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“I'd never heard of 'Meade' binoculars, but on the box...”

written by Bertie on 24/05/2006

Good Points
Rugged metal body
Protective rubber coating
High point of sight
Separate diopter adjustment
Fully coated lenses
5 Year guarantee
Price - £14.99

Bad Points
An optician with sophisticated instruments might find something, as I couldn't.

General Comments
I'd never heard of 'Meade' binoculars, but on the box I noted 'GMBH', so I assume these binoculars are made in Germany or are of a German design. From the construction, quality of the image and the ease of focusing, I'd not be surprised if Carl Zeiss was in there somewhere.



Just picking up these beautifully finished precision pair of optics, I anticipated from just the feel of the flawless rubber coating that they hopefully might go towards fulfilling the claim on the box of 'Particularly High Resolution and Clear Image'. They did too, and I could not detect any noticeable barrel or pincushion distortion, nor chromatic aberration. The clarity and brilliance of the image were of the order of binoculars costing many times the price of these, snapping in and out of focus with a precision that can come only from a focusing mechanism that has absolutely no backlash. How all this is achieved at the price is, to me, nothing short of amazing.



An attractive substantial well-made synthetic fibre carrying bag with neck strap makes up this desirable aid to long-distance vision, and I was so taken with them, I almost bought a pair just for the pleasure of owning a classic example of modern technology of a quality/price ratio that was undreamed of not THAT long ago. I'm not exaggerating when I say that if I were blindfolded and these binoculars were put into my hands, from the feel alone, I would say that they were quite expensive. As I already have two pairs of binoculars of other makes, I could not really justify buying these, but I was really tempted.



I found them at Lidl, and I was allowed to play with them for some time, which included inside and outside viewing. I've not seen them anywhere else, and they may well be a Lidl exclusive, like so many of their goods are.



I should get there quick before they're sold out!