Exceeded my expectations! - Steiner ShadowQuest 8x56mm Porro Prism Binoculars

These are by far the best low light binoculars I have seen. The 7mm exit pupil combined with their lens coatings gets the job done.

There was very little edge blur and I didn't notice any chromatic aberration. But with that said, the edge blur is far less than many other high end binoculars I have seen that don't have image/field flattening.

For the money they are probably as good as you will find for light transmission and a superb image to go with it. Which is exactly what I wanted.

The infinite focus is great, just like a rifle scope for those that are not familiar. Very comfortable for viewing without needing to always be focusing, as long you are not needing to focus up close.

The only issue I have with them, these things are huge! But with all its strong points and being comfortable to handle it is easy to overlook.

No they are not Swarovski SLC's or Zeiss HT's, but they are probably very close on image quality and slightly better on low light performance. The edge clarity is probably even better then the Zeiss HT's, which is one of its downfalls.

I was worried that I would be disappointed I didn't opt for the more expensive Swaro SLC's or Zeiss HT's, I just couldn't justify the cost since these were not going to be my main hunting binocular. My main criteria was the low light performance and only for certain situations when I would need them. I went out on a limb by blindly buying these, having never looked through them before, and they have 100% exceeded my expectations!

They are not just amazing low light binoculars, the image quality is what shocked me the most. I have never and may never see another binocular with image quality this good at this price point. If you are OK with them being really big, these may be a great option for you.