Steiner Safari UltraSharp (9x40) Binocular
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- Binoculars Type: Binocular
- Max Magnification: 9x
- Lens Coating: Multi-Coated
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Nice alround binocular
Pros
-relatively light weight; -sharp image from 20 ft to infinity with no adjustment needed.
Cons
-no bag or carrying case; -no lenscaps on the oculairs; -not water resistant and nitrogen-filled.
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Highly recommended for any kind of use. No marine use though, since it is not fully waterresistant and not nitrogen-filled (so it's not fully fogfree).
I had been searching for a new binocular for a while on the Internet, but that only gave me the chance to compare price, looks and specs. I felt I had read enough info, and visited a number of stores to check some binoculars out.
I had read about the sports auto focus-system that's found on many Steiners and other water sports binoculars. On paper, it seemed very interesting, but somehow I felt it would never work on all distances, since with normal binoculars you're adjusting all the time when you look at objects at different distances.
So when I found a store that had a couple of auto focus Steiners in stock, I just HAD to try a couple of 'em. And to my surprise, it worked incredibly well! Since the binocular will mainly be used for birdwatching, this is a very nice feature. 'Hey, what's that flying there? - Oh crap, I need to adjust the focus first' The bird you wanted to see will be long gone by the time you focused! Enter the sports auto focus system.
This was not the primary feature I fell for, though, although a very important one indeed. The most important feature is of course the quality of view. I've compared the Safari 9x40 with a couple of 8x40's, 8x42's and 7x50's by Bynolyt, Swift and even a Bausch & Lomb (an 8x36 I believe), and chose this one over the other ones. The 8x42's had the widest angle of view, but were not as robust as this one and the image brightness was slightly disappointing (even though the exit pupil is larger on those, due to the smaller magnification). The 7x50's I tried were overly bright and heavy. It had been snowing the day I tested, and somehow, through the 7x50's, the snow almost seemed illuminating. It looked whiter than white, and I mean blindingly white! The special UV-coating on the objective lenses of the Steiner Safari takes away part of the shimmering and glare of the snow, which is a great feature. Although it doesn't snow often in the Netherlands, I still find it useful. Sand and water can have the same shimmering, and we have lots of water here!
Also, many of the other binoculars tended to distort the image near the edges of the view. This Steiner seemed to have this effect a lot less evidently. Colors of objects you look at seem the same as when you look at them with the bare eye, while some other binoculars I tried make the objects you look at seem brighter (or darker). That's also an important reason I preferred the Steiner for.
So overall, it was the best choice for me.
I had read about the sports auto focus-system that's found on many Steiners and other water sports binoculars. On paper, it seemed very interesting, but somehow I felt it would never work on all distances, since with normal binoculars you're adjusting all the time when you look at objects at different distances.
So when I found a store that had a couple of auto focus Steiners in stock, I just HAD to try a couple of 'em. And to my surprise, it worked incredibly well! Since the binocular will mainly be used for birdwatching, this is a very nice feature. 'Hey, what's that flying there? - Oh crap, I need to adjust the focus first' The bird you wanted to see will be long gone by the time you focused! Enter the sports auto focus system.
This was not the primary feature I fell for, though, although a very important one indeed. The most important feature is of course the quality of view. I've compared the Safari 9x40 with a couple of 8x40's, 8x42's and 7x50's by Bynolyt, Swift and even a Bausch & Lomb (an 8x36 I believe), and chose this one over the other ones. The 8x42's had the widest angle of view, but were not as robust as this one and the image brightness was slightly disappointing (even though the exit pupil is larger on those, due to the smaller magnification). The 7x50's I tried were overly bright and heavy. It had been snowing the day I tested, and somehow, through the 7x50's, the snow almost seemed illuminating. It looked whiter than white, and I mean blindingly white! The special UV-coating on the objective lenses of the Steiner Safari takes away part of the shimmering and glare of the snow, which is a great feature. Although it doesn't snow often in the Netherlands, I still find it useful. Sand and water can have the same shimmering, and we have lots of water here!
Also, many of the other binoculars tended to distort the image near the edges of the view. This Steiner seemed to have this effect a lot less evidently. Colors of objects you look at seem the same as when you look at them with the bare eye, while some other binoculars I tried make the objects you look at seem brighter (or darker). That's also an important reason I preferred the Steiner for.
So overall, it was the best choice for me.
