they do make it possible to compare the performance of binoculars in low light conditions and what is good is that for their price these Bressers do have really good lenses, prisms and coatings that combine to produce an image that is both bright and sharp.

The apparent field of view for the Bresser Condor 10x42 is 101m at 1000m, which to be honest is not the greates and does fall pretty short of the best binoculars like the Swarovski 10x42 EL's (112m at 1000m), but you must remember that the Swarovski's are more than 15x the cost of these Bressers!

Close focusing distance is 3 meters (9.8ft), which is about average, the very best 10x roof prism binoculars generally have a near focusing distance of between 8 and 9 feet.

Conclusion

Considering that you can buy the Bresser 10x42 Condor for around $100 / £130, I think you are getting a good pair of binoculars for your money. The optics are good, but it must be said for more money, you can get better. So in conclusion if you are looking for a good quality budget binocular, that you can take camping, traveling or to any sporting event that will work well in all forms of nature observation then you could do far worse than these Bressers Definitly one of the best budget binoculars I have ever reviewed.