Best Value, Best-selling 10x42’s on Amazon

Article | Posted by Best Binocular Reviews

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the Best-selling Binoculars on Amazon.com (USA) and basically came to the conclusion that the the majority of people buying binoculars from Amazon in the US are choosing very cheap pairs (under $150) with fairly high magnifications.

Across the Pond
If you take a look at the Best-Selling Binoculars on Amazon.co.uk (UK), you can see that for the most part the top 100 consists of inexpensive binoculars, purchased by those that perhaps do not know a whole lot about optics and binoculars.

So this week, rather than just repeating myself, I have decided to tale a look a little more deeply, being more specific and focusing on the more serious pairs of optics to see if we can find some of the best.

The Best Value, Best-selling 10X42’s on Amazon

To start with I went through the list of top 100 best selling binoculars on Amazon.co.uk picking out what I considered to be the better quality binoculars (there were only 11!) and of these the most common configuration was 10x42 (there were four) so this seems a good place to start and so below are the four best selling, higher quality 10x42 binoculars on Amazon.co.uk (as of the 06th July 2012 – Amazon updates this list hourly)

1) Vanguard 10x42 Spirit ED – Rank: 43rd
2) Nikon 10x42 Dcf Monarch – Rank: 56th
3) Bushnell Natureview 10x42 – Rank: 81st
4) Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 10x42 – Rank: 98th

Right, so that’s our very short list, lets now take a better look and compare their main features and statistics against each other and see what deductions, if any that we can make:


	Vanguard 10x42 Spirit ED	Nikon 10x42 Dcf Monarch	Bushnell Natureview 10x42	Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 10x42
Current Amazon Ranking:	43	56	81	98
List Price (RRP)::	£349.99 ($370)	£438 ($450)	£145.99 ($243.95)	£579.95 ($422.95)
Current Price:	£199.99 ($280)	£201.51 ($260)	£145.99 ($130)	£340 ($280)
Weight:	22.6oz (640g)	21.9oz (620g)	25.4oz (720g)	24.7ozs (700g)
Length:	5.7in (14.5cm)	5.7in (14.6cm)	7.0in (17.8cm)	5.5in (14cm)
Width:	4.9in (12.5cm)	5.1in (12.9cm)	5.0in (12.7cm)	5.0in (12.7cm)
Eye Relief:	16mm	18.5mm	17mm	16mm
Close Focusing Distance:	9.2ft	8.2ft	15.0ft	6.5ft
Angular FOV:	6.0°	5.5°	6.0°	6.4°
FOV at 1000yds:	315ft	288ft	315ft	340ft
FOV at 1000m:	105m	96m	105m	113m
Lens Coatings	Fully Multi-coated	Multi-coated	Fully Multi-coated	Fully Multi-coated
ED Galss	Yes	No	No	Yes
Prism Glass:	BaK-4	BaK-4	BaK-4	BaK-4
Phase Correction	Yes	Yes	–	Yes
Prism Coatings	Silver Coating	Dielectric	–	–
Body Material	–	fibreglass-reinforced polycarbonate resin	–	Magnesium
Waterproof	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fogproof	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tripod Adaptable	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Of the four best-selling 10x42’s, two binoculars really stand out for me, the Bushnell Legend Ultra HDs and the Vanguard Spirit EDs as they are the only two that use Extra Low Dispersion Glass in the lenses, which really helps to prevent chromatic aberrations.

Whilst the Bushnell Legend, edges the Vanguard with a slightly wider field of view and closer focussing distance, all their other specs and features are fairly similar, except for their price as the Bushnell is almost twice the cost of the Vanguards!

Incredibly the Vanguard is currently available for only £199.99 ($280) – which as you can see is pretty close to the price of the Nikon Dcf Monarch, which has far lower quality optical components and coatings.

What is more, I fully reviewed the Vanguard 10x42 Spirit ED where they scored an outstanding 87% and actually actually went on to win my award for the Best Value For Money Binocular way back in in 2011 and this was when they were being sold for around £300! – which at the time I thought was an excellent price – at £199.99 or even $280 they really are unbelievably good value for money.

For me, a good value for money binocular is one that gives you the best specifications, most features, best quality components and the best image quality for the least amount of money possible and these Vanguard 10x42 Spirit ED Binoculars certainly deliver in almost all of these regards and for that reason they win my vote as being the best value of the best selling 10x42 Binoculars on Amazon.co.uk… on the 6th July 2012!