Moderately priced, mid-sized binocular for glasses wearers

When our team of birders tried out dozens of 8x32 and 10x32 binoculars for our review in the January, 2005, issue of Bird Watcher's Digest, we found very few of the smaller binoculars that worked well with glasses.

One that did so was the Celestron Noble 8x32.

If wearing glasses has kept you from using mid-sized binoculars, you might want to try this offering from Celestron. The manufacturer lists the eye relief as 20mm. And when we tried it in our tests, the judges who wore glasses reported that they saw the whole picture. A rare quality in a smaller binocular.

The Celestron Noble has twist-up, click-lock eyecups and a compact shape.  It focuses close (5 feet). The focus knob is smooth and easy to turn, making for a relatively quick transition from close to distant viewing. The optical quality is rather good, and the price is moderate.

Although, at 32mm, the objective lens is smaller than full-size binoculars, we found tht the image was plenty bright in daylight. At late dusk, some people might find the image dimmer than an 8x42 binocular, but for regular daytime viewing, this smaller instrument will perform adequately.

This binocular weighs only 19 ounces, barely over a pound. Now isn't that load off your shoulders?