A good, cheap binocular. The Olympus RC I Outback (8x21) Binocular

I recently picked up a new binocular to keep in my truck for impromptu scouting trips or for when I'm attending a ball game my son is playing. My requirements were simple; the binocular needed to be small, light, have adequate magnification and offer a nice crisp image. After looking at several and reading about these in a leading consumer magazine, I choose the Olympus 8 X21 RCI Outback Binocular. Here’s why.

What you get
In the box you’ll find a your new binoc’s wearing a soft case with four lens caps, a plastic neck strap and an owners manual tucked in with them. The warranty isn’t bad at one year from the date of purchase. If you need to send your binoculars in for repair the repairs themselves are warrantied for six months from the day they ship them back to you.

Compact Size
This binocular won’t take up a lot of space. I measured these at about 4x 3.5x 1.5 inches. They will fold up smaller than similar binoculars of the same size because there is a wide center section with optical tube hinged separately. You can fit these into the average coat pocket !

Lightweight
At under half a pound you can hold them for a long time without having your hands cramp up. This is important if like me, you have arthritis. Another advantage to the light weight is they will not tug at your neck if you carry them by the included neck strap.

Do you see what I see ?
You can see most things clearly with these binoculars. Focus is adjusted via the usual center located ring and due to the small size folks with small hands shouldn’t have any problem reaching the focus ring.

The 8 stands for the magnification, the higher the number, the closer the object will appear. The 21 is the measurement of the objective lens (The big one.) The higher this number the more light can enter and the brighter the image will appear. Keep in mind the more you increase both of these numbers the bigger and heavier the binocular will become.


How do you spell relief ?
There is something called “Eye Relief” and this is the distance your eyeball must be from the eyepiece to view the image. The lower the image the closer you must hold the binocular to look through them. Eye relief on this model is a roomy 11mm. Having this much eye relief is a good thing because if you wear eyeglasses, you’ll be able to look through the binocular comfortably without having to remove them.

The good news...
is these binoculars will provide a clear, crisp image under most lighting conditions. They are light and easily held and carried. All lenses are multi-coated and offer UV protection. The field-of-view or the width of the distance viewed at 1,000 yards is 324 ft, and to be truthful could be a bit wider, but the limiting factor is the size of the objective lens.

The bad news is...
these binoculars do not have any waterproofing at all. I’m not saying they will leak like a sieve, but they will most likely fog up during inclement weather. There are lens caps provided, and they fit snugly but there is no provision to attach the lens caps to the neck strap so the will eventually fall off and get lost.

Keep in mind these are designed for casual use like indoors at an arena and fair weather outdoor events. I would not recommend using these during bad weather. These are widely available at pricing varies from roughly $47.99 to about sixty bucks so shop around for the best deal.