Product Review: The Sky Rover Banner Cloud 8 x 42 Binocular (4 Viewers)

[NDhunter]

And I suppose you have got diagrams of both optical trains, and details of specific glass types/properties, to back up that statement?

Keep reading, it does look like a clone according to those who have posted. Copy Kat............
Jerry

 

[Hermann]

I almost wish I hadn't deleted my post . I say lock the damn thread and ban me if you must because these SRBC threads will never calm down to a point that we are all getting along , the supporters of the product and a few others won't allow it to happen .

If you don't like this thread (or any other), there's a simple solution: Stay away from it. Don't read it.

Hermann

 

[Sancho]

Sancho, thank you, not taking your kind offer above, as a few 1000 km too far, but am taking your guidance from your review? /reports (inter alia) on this bino. Very tempting specs and reported qualities for so much less than the Swaro. NL in price. If I get one though it won't be right now as I wait to see responses from other manufrs; for me the APM version is out as I very much dislike its looks. OTOH cannot wait too long as my warranty period nears its end and possible vision problems loom.

Well if anyone is in the Dublin area at any stage and wants to have a look at my SRBC, more than welcome. Meeting other bino-obsessives is always fun, and as an added bonus, I won't be even remotely offended if you think they're rubbish!

 

[Maljunulo]

Reviews about binoculars are given by people who have never had them in their hands, other people's opinions are simply adopted and are sold as facts.

Andreas

We have our very own "Specsheet Wars" where specs are deployed as thunderbolts are from Mount Olympus.

Sometimes I suspect that they are not entirely based on experience.

I have absolutely no idea what is going on with this manufacturer, or its products, but the whole thing smells funny to me.

 

[Hermann]

We have our very own "Specsheet Wars" where specs are deployed as thunderbolts are from Mount Olympus.

Sometimes I suspect that they are not entirely based on experience.

You can say that again. We also have a lot of people uttering rather firm opinions about a binocular - before it is relased on the market. Look at what happened when the Zeiss HDX was announced a few weeks ago. These folks surely must have some really good crystal ball ... 😋 And then you have some people here who totally rely on Allbinos. Simply brilliant. 🥴👻🥴

Hermann

 

[Sancho]

Couldn't agree more Majnuolo. I've been through over sixty binos in twenty years, and I've learned two things...1) Never rely on someone else's opinion, even an expert's; 2) Never rely on my own opinion either

 

[Sancho]

Put it this way. The SRBC I bought might last only five years, and by then maybe the company will have vanished. In which case I chuck them and buy whatever new China-made bino is available. OTOH a far more likely probability is that the US, Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, Russia etc. will have gotten us all killed by then. If I'd bought the NLs, my last thought, before being fried, would be 'Darn, so much money wasted on these binos and I only got a year out of them'.

 

[adhoc]

Sancho, cheer up. When that nuclear device gets you, all will be instantaneous, there will be no time to think that, or anything else. You calculate one year from now. You forgot China, N. Korea, Pakistan, India. We may need to shorten that prediction. So I say, go for the NL. During that time, enjoy the best as the last, or as we say in BirdForum, your swansong.

 

[Patudo]

OTOH a far more likely probability is that the US, Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, Russia etc. will have gotten us all killed by then. If I'd bought the NLs, my last thought, before being fried, would be 'Darn, so much money wasted on these binos and I only got a year out of them'.

Much more likely if you live in Lebanon or Iran than here, I reckon... and to circle back to the original topic, I do wonder whether Sky Rover et al are making any efforts to sell binoculars there. Birders outside the Western world can see some great birds, but seldom have the budgets that many of us do.

 

[adhoc]

Patudo, a bent to birdwatching, in many ethnic groups, and this is broadly in regard to nations but equally to different ethnic groups within one nation, is cultural, as well as, in fact I'd think more than, economic. In the two countries you mention (vs your own) economics is not the factor. How do I know? My experience in, and knowledge of, poorer (that may be an inappropriate word in English!) countries than they, and ethnic groups within these, and observations by First-World birdwatchers, who intimately knew such ("knew," past tense, because those I knew best are now no more).

 

[Sancho]

Much more likely if you live in Lebanon or Iran than here, I reckon... and to circle back to the original topic, I do wonder whether Sky Rover et al are making any efforts to sell binoculars there. Birders outside the Western world can see some great birds, but seldom have the budgets that many of us do.

I have in-laws and friends in China who thought I was a bit strange long ago, when we were visiting, because I went out around the parks and countryside looking at birds. Nowadays birding has taken off in China, there is a solid birding community and I would imagine SRBC and similar have a sizeable domestic market.

 

[adhoc]

Sancho, what reason/s for this change do you see? Thanks.

 

[Sancho]

Sancho, what reason/s for this change do you see? Thanks.

I suppose the expanded Middle Class, more disposable income and free time. My first time living there was in 1988-'89, things have changed a lot since then

 

[Dipperdapper]

NB:

 

[Yarkho]

"Death match"? Did he kill something with the binoculars?

(Also, I am curious to learn about optics from someone who owns only a single pair of glasses ::unbelievable:: )

 

[Sancho]

"Death match"? Did he kill something with the binoculars?

(Also, I am curious to learn about optics from someone who owns only a single pair of glasses ::unbelievable:: )

You mean....some people only have one pair of binoculars? This truly is a divided world.....

 

[Central CO Mark]

Anyone still remember those awesome Svbony SV202s? Yup, me neither. Oh, wait, I got two -- they're collecting dust in one of my bino-storage crates under the sofa.

I do. Don't have any though. I do have the SA205, 8x42, and for $132 to the house it was probably the best binocular deal I have seen so far. I use it daily.

Sure, my EDG 10x42 is certainly better, but anyone who looks through both of them will roll their eyes if they know the costs of each. Can you say diminishing returns? Of course I still want the 8x42 Banner Cloud...