I hope that you’ve enjoyed our last two posts about my recent Texas birding adventures. Never fear, more Texas posts are coming! Today, however, we’d like to offer up another in our popular new series of equipment reviews. Why? Because my Texas trip gave me a wonderful opportunity to field test a pair of Viper HD 8X42 binoculars from Vortex.

If you’re out in the field a lot, you’ll see many birders using the Viper HDs, and for excellent reasons. In hand, the binoculars are sturdy and comfortable to hold, yet lightweight enough to carry around all day without discomfort. Like all Vortex optics, they come with an incredible no-questions-asked, fully transferable, lifetime warranty—something almost priceless for the peace of mind it offers. But the question remains: how do they perform in the field?

My Texas trip allowed me to test the Vipers in a variety of birding situations. In my last post, I shared my thrilling visit to the Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge (now renamed to the Jocelyn Nungaray NWR), and almost immediately, I was confronted with the daunting task of observing shorebirds and waterfowl under extreme backlit conditions. Anyone who has experienced this knows how difficult it is to discern details of birds when bright glare turns the birds into shadowy figures, and I immediately thought, “Oh man, I don’t know if I’ll even be able to start identifying some of these critters.” To my surprise, the Viper HDs cut right through the glare. One small backlit shorebird particularly caught my attention, and I was sure I wouldn’t be able to see enough details to ID it. Focusing in with the Vipers, the bird’s features just popped—including its yellow legs, which allowed me to identify it as a Least Sandpiper.

A couple of days later, I arrived at an exciting new (to me) location called Lafitte’s Cove on Galveston Island. This cool little nature reserve sits in the middle of an upscale housing development and features ponds, walking paths, and wooded areas. My main goal was to try to find migrating warblers and, thanks to the advice of some local birders, I staked out a drip in the wooded area that provides fresh drinking water for birds. Soon, I saw two shapes flitting around in deep shadow behind the drip. One leaped out into the sunlight—a Tennessee Warbler. The other bird proved much more cagy. Even as it stayed in the shadows, though, the Vipers gave me the sharp, full-color details that allowed me to confirm that it was a Nashville Warbler—a real surprise since I had never seen one before in the eastern US!

As always, prospective buyers will ask, “Are the Vipers worth what they cost?” On the Vortex website, the 8X42s and 10X42s list for $719.99 and $729.99 respectively—not an inconsiderable sum. However, in “real life” the binoculars can be purchased for under $500, putting them in range of a doable investment for many birders who are ready to get serious, but can’t or don’t want to shell out thousands of dollars. Even for $500, though, you expect binoculars to be durable and weather-resistant, and the Vipers deliver on that count. Other great features include:

* a diopter ring that allows independent focus adjustment for each eye

* long (18 mm), rubberized eye-relief tubes designed to press eyeglasses against them without damage

* a close (six-foot) minimum focal distance

As I have tried various brands and models of binoculars, though, for me it has become mainly about clarity. In other words, how well do the binoculars transmit light and how sharp is the image they deliver? As noted above, the Vipers deliver excellent performance in this regard. During my week in Texas, I never found a situation in which I had difficulty picking out colors and other details. That’s because, for the extra price investment, Vipers offer two advantages over many cheaper binoculars:

* extra low-dispersion glass that reduces chromatic aberrations and improves light transmission, even under difficult conditions such as those I experienced above

* high-quality coatings on both the glass and internal prisms which improve light transmission, creating a sharper, clearer image.

I have not yet found the perfect binoculars—if they indeed exist—and one thing I wasn’t crazy about is that I had to turn the focus knob quite a bit to bring the Vipers into focus between near and far situations. Presumably, this allows users to obtain a more precise focus on an object, but I found it wasted a bit of time and effort. This is a personal preference, however, and I’m guessing that most users will be just fine with this.

A final note: frequent FSB contributor Roger Kohn and his wife both happen to use Vortex Vipers. “We are very happy with them,” he says. “Really good quality glass, clear images. Feels good in the hands.”

Conclusion: the Vortex Viper HDs are an outstanding pair of binoculars for those ready to make a mid-range investment into the world’s greatest hobby. Sturdy construction, a light weight, and excellent light transmission make them suitable for almost every situation, and will provide years of satisfaction to the vast majority of birders.

The author received no financial compensation for this review, but binocular images and sample binoculars are provided courtesy of Vortex.