Opticron Discovery 8x32 and 8x42 Review

Being a huge Opticron fan, I am delighted to write this short review of the Discovery 8x42 and 8x32 which sit just below the Explorer at the top of the Chinese range (the more expensive models being made in Japan).

The Opticron Discovery 8x42 has a light weight magnesium alloy body and weighs in at 703g. It feels solid and well built. As you would expect, it is waterproof and fogproof. The rubber armouring is quite grippy, but soft to touch at the same time. It has a very comfortable feel in the hand.

It's smaller brother, the 8x32, has a Super lightweight ABS plastic body and weighs in at a tiny 391g.  This model is almost an exact, though smaller, replica of the 8x42.  It is small enough, and light enough, to fit into a coat pocket.  In fact, it could easily be mistaken for a compact binocular.  Having said that, it feels surprisingly good in my large hands and is much more substantial than your average compact.

The focussing knob is well positioned on both models and is quite grippy too. The grooves are just about right. It focusses from right to left, from close focus to infinity in about one and a half rotations. The focussing is smooth, but the 8x42 unit that I have has a little bit of "play". However, I find it very easy to obtain a sharp image on both the 8x42 and the 8x32.

The eye pieces are large. Eye relief on the 8x42, at 22mm, is excellent for those who wear glasses.  However, the 8x32 has eye relief of just 17mm.  This should be fine for most people who wear glasses, but I find I do have to press them against my glasses ever so slightly.  For those who don't wear glasses, the eye pieces extend out smoothly. There are intermediate stops and when fully extended they stay in place well.

The field of view is an impressive 131m at 1000m on both models. For the 8x42 model, close focus is an outstanding 1.5m although I could focus to about 1m which is really quite phenomenal. The 8x32 has a listed close focus of 1.2m but I managed to focus just under 1m - again this is outstanding.  What's more, the image at close focus is very sharp and is really the outstanding feature of these binoculars.

The image provided by the Discovery is just about right for the price point. It's bright and sharp. It's certainly not the sharpest binocular around and I have my doubts as to the sharpness at distance, but as I said, I think it's more than acceptable. I estimate the sweet spot is around 75% on both models, after which the sharpness deteriorates quite rapidly. The outer 15% is unusable.

The Discovery is listed as Fully Multicoated and it is phase corrected. The colour seems quite neutral but perhaps a little "washed out" due to the aluminium coatings. Chromatic Aberration appears to be well controlled. It's good in the centre but is noticeable at the edges. Stray light management is very good.

I think if the Opticron Discovery provides a good value binocular for someone on a tight budget. Given the excellent close focus ability this is also a good butterfly or insect binocular. I searched high and low for a compact binocular that would provide a very good image in a small package.  The Opticron Discovery 8x32 is the binocular I've been looking for.   The 8x32 has an RRP of £169 whilst the 8x42 has an RRP of 8x42. My experience with the 8x42 and 8x32 has made me keen to try others in the Discovery range.