Cristobal Alvarez
Reviewed in Mexico on February 7, 2025
es buen producto, cumple su función, sin embargo se puede encontrar productos de igual calidad a una cuarta parte del costosu relación calidad precio es mala
V. G.
Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2024
I bought these binoculars for their gimmick, that is to say, because they were all three kinds of optical enhancements, the monocular (as a pair, you can hand this off to your partner to view something at midrange), as a telescope, you can sight what you want to see and point in the general direction, or just have some fun with what you can see, and as a binocular, to see things in crisp stereo.It does all three perfectly fine, though know that because of the size of the aperture for each of these modes, they do not work fantastically in lower lights.
Scott
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2023
I'll be honest, I had my reservations about this product, but after looking around for almost a full year for a binocular, and monocular that would fit my needs (looking at real estate, checking out signs from a distance, casual animal watching,) I decided to try these Pentax VD 4x20.And it is a gimmick - in a good way. And I'm gonna lead off with the very straight fact that quality of construction on these is great. The mechanism that holds the two halves together is both well-thought out, and well-made. And I am very impressed by it.Moving on to the "binocular" part of this, its just a solid and compact 4x option. Individual focus and eye relief adjustment is great - especially with an astigmatism and nearsightedness in one eye. The binoculars fit into my hands comfortably, and are the right level of grip without being to aggressive. 4x is plenty for what I need in that regard.As individual Monoculars, so I can look at something and my dad can look at something at the same time, it's actually nice. Again, just 4x, but it's enough, and it is ONE package.Lastly, as a '16x' scope, it falls apart a little bit, but I was able to eventually dial it in to focus and read a license plate at about 300-400ft, which is quite good. Still had decent brightness in the image, but it's not $1000+ lenses, so I'll give Pentax full marks for the price I paid. It's the most gimmicky part of the whole thing, but it oes kind of work well enough. I'll mostly be using it just as the 4x binos ,and pair of 4x monos.Would be great if Pentax made a 6.5, or 7x.
Cam
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2023
I could barely justify using the binocs as binocs because the zoom is bad and looking through them is nauseating. The telescope function is 100% a gimmick and I had to stubbornly force myself to look through it long enough to focus on a target (very difficult) and hold it steady enough to witness it (impossible). I sent them back and didn't think twice.
Gato
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2023
Compact. Versatile. Well made. Takes some getting used to, especially the focus adjustments. I had to break them apart and put them together a few times for them to loosen up. They do well as binoculars and monoculars. As a telescope, they do OK, but play with this when you're not rushed. A tripod is helpful.
Dragonwych
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2022
Mostly great for my explorations, but inexplicably did not come with lens caps, so I can't take it anywhere till I find some.
Angel
Reviewed in Spain on June 18, 2022
Buen producto.Construcción de buena cálidad.Óptica nítida y con una luminosidad más que aceptable.La pupila de salida es algo pequeña pero una vez te acostumbras a la distancia más óptima al ojo, no hay problema.El detalle de poder separar el producto en dos monoculares me parece genial. Muy práctico si vas al teatro o un concierto con pareja.Cuando se monta en modo telescopio tampoco está mal el resultado con sus 16 aumentos.
I broke my van
Reviewed in Canada on November 14, 2022
I really like this monocular. The magnification of objects is just enough to clarify far away text or fine details. It isn't so much to make it shakey, or dim, and it also doesn't cause as much tunnel-vision as higher-magnification optics can. I purchased it with the Accessory kit, which I consider a mandatory purchase for this set. Even if your phone doesn't fit the mount, used phones with decent cameras are very inexpensive and the ability to videograph subjects from great distances or up close is very impressive. The microscope add-on is where this equipment shines. It allows one to magnify documents and verify the legitimacy of signatures, currency, and ID cards. I've found it very useful, and most of the people I show it to are sold on the entire system for this one accesory. I wouldn't find this nearly as useful without the microscope add-on, though admittidly I've had little chance to use the phone-attachment due to it's incompatibility with my otterbox case.NOTE FOR PURCHASERS: The holster for the monocular is quite odd fitting. I found the best way to fit it to the monoscope was to put a zip tie through the eyelit and tighten up the hoslter a little bit. Photos attached. You'll see what I mean when you recieve it.
pj hinton
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2022
I have had severe chemical damage to my corneas, so wear scleral contact lenses most of the time just to be able to see at all. However, when I have just had enough and need to take them out, I needed a tool to help me watch TV - and this was my answer!! No, I don't really want to watch TV through binoculars, but it is that or not be able to see at all without my contacts!! So after quite the hunt for just the right binoculars, finally settled on this one! It has just the right amount of adjustment at the eye piece and down at the end of the barrel to give me just pretty clear vision! They are a little heavier than I would like, but guess that is my trade off for clearer vision!
oid
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 17, 2021
Wasn't sure what exactly I would be getting in terms of view though I have a 4x12 monocular but the first look through these Pentax 4x20 immediately confirmed with some relief that I like these a lot.They do of course split into separate monoculars and a telescope but my main use is as a binocular so I'm not going to get into the other modes except to say I have tried both and they do work though the telescope is a bit for emergency use only. The monoculars alone are good and together as a binocular even better.They are so clear that they make all my other not bad bins look less clear by comparison, for one example my Pentax 6.5x21 Papillio and that's not a dull compact by any means. The colour renditions are similar & very good to excellently neutral.They are awkward for changing focus if you need to do that and I try and avoid it but it's worth the trouble occasionally and the depth of field is very good with a nice strong porro like 3D impression so it shouldn't be necessary that often. About 7-8m and beyond is all in focus when set to infinity. If I want to quickly look at something macro then I can just focus one side down as near as 0.5m. Another thing I noticed is that the edge of the view is focused closer than the middle so you can actually see things about 4-6m away if you look through the edge e.g. bottom of the view which is actually very useful on occasion.Also very worthy of mention is their superb lack of any sun glare basically ever and although not the largest view it is all useable with again practically nothing of anything negative like distortion or blurred edges or stray light.I think the price is not cheap but you can definitely see and feel the high quality with totally clear optics internally so if you can put up with the focusing & low magnification then you should very much like these. Initially I had the habit of trying to focus them centrally as with my other bins but quickly adjusted.The view isn't cramped as I expected with the low 40deg AFOV and the very high clarity makes these still somewhat useful over distance but you definitely will not get details as with a 7 or 8x bin. They are wonderful for scenery or scanning a landscape and also good in forest areas if you set a mid focus & especially with the large exit pupil for darker areas to pick birds out in bushes for example. I'm sure they will be great for many uses such as sport events etc. I like them also for just having on the desk to quickly grab for a look out of the window.My 8x20 RSPB HD are more compact and fold smaller but this Pentax is much nicer to hold and much easier and clearer to view with. Your brain does adjust to the low magnification and in a way they remind me of my 8x42 just a smaller version with less magnification and that's maybe as they both have this 5mm exit pupil and similar clarity. The Pentax of course has a nice 10deg fov.I'm mostly a birder, scenery, bug, plant general nature watcher & I took them to my favorite bog area and it was the first time in my life that I had walked around never focusing once. It was easier to find birds with the 10deg wide angle (that I might otherwise have missed altogether) but for sure not as much distant detail viewing as with a 7/8/10x and I found myself walking away from closer objects to get in focus rather than fiddling with the two barrel focusers & yet I didn't mind about any limitations of this binocular as the viewing is so nice and the low magnification can actually make a nice change especially when it is as clear as with this binocular.Would be great too if they just made a version of these (maybe they will?) with a central focus and without all the splitting apart and telescope etc and maybe even upped the magnification to 6 or 7 times. I'd still keep these but I'd likely buy the other version also.I have other 7x20 reverse porro compacts (Carson Falconer) and while not the optical quality of these Pentax they are good over distance & close in and do have a central focuser so I'm more likely to bring those outdoors as a light carry for more flexibility when nature viewing & remarkably the 7x20 also have a view that you would only normally get with a larger binocular but the eye relief is not as good as these Pentax and they are not just as easy and comfortable to use, so it's swings and roundabouts as they say. With binoculars in general, gain something, lose something else.The view on a sunny day with this Pentax 4x20 compact is stunning and pretty good on all occasions and that makes them a bit special and worth it alone to me. They probably are now my favorite compact binocular which is probably just as well as I bought another to have as a backup because as I'm sure we all know, you can just never have enough binoculars, especially if they are good and these I would say most definitely are.It would have been nice to have a rain guard included but you don't get much accessory wise & the neck-strap is pretty poor though it does split to make two wrist straps for the monocular setup. The case is pretty good, not to large, good quality with enough padding and a small front pocket for a cloth but there really should be a rain-guard to protect the eyepiece lenses while in the case. I use one from another binocular but this is very poor from Pentax to omit such a simple important thing. The objectives are well recessed so need no covers.In the end these have a brilliant little view & I guess that's what it's all about.
Lauren Cohn
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2021
Here is a cool little monocular/macro/scope, when paired with a smart phone also gives me "telephoto" panos, awesome macro on the fly and pretty much anything I need when using my phone. I use it with my Pixel 5, and if you take whatever case you have for your Pixel 5 off to use, the little ridge in the phone holder does not hit the buttons! Great quality for what it is. I absolutely love this little slice of Pentax!
Richard H. Wood
Reviewed in the United States on December 22, 2021
Very well made compact roof prism binoculars and quite versatile with their separation into two monoculars capability as well as their conversion to a 16x spotting scope. A novel idea. The low power and 10 degree true field of view is great for use as opera glasses and at fast moving sports events. With these I now have binoculars with 4x, 5x , 6x and 6.5x magnification and find them all useful. The lower powers tend to give a wider field of view and reduce the effect of hand shake and wind in use. At my age the ultra wide field 4x binoculars with fixed focus, so called permafocus or focus free, are not an option as they use eye accommodation to work correctly. Fine for those under 40 or so but I am fast approaching 80.
ottaviano fera
Reviewed in Italy on October 29, 2020
Qualità ottica molto elevata per luminosità e definizione; ergonomia, leggerezza e compattezza.La possibilità di separare e riunire i due tubi ottici è molto interessante e ben realizzata, facile da eseguire.In modalità telescopio da 16 ingrandimenti la luminosità è ovviamente bassa ma la definizione si mantiene buona.