PentaxPapilio II 8.5 x 21 Compact Bak4 Prism Binoculars by Fully Multi Coated and Aspherical Lens - Black

OK … these are light .. and easy to carry … optics are brilliant + wide enough view …I have some really old Pentax marine 7x50s … but they weigh heavy and are bulky … so they just get left ..These are as good optically .. with a wide view … and get used .. good handling counts for everything ..Just ordered a more powerful pair of Papillios with Zoom … so my wife and I can watch birds !They were not too expensive at just over a hundred quid …they have a diopter for eye glasses adjustment .. and focus is smooth …Only downside is no waterproofing ..but if it rains you can always put them into the case for protection ..These binoculars are recommended …Stephen

These binoculars are incredible, my Dad has a pair of pretty expensive Swarovski binoculars 8x25 which made me get into looking for a nice pair of binoculars, after buying some cheaper ones 10x42 from Amazon, which really disappointed me with how dark and poor the image quality was despite looking great in there description, I decided to order a pair of these Pentax Papillio 6.5x21, I am so very happy and pleased that I decided to spend more money to buy these binoculars! The image quality is absolutely brilliant, so bright and sharp, and to be honest not really far off my Dads much more expensive Swarovski ones, I am really glad that I went for the 6.5 zoom, and not the 8.5, the image always looks so bright, and also the better field of view is very stable, and really good to find and track objects of interest. I really like how they feel, one handed operation is so easy, they feel great to hold and use. The strap is high quality, the eye cups go onto the strap so well, the twist out eye cups feel great to use. I love the design, its different from anything else out there. I love the case, the binoculars fit inside so well, I put cleaning cloths at the bottom and they sit in there so well, when the binoculars are in the case and it is closed with the strap on the outside of the case it is very easy to use them to carry the binoculars in the case so easily. The close up zoom is amazing, I was using it to read a OS map earlier today, and it made it a joy, I am a very fussy and I suppose been honest pretty hard to please customer, but I am extremely happy and delighted with my purchase from you, I can do nothing but recomend this extremely well made quality product, thank you very much.

Back in 2008 I was in search of a lightweight pair of binoculars to use on hill-walking and backpacking trips when carrying my big beautiful Swarovski 10x50s felt like too much of a neck-aching burden. I tried out a number of models and having grumbled about their limitations, particularly their inability to focus on objects closer than about 3m, was eventually pointed in the direction of the Pentax Papilio (thank you Owain, blessed be thy name). As their moniker suggests, these are aimed primarily at butterfly-watchers rather than birders, and they can focus down to about 50cm. This makes them absolutely unique – effectively you have a combination of a conventional pair of binoculars and a low-powered binocular microscope that you can use to examine insects, flowers etc in detail without having to catch or pick them or crouch down in discomfort. Moreover this in-depth observation can be done without disturbing small creatures. It isn’t surprising really that the presence of a massive and potentially hostile object looming over it should have an inhibiting effect on the behaviour of your typical invertebrate. However what did come as a revelation was the remarkably short distance one has to move back to release these inhibitions. At 0.5 – 1.0m distance most invertebrates seem to have the self-confidence to ignore you as a potential threat. I guess time is pressing, life is short and it isn’t worth wasting valuable minutes by stopping what you are doing when the world is full of massive objects most of which are indifferent to your existence and pose you no direct threat particularly if they keep still and, even if they move closer, can probably be evaded. So, instead of freezing and trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves, these little creatures carry on with their normal activities – exploring, feeding, grooming, stalking, signalling, courting, egg-laying, fighting – and do so with energy, flexibility and character. An undisturbed insect or spider has an expressiveness in the way it waggles its antennae, cocks its head, drums its feet etc that is hard to reconcile with the robotic, knight-in-armour rigidity it has when trying not to be noticed. This is the magical world that the Pentax Papilio opens up.The secret of its magic is that as you focus in on objects close to you the objective lenses move away from the eyepieces and move closer together, thus maintaining the stereo view. The smoothness of this movement is ensured by housing the objective lenses within the body of the binoculars, protected from the outside world behind a single fixed oval sheet of plain glass. If ever you have a spare moment, it is very satisfying to turn the Papilios around, play with the focus wheel and watch the slickness of this operation!Apart from this, they also function as perfectly decent lightweight travel binoculars, and they are great for surveying aquatic mammals too as you can scrutinise pawprints and droppings without having to slither down risky riverbanks or contort yourself into undercut tree roots and bankside cavities.Papilios are available in two magnification – 6.5x and 8.5x. Normally I would think 6.5x was not powerful enough but given that the diameter of the objective lenses is only 21mm (small even by pocket binocular standards) I opted for these rather than the 8.5s because of concerns that the higher magnification would not give a bright enough image.Recently, one of my nearest and dearest expressed an interest in having a pair of Papilios for herself, so I went back to the Internet to check out current prices. At £66 my Papilios had been an absolute snip in 2008, but prices have doubled since then. However Pentax were also claiming advances in the construction sufficient to justify badging them as Papilio IIs. The main difference seemed to be that all the lenses were now multi-coated. I am no optics nerd, but I gather that the practical implication of this is that the image should be brighter and clearer. Given the slickness of Amazon’s return procedures these days, I ordered both the 6.5s and the 8.5s so I could try them against each other. The 8.5s were noticeably more powerful and gave a more detailed image at distance and, in very good light, at close range also. However I felt that at close range in anything other than very good light, the 6.5s had the edge as the greater brightness of their image more than offset the lower magnification. There was less difference in the width of the field of view than I would have expected, but it did seem as if the depth of field of the 8.5s was slightly less than that of the 6.5s so it was a little trickier to keep them in sharpest focus. Ultimately then, while I felt I would be happy with either model, I plumped for the 6.5s again because so much of my use is likely to be in less than ideal light - the gloom of cloudy Britain or of dawn, dusk and overhangs. If I was living in sunnier climes I would probably go for the 8.5s.The Papilio IIs were noticeably brighter and seemed sharper than the original Papilios, so I hope my nearest and dearest will be happy with my well-loved used pair while I relish the new ones!

Bought these for bird watching in my garden. The picture quality is good and the zoom make them ideal for close to medium distance viewing. Excellent short focus which I need as some of the birds come close to my window. Only downside/ compromise is that when you zoom in the view dims, this is to be expected as your reducing the light gathering capacity of the lenses but it's only slight reduction. They are lightweight and easy to handle. Comes with detachable strap and lens cap. The lens cap are loose which makes them easy to lose, shame they didn't attach them somehow to the binoculars. All in all they are good and are perfect for what I need.

Very clear, light weight and good field of vision…..perfect to keep in your day pack!

I have had a lott of binoculars over 50 and my first ones were Asahi Pentax 8X40s. These 6.5s are really clear and bright. As a sailor I have used taken many vendors glass on vacations and business trips. I remembered that Ricoh was a camera company in the 60s and did not realize that Ricoh owned Asahi Pentax and later changed it name to Pentax Most companies today rebrand and then cut costs. The Pentax original quality still lives: sharp and bright. Now that I have dry eye macular degeneration and struggle with fovea region fuzziness and a loss of light gathering. In addition, I needed to be able to focus within 6' from my TV. These binocs are simply amazing. They also have great objective eye adjustability. Great quality of engineering and manufacturing. Only the shipping box fell apart in Amazon's bubble wrap pkg. That box probably needs upgrading for security. Now if only Ricoh could engineer a set of liquid lens eyeglasses to allow me to drive again. I have wasted some money on elcheapo glasses that were a waste.

I hunt and am outdoors often. I needed an extra pair for my truck or for travel. I wanted something that was light weight, easy to use, and was optically sound. These binoculars are great on all counts. My other binoculars are Leupold McKinley's . While these binoculars are not Leupold quality they are exceptionally for the money. My only caution is that they are not waterproof. Know this when you buy them and use them accordingly. I have used mine while it was raining but kept them dry as possible. I've had no problems. My Leupold binoculars are for rugged outdoor use. Would I buy them again? Absolutely. They are supper for close-up work. My Leupold's don't come close to these for close up item detail.

Great set of binoculars.Small and light weight great for walking/ sight seeing.Close range focus is fun.

The Pentax 8x25 UP are awesome binoculars with a solid feel. In comparison with my Nikon Monarch 8x42, and B&L Custom 8x25, they are just as bright, nearly as sharp, slightly narrower field of veiw, but somewhat reduced edge-to-edge sharpness, maybe 75% of the radius is sharp. The diopter adjustment is novel, a push-button knob at the hinge that makes diopter adjustment very easy. A fantastic set of binos for $110. Unfortunately this was the only part that felt a little flimsy, not sure how long it would hold up.The fatal flaw for me was eye relief. Though it's listed as 15 mm, I had a lot of vignetting with my regular glasses, and pretty extreme with my prescription sunglasses. They are not useable, and I have returned them. This was a surprise, the B&L 8x25 also have a listed 15 mm eye relief, and I can see edge-to-edge with my shades. The Monarchs have 18 mm, and are awesome. I'm baffled why the Pentax's have such poor eye relief despite the 15mm spec. Maybe a different way of measuring them? Anyway, I've returned them, and replaced them with Pentax AD 8x25, which have noticeably poorer optics, but good eye relief.