8x42/10x42/10x50/12x50/12x56/15x56 APO Binoculars

I bought this binocular last year! It's great: after buying it I sold many of my best binoculars (swarovision 10*50 and zeiss FL 7*42). Now I always have the SR with me during my hikes.

I bought a 8x42 APO for birding and I am very satisfied. Delivery was fast, but you have to consider the costs for taxes and duty on top, this is about a quarter from the price of the binocular (delivery to Germany). But the binocular is fantastic and I made a good decision buying it despite there is no direct support in Germany up to now. Very good quality for a fantastic and unbeatable price!

Optics of there binoculars are top-tier. Quite well made. Fast delivery. Only one problem is using 44mm eyecups, eyecup cover doesnt match and is too big. Overall super product.

Optically excellent images. Color, contrast, depth perception, clarity, sharpness, field curvature, geometric distortion, and chromatic aberration are all well controlled. High light throughput with unusually bright images. Flat wide field of view. The rolling ball effect when panning is mild. Nice focuser ratio makes precision focusing easy. Good build quality. Almost perfect optical quality. Now the issues. To get that perfect optical quality the 15x56 demands perfection from the operator. IPD is intolerant of the slightest deviation, critical eye placement demands make it difficult to stay centered on the exit pupil. Any slight deviation in eye placement or angle and you have to refocus. Once I learned how to operate it and trained myself to be consistent, it rewarded me with image quality unheard of at this price point. The images rivaled the Maven B.5 15x56 that I was testing right beside it and at less than half the cost of the Maven. The only difference being the Maven was easy and relaxing to operate and this Banner Cloud is not. It is fussy and temperamental but oh the joy it gives you when you do everything right. This is not an instrument that you would share at family get togethers or astronomy outreach programs since the learning curve is long and slow. This is more of a binocular for the optical enthusiast that enjoys getting as much as possible from their optical investments. In this price range it has no competitors.

I bought a pair of 10x42 APO. And yes : these optics are really apochromatics, with their double-ED elements. The view is just amazing : ultra-sharp from edge to edge, incredibily bright and crisp, the (huge) whole of the field is completly flat. The colors are vivid but very natural : there is no noticeable tint. No CA seen (due to their double-ED elements).
The field of view is very enormous : 7,8° (for 10x42 binoculars !!!), and, when observing trough the eyepieces, the apparent fiels of view (AFOV) is also enormous : almost 72° , giving you a very immersive impression.
They also provide a "3D" impression, like the best Porro prisms binoculars.
Their contrast is also magnificient, and the glare is very well controled (like the Leica Noctivid)
They can compeat US$ 3.000 binoculars (yes : I'm speaking about the Swarovski NL Pure, and the Zeiss Victory SF), truly (I owned a pair of Swarovski NL Pure 10x42 : I can not see any difference between the two).
These binoculars are a masterpiece, above all due to the fact you'll have to pay 4 or 5 times their price to get such fantastic optics.