VANGUARD VEO HD2 8X42 £350

This has a solid, fairly hefty feel and is comfortable to hold. It is waterproof, fogproof, rubber armoured and has a ‘carboninfused’ chassis which is stronger and lighter than aluminium. The build quality is pretty good, though sometimes the dioptre wasn’t keen to go down to lock. The eyecups have two intermediate positions – I found their mechanics a bit rough. I used this with the (removable) eyecups fully extended and these gripes weren’t a major issue.

The focus wheel moves smoothly. For normal birding you’ll move it less than ½ a turn.

The VEO view is a good one with rich, saturated colours, good brightness and very good sharpness. There is just a bit of edge softness. They are good against the light, but the field of view is not the widest, but didn’t feel too narrow. Low light performance is good.

A little before sunset they still revealed a bit of colour in the shade. It struggled to do this 20 minutes after sunset but still did a good job in unshaded areas. I did encounter a bit of vignetting, and sometimes I was ‘hunting’ to find the best focus.

VERDICT

Good optics, comfortable to hold and not too heavy. None of the ‘mechanical’ niggles detracted from the sharp, colour-rich view.

SPECS: Eye relief: 19mm Field of view: 7.1°/124m@ 1,000m Close focus: 2m (quoted) Weight: 710g Length x width x depth: BTW152.5 x 127.5 x 54mm RRP: £349.99 Warranty: 2 years (can be extended to 10). Supplied with: Case, strap, rainguard, tethered removable objective covers, cleaning cloth Web: vanguardworld.co.uk