Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Nikon Aculon 7x35

Academy has 'em for $60, so I figured what the heck.....

Ain't nothing wrong with a decent set of 7x35 porros, its all I used for decades back in the day. Japanese, all-metal construction, no waterproofing or purging, notable chromatic aberration. I guess we had lower expectations and made do.

Then came in an era of cheap plastic versions with poor optics and flimsy construction. Near as I can tell Leupold's Yosemites changed all that; inexpensive plastic porros that were also fairly sturdy with decent to very good optics. But they don't make a 7x30 or 35.

These Aculons look to be about as sturdy as the Yosemites, with just a hair more flex in the plastic eyepiece chassis. Compared to Yosemites they're big, about the same way 7x35's usually were. Close focus is supposed to be 16 feet but seems closer. Focus knob is slightly over one turn lock to lock, a bit stiff but admirably quick.

The diopter adjustment underneath the right eyepiece is likewise stiff to turn, a good thing in this case as it will better hold its setting. IME the Achilles heel of inexpensive binocs are the fragile twist-up eyecups. In this case the Acolons work fine for me even with the eyecups left in the down (and less fragile) position.

Had mine out all day today and was shocked how good the optics were. Clear, bright with great color. Excellent depth of field center field, fuzzy and out of focus at the margins but still good enough at the edges of the FOV to detect movement.

Remains to be seen how the lack of waterproofing/fogproofing affects 'em over time, somehow we survived not having those features in our binocs back then.

Better than my old Japanese 7x35 porros.

At that price I give 'em two thumbs up.


Birdwatcher

Yep- I recommended a pair of the Action EX in 7x35 to a friend who was buying for his son to use while hunting. He swears he will never part with them. I think 7x35 are THE perfect config -at least for what I do.

I keep looking for a dielectric coated FMC roof in that size but it so far have come up short. A few 8x36's out there but nothing universally appreciated. Well made inexpensive bins with a porro view make deciding on something a lot more expensive very difficult. Wonder what one might have to spend in order to get similar satisfaction out of a roof? I know they are closing the gap but.....

7x is my preferred power, 6x not reaching out quite far enough (tho I could live with the 6x30 Yosemite) and 8x just being a tad unsteady, especially with a quick one-handed glance at something.

I have purchased two 7x roofs in over the last 18 months. Both from Eagle Optics. Both had good to great optics, but not the phenomenal depth of field I get from optically very good porro optics like the Aculons.

The first were Altas Optics Intrepid 7x36.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/atlas-optics/atlas-optics-intrepid-ed-7x36-binocular

The thing I never got used to was the focus knob, like 2 1/2 turns, just wasn't quick enough when that warbler was gonna be gone in two seconds. So I gifted them off.

Next I got the Celeston 7x33's...

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/celestron/celestron-granite-7x33-binocular

Great optics! One and a bit turns of the focus knob lock to lock. I bought 'em so as to have decent optics on a windfall trip to Costa Rica this past summer (chaperoning students for a travel company).

Depth of field was just average but clarity was very good.

I accidentally knocked 'em off a table at breakfast one morning and they landed hard on a tile floor, knocked 'em out of alignment

Which brings up another point; EVERY pair of binocs I own is functionally a "truck" binocular, likely to be brung along everywhere and abused accordingly.

My default pair is ten plus year-old Brunton Eterna Roofs 7x44, heavy and no longer made, built like a truck. Decent functional optics but I've seen better.

Once I left 'em on the roof of the car and had to take the next exit to go back and retrieve them off of the Interstate Still work fine. Fortunately I had also brung them to Costa Rica as a backup pair (being stuck on a place like Costa Rica with no bincos at hand would be a species of Hell fer me ).

At $60 these Aculons I just got are the most inexpensive binocs I have thus far found that have good optics. How they hold up remains to be seen.

Also, been a while since I had binocs that weren't waterproofed. I don't recall that being a major problem in the old-style porro decades gone by, I'll find out with these I guess.

Birdwatcher

Yeah water was never a problem for me either and you would think all porros sweat at the first sign of moisture. Guess I take my reading from people who own more expensive roofs.

At $60 you could buy three or four before getting to where a roof might even think of satisfying you. Reliability by disposability- to a degree.

I had some touted 8x42 Pinnacles I fell out of love with before long. Seemed I was forever fidgeting with the focus. I bought some less svelte Bushnell Legend porros and the world lit up for about 1/4 the price. I find myself wanting a good roof but sometimes feel it is only because I am 'supposed' to want them.