Athlon Optics 12x50 Midas G2 UHD Black Binoculars with Eye Relief for Adults and Kids, High-Powered Binoculars for Hunting, Birdwatching, and More

I bought a pair of these Athlon Midas 12x50 binoculars because I thought they would be good for looking at distant birds, especially waterfowl and seabirds. 12x50 binoculars are somewhat frowned upon in the birding community as they are considered to too difficult to hand hold, too heavy and to have too narrow a field of view. Well, I tried them out, and now I use these binoculars for almost all my birding. The big, beautiful images of birds that I see when using these binoculars makes them irresistible. They are a bit heavier, of course, but not much heavier than, say 8x42s, and they are very well-balanced in the hand, so the slight additional 'holding tremor' doesn't bother me much at all. Sustained viewing is relatively easy for me, and no, I am neither huge nor built like a weight-lifter. Sharpness, clarity, color and flatness of field are all terrific -- you would have to really scratch around with minor details to say how a pair of Swarovskis (where I can make direct real-life comparisons) is much better. Internal reflections are well-controlled, although a little bit of flare can appear in some high contrast conditions. The focus control is very smooth and definite, which you really need on 12x50s because the depth of field of focus is narrower than on 8x42s. I have found I have adapted quickly to focusing a bit more, so it's not a big issue for me. The field of view is of course narrower than x8s, but I have not really noticed this much, even when searching for small birds in foliage. And when you do see the bird, the image is much larger, so you have a better image and a better chance of identifying it. Low light viewing is good. One last thing: the difference between x8 and x12 is that the *linear* image is x1.5 larger on the x12, but it is over x2 larger in *area* terms, so the visual impression looking through x12s is startlingly different -- the images seem huge in comparison. I love this.Some other lesser but still important issues. Lens caps are great. Eye relief is good, and the twist-out eyecups are fine. It is true that if your eyes are very close together you might have a problem with these binoculars. My eyes are quite close together, but these binoculars are fine -- the barrels can still move closer at my setting. I have to wonder if the problems other readers were having occurred in this area might have occurred because they did not move the rubber retaining rings of the objective covers further towards the middle of the barrel. If you don't do this, then the rubber rings bump into each other at the fat ends of the barrels and stop the binoculars from being brought together by a significant amount. At first I thought I would have to send the binoculars back because I did not notice this, but I looked at the rings, moved them up, and of course it was fine. The whole deal comes with a good case and strap, and with that Athlon warranty. In case you can't guess from all of this, I am very, very, very happy with these binoculars.A further note: I already have a pair of 8x42 Athlon Midas binoculars, and they are superb for their price range, as my review will show here on Amazon. I also have a pair of pocket 10x25 Athlon Midas binoculars, very happy with those also. And I have found the Athlon guarantee to be rock-solid and no-questions-asked -- I like being able to rely on a manufacture of integrity.

I have the Vortex Razor HD 12x50s and wanted a cheaper 12x50 to take to the gun range. Thought I would try these out and I was immediately impressed! They are very clear and bright and I see a sharper image when looking at targets and signs. The Razors are very good but they have more CA especially on high contrast black on white images. The Athlons have less CA, I only see it in the outer edges of the view. They are a little brighter than the Razors for low light viewing, but the Razors have a little wider FOV and the image is sharper toward the edges. The Athlons have a grippy plastic armor that feels better than the metal Razors. The focus knob is better on the Razors, the Athlon knob has some loose play in it but its smooth, fast and easy to focus. The overall build quality feels better on the Razors but it should for their higher price tag. I do like the view through the Athlons better so I may be selling the Razors soon. I am a huge fan of both Vortex and Athlon and I love the great warranty and CS they provide but in this case I think the Athlon is the better deal.

Great binoculars at a reasonable price. Sharp and free from distortions.

Optics clarity is great for hunting. The covers they come with are kind of a pain but have been better as I've used them more. First couple times were kind of a pain to get them off in the field. Another thing that would be nice is if the eye pieces could be adjusted together just a bit further but the spacing is pretty good at its narrowest setting. Not an issue with my other pair of binos but maybe I just have eyes that are close together.... overall I would recommend them.

After being very impressed by the tiny but mighty Athlon 10x25 compact binoculars, I just had to order a pair of these 12x50 - at the other extreme LOL.I haven't had a chance to use these in daytime conditions yet as the binoculars just arrived this evening. I couldn't wait to look through them so I took them out in the backyard for a quick look at the night sky and was able to see Jupiter (which appeared as a bright disk) and FOUR of its moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto which appeared as bright, pinpoints of light near Jupiter. It took me a minute to dial in the diopter setting but once it was dialed in WOW! The view was absolutely tack sharp and bright.As of the date of this review (Oct. 17, 2023) the current distance of Jupiter is about 373,266,442 miles and Europa is a mere 1,940 miles in diameter and the next largest moon, Io isn't much larger (at roughly 2,264 mi. in diameter) but they were both very CLEARLY visible points of light near Jupiter. That is impressive for a pair of handheld binoculars.As a side-by-side comparison, I grabbed my Nikon Monarch 7 (bought in 2015) and while I was also able to see Jupiter and the four moons, the view wasn't quite as bright or clear as the Athlons. Granted, the Athlon is a 12x50 and the Nikon is a 10x42 but the Athlons were definitely brighter and clearer. It takes significant engineering and manufacturing capability to make a 12x bino with large 50mm objective lenses that maintains a high level of clarity and resolution.As a side note, the 12x power binocular does have more shake than the 10x so it requires a steadier hand so that may rule these out for freehand birdwatching for me but on a tripod these would probably be great for longer range wildlife viewing.These are a bit heavy at about 2 lbs and they are longer and bulkier than my 10x42 Nikon (see photo for side-by-side comparison) which is the price paid for the greater magnification and wider objective lenses but they are not unreasonably big and bulky.Just keep in mind, these are probably a bit too heavy for hiking, but that's where the tiny Athlon 10x25 comes in handy :)

Smooth adjustments. Good glass. Well balanced and easy to handle. Really impressed...