Eschenbach Club W 8x25 Binoculars Review

Designed with women in mind, the Club W 8x25 Binocular with it's plum/pink accents on the mother-of-pearl effect body makes a bold statement in it's design, but does it still stack up as a serious binocular? Read below as I get under the hood and review the Eschenbach Club W 8x25 B Binoculars:

Eschenbach Club W Optics

For a compact binocular, with fairly standard 25mm objective lenses the view through this 8x25 Eschenbach is pretty impressive. There was no colour fringing and only a small hint of softening of the image on the periphery of the view, but no more than any binocular in their class and indeed about the same as the very impressive Eschenbach 10x28 Farlux B Silver Binoculars.

Like every one of the Eschenbach binoculars that I have so far reviewed, I was really impressed with their bright and sharp image. Carefully comparing them with my "control" pair of Steiner 10x26 Wildlife binoculars which is one of my favorite compact's, I would say that the image was equaly as bright and as sharp through each.

There are many factors that combine to produce the final image brightness and clarity in a pair of optics. These include the size of the objective lens, quality of glass, their coatings and the physical assembly and quality of the prisms. So let's take a look a what these Eschenbach Club W binoculars have that help to produce their image:

Lens & Prism Coatings
These Eschenbach 8x25 binoculars use BaK-4 roof prisms which means that they are made of superior optical glass on top of this the prisms have a Phase-correction coating that basically helps to reduce the phase shift of light that is caused by phase differences arising from total light reflection on a roof surface. This Phase-correction coating therefore reduces the loss of image resolution maintaining high-contrast images and is found only in high end roof prism binoculars.

Fully multi-coated lenses are also used, meaning that all air to glass surfaces have received multiple layers of antireflection coatings enabling more light to get to your eyes by reducing the light loss and glare due to reflection to produce a brighter, higher-contrast image.

The Main Body

These Club W's weigh 12.2 oz (345g) which for a compact is on the heavier side, but still much lighter than a full size or even mid size binocular.

Their dimensions of 4.3x4.3x1.5in (11x11x3.8cm) are about average foe a roof prism compact and will easily fit into a handbag, perfect for taking to the horese races, golf or any other sporting event.

The body of the Eschenbach Club W 8x25 B Binoculars has a really solid feel to it, but because of the stylish mother-of-pearl effect, these do not have a rubber armour coating on top. This is no problem in the dry, but could make them a little slippery when wet.

Whilst the bright white color with chrome and pink accents looks great, I would suggest that the 8x25 Club W would not make an ideal field binocular. Depending on how skittish the wildlife you are viewing is, any bright shiny object could catch the sun frightening what you are trying to look at away. The lack of any rubber coating also means that there is no dampening down any noise from something bumping against them. To many this may not seem important, but sometimes any metallic sound can easily frighten away skittish birds and other wildlife and is something that is easily done with something like a wedding ring.

Focusing
To focus the binocular, you use the large central focusing wheel which is both smooth and accurate and takes les than one full turn to go from infinity to it's excellent closest focusing distance of 2m (6.6ft). The diopter adjustment that allows you to adjust the lenses separately to allow for differences each of your eyes and plays an important part in correctly focusing your binoculars is on the right barrel. The ring is notched and clicks into each setting, which will help prevent it from being accidentally being moved and works well.

Waterproof
The nitrogen-filled body of the Eschenbach Club W binocular means that they are fully waterproof as well as fogproof as the nitrogen prevents the interior optical surfaces from fogging up due to rapid temperature changes or in areas that have high humidity.

The Eye Cups
The 10x28 Farlux has twist out eyecups, that have four click stops: flush against the eyepiece, two intermediate stops and fully extended. So for non-eyeglass wearers, you just use the eyecups in the extended position, whilst eyeglass wearers can either use them fully retracted or at any of the other points depending on your glasses. The manufacturers do not state the official amount of eye-relief, but compared to other compacts that I have reviewed, there should be more than enough for most people who wear glasses.

Also Included
A matching white neck stap is included and I do like the white soft leather carry case that is of good quality. A very soft, felt like drew string pouch is also included that is ideal for protection when carried in something like a hand bag.

Stats

Their Field of view at 1000m is 96m (288 ft. at 1000 yds), which for a 8x compact binocular about average and does fall short of the binoculars like the Steiner 8.5x26 Wildlife Pro's (333 at 1000 yards).

Close focusing distance is 2 meters (6.6ft), which is very good, ideal for taking a closer look at flowers, butterflies and other insects.

8x25 binoculars have an Exit Pupil of 3.1 and a Twilight Factor of 14.1, both of which point to the fact that if you compare them to most 8x full size binoculars they are not ideal for poor light conditions. It is also important to remember that 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 different configurations of binoculars in low light conditions.

Conclusion

These elegant, but bright binoculars were never made for roughing it, they are however both a stylish and usefull accessory for a day at Ascot, Wimbledon or even for that lazy country walk. Housed in the mother-of-pearl effect body are indeed quality optics that perform really well and as such are ideal sports binoculars for women.