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“The Steiner Safari 8x30 is, I think a discontinued...”

written by Sub Sea Sniper on 17/10/2005

Good Points
Excellent optics
Cheap
Rubber armoured
Focus free

Bad Points
None, not one

General Comments
The Steiner Safari 8x30 is, I think a discontinued model but there are still plentiful stocks on the internet and High Street. I picked mine up for £70 which is an absolutely stunning price for such quality binos.



The Safaris are porro prism which means that the objective lenses are further apart than the eyepieces. On these bins the eyepieces are a good bit further out than the objective lens and gives them quite a strange appearance. I think the distance between the objective lenses may be something to do with the autofocus system. This system is one of the major plusses of these bins as you simply adjust each eyepiece according to your own eyesight and thats it, everything from 20 yards to infinity is in focus. No more fiddling with a wheel to try and focus on moving objects.

The eyecups also have angled rubber shades on them to totally block out peripheral light, these can be folded back for spectacle wearers.

The entire body of these bins are rubber armoured and the rubber is nice, thick, and very tacticle. They appear black but on closer inspection are a very dark brown. The objective lens has two caps which are attached to the front of the bins so you cant lose them, very handy.

The bins come with a nice neck strap and a soft carry case. Even the carry case is well thought out. It has a shoulder strap and zip opening. A flap stitched into the opening prevents the top of the case opening all the way, which could mean your bins spilling onto the ground. Another clever feature.

The bins have all the usual features you expect, fogproof, nitrogen purged and waterproof.

The optics themselves are an absolute joy and utterly defy the low price. They are coated to remove almost all UVa and UVb rays so cut down on glare in snow and sand. The definition is absolutely superb, I use my bins in often dim, overcast positions when shooting in drab coloured fields. I use them to spot rabbits and can pick them out from 200 metres easily. Anyone who hunts rabbits will appreciate this as they are often quite well camoflauged against their surroundings.

The quality of the optics means the 30mm objective lens is ample at pulling in light even in twilight, though obviously they will fall short of the mark when placed against comparable bins with bigger objective lenses. 8x magnification is also, in my opinion the most sensible compromise between power and lack of shake.

To put it simply these bins have outperformed all expectations I have had of £70 binoculars and will last a lifetime. They are rugged, durable and have become an essential part of my shooting kit. I cannot emphasize how good these bins are for the price, they blow away other optics costing up to three times the price. For a sub £100 pair of bins I cannot think of anything better.