Weaver Classic 10x42
The binoculars are small, light and handy. Their prisms, put in the Schmidt-Pechan system, have phase correction coatings and aluminum reflection coatings. All air-to-glass surfaces are covered by antireflection layers but only some surfaces are covered by multi-coatings.
| Magnification | Lens diameter | Angular field of view | Prisms | Eye relief | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 42 | 87/1000(5o) | BaK-4/roof | ? mm | 680 g | 899 PLN |
| Real front lens diameter |
Left: 41.3+/-
0.05 mm Right: 41.3+/- 0.05 mm |
5 / 8.0 pkt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real magnification | 9.83+/- 0.2x | 3/3.0 | ||||
| Transmission | 69+/- 4% | 5.5/25.0 | ||||
| Chromatic aberration | Medium. | 5/10.0 | ||||
| Astigmatism | Slight. | 7.2/10.0 | ||||
| Distortion | The distance of the first curved line from the field centre compared to the field of vision radius: 29% +- 3% | 2/10.0 | ||||
| Coma | Very low. | 8.2/10.0 | ||||
| Blurring at the edge of the FOV | The blur occurs in the distance of 92% +- 4% from the field of view centre. | 8.5/10.0 | ||||
| Darkening at the edge the FOV | Distinct. | 2.8/5.0 | ||||
| Whiteness of the image | Image noticeably yellow. | 3/5.0 | ||||
| Collimation | Exemplary. | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Internal reflections |
|
4.6/5.0 | ||||
| Housing | Small and handy. Slippery rubber. Not regulated and uncomfortable eyecups. | 6.1/8.0 | ||||
| Focusing | Both screws very comfortable. That on the eyepiece moves the lens. | 4.8/5.0 | ||||
| Tripod | There is a comfortable exit. | 3/3.0 | ||||
| Interpupilary distance | from 55 to 76.3mm | 5/6.0 | ||||
| Closest focusing distance | 1.3 m. | 2/2.0 | ||||
| Eyepieces FOV | Apparent field of view of 51.1 deg (according to simple formula) and 48.1 deg (according to tangent formula). | 4/20.0 | ||||
| Field of view | Measured by us amounted to 5.20 +- 0.03 degrees and it was by 0.20 degrees wider than in the specifications. | 5.5/8.0 | ||||
| Quality of the interior of the barrels | Black! Clean! Matt! | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Vignetting |
|
7.5/8.0 | ||||
| Prisms quality | High quality BaK-4. | 8/8.0 | ||||
| Antireflection coatings | Navy blue-purple on the objectives. Navy on the prisms. Green-purple on the eyepieces. Medium intensity. | 4.5/5.0 | ||||
| Warranty [years] | 10 | 4.5/6.0 | ||||
| Final result |
63%
43th place in global rank of our 10x42 test. |
119.7 / 190 pkt | ||||
| Econo result | 13th place in Econo rank of our 10x42 test. | 6.6pkt. |
Summary
Pros:- quite handy, light and solid housing,
- slight astigmatism,
- very low coma,
- sharp image almost in the whole field of view,
- low flares,
- excellent blackening and cleanliness inside the binoculars,
- sharp image already from 1.3 meters,
- good quality of prisms,
- comfortable IPD.
Cons:
- narrow field of view,
- too small objective lenses,
- average transmission,
- high distortion (with such a narrow field of view),
- significant light fall-off at the edge of the field,
- average whiteness rendition.
The binoculars surprised us very pleasantly when it comes to its interior’s build quality. It was perfectly blackened and, what’s more important, very clean. It influenced directly how the exit pupils look - they present themselves on a nice black background without any serious flares or false pupils.
Like other instrument with a narrow field of view, we deal here with a crisp, sharp image and good correction of off-axis aberrations (coma, astigmatism, chromatic aberration) but, in this case, we were surprised by the high distortion level. As the Weaver didn’t fail in other test categories (maybe apart from the transmission level which was just average) its result is quite good. The price is a problem, though. If it was by about 100 USD lower the Weaver would be a very strong player in the lowest price segment. It costs less than 300 USD, though, so you might start wondering whether it wouldn’t be better to increase the budget a bit and invest in more expensive binoculars with the similar result in the test but with significantly wider field of view (the Ecotone AD-7, the Vixen Apex Pro, the Eschenbach-sektor D compact 10x42 B or the Swift Ultralite).
