Vortex Kaibab HD 15x56
The buyer gets caps, a strap, a case with its own strap and an original tripod adapter included in the product bundle. The set of binoculars comes with a lifetime guarantee.
| Magnification | Lens diameter | Angular field of view | Prisms | Eye relief | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | 56 | 75/1000(4.3o) | BaK-4/roof | 17.4 mm | 1250 g | 4244 PLN |
| Real front lens diameter |
Left: 56.01+/-
0.05 mm Right: 55.97+/- 0.05 mm |
8 / 8.0 pkt | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real magnification | 15.08+/- 0.05x | 3/3.0 | ||||
| Transmission | 89.2+/- 1.5% | 17/25.0 | ||||
| Chromatic aberration | Noticeable in the centre, large on the edge. | 3.6/10.0 | ||||
| Astigmatism | A bit lower than medium. | 6/10.0 | ||||
| Distortion | The distance of the first curved line from the field centre compared to the field of view radius: 75% ± 4% | 9/10.0 | ||||
| Coma | Appears in the distance of about 65-70%, and reaches the borderline between high and medium level on the very edge. | 6.1/10.0 | ||||
| Blurring at the edge of the FOV | The blur occurs in the distance of 97% +\- 2% from the field of vision centre. | 10/10.0 | ||||
| Darkening at the edge the FOV | Low. | 4/5.0 | ||||
| Whiteness of the image | The highest transmission for yellow light, about 10% higher than for blue or red light. | 3.9/5.0 | ||||
| Collimation | Perfect. | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Internal reflections |
|
3.8/5.0 | ||||
| Housing | Quite big and solid. Rubber near objectives a bit loose, it sticks out easily. Greenish, rubberized padding, sticks to your hand well. Comfortable to look through. Rubberized eyecups with 4 extension stops. Some grease inside the eyecups. The binoculars made in Japan. | 7/8.0 | ||||
| Focusing | Huge, comfortable, ribbed central wheel. Full turn takes as many as 760 degrees. Big and comfortable ring on the right eyepiece. It moves the outer element. | 4.5/5.0 | ||||
| Tripod | There is a comfortable exit and, additionally, we get an original tripod adapter included in box. | 3/3.0 | ||||
| Interpupilary distance | from 60.2 to 75.7mm | 4/6.0 | ||||
| Closest focusing distance | 5.1 m | 2/2.0 | ||||
| Eyepieces FOV | Apparent field of view of 62.9 deg (according to simple formula) and 57.5 deg (according to tangent formula). | 12.5/20.0 | ||||
| Field of view | Measured by us amounted to 4.17 +\- 0.04 degrees and it was a bit narrower than stated in specifications. A significant field of view for this class of equipment. | 4.5/8.0 | ||||
| Quality of the interior of the barrels | Dark, matt inner tubes. Black bottom. Few tiny specks of dust inside plus scratches on the right and on the left prism as well. | 3.5/5.0 | ||||
| Vignetting |
Nice circular pupils. |
8/8.0 | ||||
| Prisms quality | High quality BaK-4. | 8/8.0 | ||||
| Antireflection coatings | Green-pink on objectives and eyepieces. Greenish on prisms. Low intensity. | 5/5.0 | ||||
| Warranty [years] | lifetime | 6/6.0 | ||||
| Final result | 77.6% | 147.4 / 190 pkt | ||||
| Econo result | 0pkt. |
Summary
Pros:
- solid casing and good build quality,
- wide field of view for such a magnification,
- good transmission
- sharp image in practically the whole field of view,
- low brightness loss on the edge of the field,
- splendid distortion correction,
- perfectly circular exit pupils on a dark background,
- good quality prisms and coatings,
- tripod adapter as a part of the product bundle,
- lifetime warranty.
Cons:
- noticeable chromatic aberration, especially on the edge of the field of vision.
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There are not many sets of binoculars with 15-15x magnification and 50-60 mm objective diameter on the market. We managed to find some, though, in order to compare the tested device to them.. As you can notice when it comes to basic parameters the group is quite homogeneous. Only the Docter sticks out a bit with its objective diameter and weight and the Leica differs in price – mainly because of the rangefinder used. Fields of view are quite decent in this group (eyepieces on the level of 60 degrees or more) and range from 4.0 to 4.4 degrees.
The Vortex Kaibab HD 15x56 is not a cheap device, quite the opposite in fact – the price of over 1000 Euro is impressive even in the case of such an objective as big as 56 mm. It is a segment for the most serious market players. Can you justify such a steep price? It seems that yes, you can. An average chromatic aberration correction level is the only slip-up of the tested Kaibab HD, being low despite using low-dispersion elements in objective lenses.
In the case of other categories, we don’t see any weak results, only average, good or very good ones. Overall the device got 137 points in our test. It is a score only a tad over 1 point worse than that of the Docter Nobilem 15x60 BGA, so praised by us - a set of binoculars with a similar price tag, a significantly greater weight, being much less handy. If you are interested in such parameters, you can’t afford the Swarovski SLC New 15x56 and you are terrified seeing the dimensions and the weight of the Docter, the Vortex Kaibab HD 15x56 will be a good choice for sure.
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