Nocs Provisions  Standard Issue 8 x 25 Waterproof Binoculars

I am a pretty avid birder and a bit of an optics junkie. I was excited to try out the pair of NOCS REI sent me for a review. NOCS is a small and inexpensive start into the binocular world. The allure to me is in their compactness. They can fit in a large pocket, and if you wore them around your neck all day, you wouldn’t end up with “Birder’s Neck.” The packaging the NOCS comes in is made of cardboard and is plastic-free. Cool. They include a neck strap and a carry bag as well. The binoculars have a sturdy feel. The body is a powder-coated metal. The powder-coated colors give it a bit of fun and fashion, but I like to stay a little lower key and rather not have something drawing attention to me. However, as a brand, that is precisely what you would desire. The powder-coating gives it a good grip and it seems to be a bit less cold when holding in cooler temperatures. The binoculars have twist-out eyecups, and an adjustable diopter. A diopter makes the binoculars adjust for getting the same sharpness in both eyes if one is stronger or weaker than the other. I appreciate this on the binoculars. Very easy to adjust on the NOCS. Now for the most important part of why we have binoculars, the clarity and sharpness. For a sub-$100 pair of binoculars, it is pretty good. NOCS utilizes roof prisms. That typically doesn’t come at such a low price. Other brands with roof prisms start at the $200 range. (Porro prism is the other kind of binoculars with larger front glass that most people think of when they envision binoculars. They are cheaper, but often bigger and quite heavier.) Using these for birding was great. At the 8x power, natural shake from hands didn’t seem noticeable. They seem to hold steady. I was able to see a lot of details and colors on birds. Text on distant signs seemed sharp too. The coatings on the glass seem to do well. I didn’t notice any fringing, so they seem sharp in that aspect. There are a couple things I find lacking. One is there are no lens caps to protect the glass, or keep it clean. I am very protective of my glass, to the point I can count only a few times I have actually wiped dust off. The other, while not a big deal, was the lack of a front tripod mount. Although as small as these things are, it is understandable. Lastly, was that the eyecups are too small for any of my NovaGrade digiscoping attachments. If you try and shoot a photo through the eyecup, it will take some work to get it lined up perfectly. However, NOCS has a universal phone adapter they sell if you want to go that route. It looks like it would do the trick well enough. I didn’t do a lot of night viewing with these, but the front objective lens is a bit small for good night viewing. Basically, I looked at the Moon and some distant lights. These just aren’t something I would likely use for astronomy. I also didn’t put it to the test of their claimed waterproofing. I would have to believe their claim until I couldn’t. Will I give up my higher-end binoculars for these, no, but these are going in my everyday field bag, that takes a beating. At under 12 ounces, I won’t even notice the extra weight. They weigh just a little more than my everyday carry monocular. These would be a great pair of first binoculars, and could be an “all-you-ever-need” pair of binoculars for most people. Also, these would be good for children that are ready for a good starter pair.

My primary gripes: 1) minimum focus is not close enough, 2) eye relief for eye glass wearers is not far enough, 3) I’m spoiled by Monarch 5 8x42’s. I got these 8x25’s for my wife as her first pair and I read all the hype from people getting free pairs to try out. My first pair of bins were REI 8x25s and I cherished them until I could afford a better pair — I didn’t know what I was missing until I upgraded. I hoped these NOCS could be adequate for my wife’s first pair, but we quickly discovered they weren’t going to check enough of the boxes. Most importantly, we enjoy backyard birding out our window of our hummingbird feeders and bird feeders. The 13ft minimum focus will just barely focus on Hummingbirds at our feeders, sometimes not enough, or kinglets in shrubs a few feet from us, or the magnificent detail of tree swallows perching on swallow boxes, or fast-moving warblers in dense foliage of trees. They did pick out raptors, waterfowl, and other larger birds at medium distances ok. Compared to my 8x42’s, I found my eyes crossing a little when pulling the bins away from my eyes to scan. Also the eye relief of 13mm is a little short for the both of us as eyeglass wearers, where the 8x42’s 19.5mm eye relief really helps our viewing of objects more comfortably. Maybe the new NOCS 8x42’s will feature more comfortable technical specs, I’ll certainly test them out, but I wish more people who reviewed these bins would have remarked on these challenges. Granted someone said they wouldn’t replace their primary optics, but my wife kept borrowing my pair of 8x42’s when she had her NOCS 8x25s around her neck. I think we will be returning them for a more comfortable pair with closer minimum focus, maybe not Monarch’s but maybe a lower range 8x42 binocular.