Nikon 8252 Aculon A211 10-22×50 Zoom Binocular (Black)

We are very basic amateurs when it comes to binoculars, but i have a decent telescope that can see jupiter and saturn (ish ;)), so we have some experience with home distance viewing. We vacation near a busy port and like to watch the ships. After researching the best binoculars for distance or marine viewing (without being marine binoculars), i bought these because of the zoom option. The attached pictures were taken with my android phone by just holding the camera up to the left eye piece (i don’t know what zoom level i was at and these were all taken looking through glass, which can distort the view). I bought a phone adapter, but when attached to the left eyepiece, the fit and weight would rotate the focus, so it was more of a pain to use and easier to skip it altogether. I free-handed photos and video. The center dial adjusts the right eye and the left eyepiece adjusts the left eye. The zoom level is on the right eye piece, and you can also adjust for width easily by flexing the binoculars themselves. Since distance viewing needs stability to eliminate bounce, we kept these on a tripod with the included adapter and focused mostly on the horizon. We rarely held them, so i can’t rate the weight, but the distance is amazing! We saw ships clearly with the binoculars that we couldn’t even see with the naked eye. My husband saw crystal clear images when there weren’t heat waves on the water. I wear glasses and have astigmatism in both eyes. I was able to use these comfortably with or without my glasses, but couldn’t see as clearly because of my eye conditions, which is no fault of the product. I saw best with my glasses on. When zoomed all the way in, it was harder to focus clearly, but overall, zooming in and out and refocusing was easy. I’m very pleased with this purchase and the fun it added to vacation. I look forward to using it at night when i don’t want to cart out the telescope. We got a really nice look at the moon and its craters, too. My only complaint is how lose all the covers are. For this price point, i’d expect covers that fit firmly to protect the lenses.

Not anything to dislike about these. They’re bright, clear, and have great zoom capabilities. They come with a tripod adapter so are well suited for hunting. You don’t have to spend a huge amount of money to get good glass nowadays.

We purchased this binocular recently. We have the nikon action ex 8 x 40, which we absolutely love
for birding and nature activities. The minimum focusing distance on this binocular, the acculon a211, is 49.2 feet. It will be used, along with a tripod, for stargazing and mountain viewing. The weather has not cooperated very much for stargazing, but from what we have been able to see, the images are sharp, the stars are pinpoint and we will update after viewing the moon and planets. We expect to be able to see the moons of jupiter and possibly some semblance of the rings around saturn. The view of our moon from our smaller nikon binocular, allows us to see the craters on the leading edge, almost as good as a small telescope. We have higher expectations for this larger pair of binoculars, particularly when zoomed in. The binoculars are not particularly heavy, the grip is nice and they are water resistant, although i think not waterproof. I did want to mention that there is a trick to using the eyepiece cap. Turn down the rubber on the eyepieces, as is instructed if you wear glasses. The single unit eyepiece cap will fit perfectly if you do this. A tripod is a necessity for viewing objects at higher magnification. The daytime views appear to be sharp and there are adjustments for central focus, diopter and a 10-22x zoom lever.
The interpupillary distance is 56-72 mm. The tripod adapter is included with the binocular. Overall, this seems to be a decent unit and will update the review in the future.

Great optics but too big and heavy for sports game use.

I needed a good pair of binoculars and these are it. They are pricey but you get what you pay for. We make about 6 trips a year to the smokies and love to bear watch from afar. We have caught some amazing views and scenery with these.

All good. Excellent binoculars.

I didn’t expect this much for so little. Image is clear edge to edge of viewing angle. Sharp, clear, close picture. Very easy to hold.

Great for an alaska cruise or denali trip. Best i’ve ever seen.

Excellent manufacturing , magnification is crisp at highest zoom!
Don’t think twice and buy this! This is a quality product!
If budget is a problem, go for celestron upclose instead. My braska became little faulty after few years so cannot really recommend that anymore.

If you are still deciding and tempted for a cheap alternative, please check my experience/review on another non-branded oddly-named binocular, as there is a lot of false advertising on stated magnification on those. You’d what i mean!

We now can see things in our wonderful view. We zoom out, get the
eagle in view, and then zoom in and can follow him. On high magnification
the view is very shaky so we are getting a tripod. I can only compare with
one other binocular, but am very happy i got this one. Easy to focus.
Easy to zoom. A little more difficult to get the left and right the correct
distance apart when my wife has just changed it.

Great binoculars.

Reasonably priced, accessory case, strap, and tripod included, detailed instructions, good optics, zoom works well, and whole system lightweight.

But one small problem.

Beware the hidden staple in the top of the plastic bag inside the small box inside the bubble wrap that houses the included tra-2 tripod adapter.

Got used to the ease with which the packaging was coming apart for the tripod adapter, so just tried to complete the final step of unwrapping the tripod adapter by tearing the plastic bag surrounding it with one finger.

That is when i found the staple.

One leg of the staple punctured my finger all the way up to the crown of the staple. Since staple was hard to see in the stretched out plastic bag, it took a few seconds to figure out what had happened, and it took a few seconds more to figure out how to dis-attach my finger from the bag and the staple.

No big deal. Just a tiny wound just barely worthy of a band-aid.

However, maybe this feedback will keep you from making the same mistake if you decide to buy these great binoculars and decide to unwrap the included tripod mount.

Rating would have been five stars without the tiny puncture wound to a finger.

These binos are everything i had hoped they would be when purchasing a nikon product. Easy to use, super clear and simple target acquisition. The only reason i didn’t give these five stars is because they’re pretty heavy and take a toll when hanging around your neck all day.

Rated 4 stars for this reason. Did not say it came with a tripod adapter. A review said it did not come with a tripod adapter and the frequently purchased together items recommended purchasing a tripod adapter, so i purchased one. Upon receiving the binoculars, wallah, it came with it’s own tripod adapter. Now i spent money on something i didn’t need and have to deal with the hassle of returning the extra tripod adapter. Otherwise, they seem to work well. We are surrounded by mountains and have seen i lot of stuff that was not noticeable with my 8×24 binoculars. Also i can now spy on my nosy neighbor who has been spying on us for the past 4 years, haha.

Wanted to have a pair of binoculars that i could have my cake and eat it too. That is, to be able to see close up, and then be able to reach out for distance. So i decided to go for zooming capability. The only down side is a bit more weight and size. For the money, these are very good. I could have gotten a pair for under $100 bucks, but after reading lots of reviews, i didn’t want to risk not being happy for the sake of a few more dollars for something i will have for years to come. These are clear at minimum and maximum zoom, focus smooth and easy. If you stick with the same object as you zoom in and out, you will not have to refocus. I took these out at night and can clearly see street light lit up areas no problem from 100 yards away. Only negative, as others have said, are the lens covers. The eye piece covers are a joke, and seem like they were meant for something else. Like putting on a bucket hat when you’re wearing a tuxedo. So i deducted 1 star for that. I will be looking to replace them with something else. Besides that, the best zooming binoculars for the price.

I got these thinking with a zoom i could use them for anything – not so much. But they are great at some things.

These have a fairly distant minimum focus point (20 or so feet) so trying to use them for bird watching was just frustrating. By the time you get a bird at least at the minimum distance and focus, all you see is a very shaky view (your hand trying to hold the glasses still). These are just too powerful for bird watching – at least the kind i do.

Now for distant viewing from a tripod or with your hand steadied on something, these are great. The picture quality is out standing and the zoom is easy to use. I used these for mountain viewing from a room and really appreciated the quality.

These are also good for viewing the moon – on a tripod it’s almost like having a small telescope. You are not going to see planets (except as fuzzy dots) but you can see a lot of detail on the moon, especially at the light/dark edge where you get a lot of contrast.

Can you get a pair of 16×50 binocs for $40? Yep. Then why pay $140?
Because the quality is worth it.
I have bought dozens of nikon products over the last 30+ years and have never, not once, been less than thrilled with the quality and dependability of their products. You simply don’t have to question whether it is going to be good or not.
These binocs are no exception.
The only criticism i have is that the diopter adjustment knob is a little hard to use if the eye cup is down all the way and you have large fingers.
Apart from that these are great!
The case is nicer than i would have expected too, very well padded.
The nikon tripod adapter is not plastic but solid thick aluminum.
Even the neck strap isn’t el cheapo.

Really great optics. Bright and crisp no doubt and a great price. I would only knock off one star as they are bulkier than other 10*50’s. Not a problem in many situations. I wish i could give half stars as they are a 4.5 really. Combine the fov, brightness and sharp image of these with a slighter build, it’d be a perfect bin.

For the price, very very good.

The binoculars are well made and the optics are great. Compared directly to a previous pair of 12x binoculars or a different but popular brand these appear brighter by nearly 1 stop at 12x. The 1 stop brightness seems to extend close to 16x mark after which they lose perhaps 1/2 a stop of light. Having the ability to go to 22x is great but at that magnification i observed a little bit of purple fringing and aberration on the edges of high contrast subjects – not a dealbreaker but just something to be aware of. For the photographers amongst you, these are not at par with the high cost high magnification camera lenses in terms of optics but then they cost just a fraction of what those cost and yet come close (when magnified unto 16x). In the 18x-22x range i would compare them to basic kit lenses of lower end consumer grade cameras. Overall i would rate then as great considering their relatively low cost (when compared to camera lenses).

The only reason why i don’t choose 5 stars is because i don’t reserve ‘love’ for inanimate objects. That being said, i really like these binoculars. I have terrible eyesight and require glasses for everything except sleeping. These binoculars can be used with or without glasses. I find it easier to use them without glasses. I have folded over the rubber eyepieces to use them with glasses like the instructions say, and that’s okay, but simply removing my glasses for a second seems easier. The clarity truly is everything everyone else says it is. The fact that it comes with a tripod adapter is really nice. I put mine right on a tripod as soon as it came in. I’ve been out in the yard ‘pulling in’ tree tops to look at birds. I can read the numbers and letters on trashcans at least 100 yards away with absolute clarity. Some of the birds and nests i ‘pull in’ are at least 300-350 yards away and appear to be as if they were 20 feet or so away. These are very underestimated numbers, i believe so i can convey the quality of these binoculars. I probably don’t want to know how nikon can offer these so affordably.

Hard to focus when fully zoomed, even when using a tripod. Tripod mount is cheap. Wish i would have held out and gone for a better model, but for the price this is a decent option and much better than some of the models i looked at.