Atlas Optics Intrepid ED 8x42 Binocular

I bought a pair of these for a Christmas gift and checked them out before presenting them. All I can do is agree with previous reviews. These are amazing for the price. The focus is quite slow, especially at close distances, so they might be difficult to use for butterflies. But the color, contrast, brightness, and sharpness have to be seen to be believed.

The Atlas Optics Intrepids blow everything in their price range out of the water- hands down. I had my sights on a new pair of Eagle Optics Rangers (as I had used an older pair for some time), but I ordered these too when I learned about them. The ED glass in the Intrepids is in a different class than the Rangers or any other binoc outside of the alpha-class. The image is extremely bright and sharp throughout, and field of view is expansive (one-third wider than the Rangers in the comparable 8x magnification). One will notice these are heavier than the Rangers, but fall neatly in the size range of top-dollar ED binocs. The only drawback is the relatively slow focusing speed, but this is only a minor issue when moving from very close targets to rather distant ones (the excellent depth of focus makes this moot for average birding distances). For the money, the Atlas Optics Intrepids absolutely cannot be beat. In fact, you aren't likely to find comparable glasses unless you triple or quadruple your budget.