Orion Mini Giant 8x56

4.0 Orion Mini Giant 8x56 Binoculars

Excellent optics, Orions excellent quality control and a 30-day return privilege, Well made.

A touch heavy, should use a tripod, maybe a touch costly for 8 power.

About a week ago I had an opportunity to test drive three pairs of binos that I've never looked through before. This is the best of the three I viewed with that night.

The Orion Mini Giants were new to me and almost new to the owner as well. They are a little costly at $159 new with only 8 power, but the 56mm objectives are worth the extra money. Typically they come with a soft case, all four caps, BAK4 porro prisms and a good strap. A 5-degree plus FOV is nice and the almost 20mm of eyerelief is nice too. The weight comes in at 2 lbs even (32oz.) Also they feature fully multi-coated optics.

The stars were pinpoint out to about 70% of the field, but the balance was poor. The views of Jupiter were excellent. All four moons, on one side of the planet that night, were easy to see although no bands of Jupiter were visible. Remember it's only 8 power. The Moon was an easy target and there might have been a minimum of color around the Moon's edge, but not that much to bother. This binocular is rather large for only 8 power but it's very well built (armored) and fits well into my smallish hands. Tripod adaptable, but be careful not to loose the "plug" for the hole. The owner did. I recommend a tripod for these binos, but you can handhold them for a while. Also for daylight use these work well for birding and such.