Athlon Optics Midas G2 UHD 8x42 Binoculars

Picking one warbler out of a moving flock comes down to how fast you find it and how much of the tree you hold in view. The Athlon Midas G2 UHD 8x42 has the widest field in Athlon's Midas G2 line, 8.1° (426 ft at 1,000 yards), with focus down to 6.5 ft and 17.2 mm of eye relief, in a 23.3 oz magnesium body.

Key Features

• Eye relief for eyeglasses. The 17.2 mm of eye relief is the longest in the Midas G2 line on Athlon's own figures, and the twist-up eyecups go fully down for eyeglasses, with an intermediate stop.
• Glass and prisms. UHD extra-low dispersion glass, which Athlon says gives "little or no chromatic fringe", and ESP dielectric coating on phase-corrected BAK4 prisms that "reflects over 99% of the light to your eyes", with advanced fully multi-coated lenses and an XPL protective coating on the outer lenses.
• Built for weather. Athlon says the Midas 8x42 binoculars "are waterproof, have a shockproof design and rubber armor". They are argon purged (argon, Athlon explains, gives "better fog proof capabilities" than nitrogen), and the diopter ring sits on the right side, below the eyecup.
• A Top Pick. Cornell Lab's All About Birds wrote: "An excellent image and easy-action focus wheel made these binoculars one of our Top Picks."

Ideal For

• Birders, one of the applications on Athlon's sheet. In All About Birds' field test, "with about 120 waxwings perched in a row of trees, these binoculars quickly revealed the rich red-brown undertails of about 30 Bohemian Waxwings mixed in with the Cedars."
• 8x or 10x? The Midas G2 UHD 10x42 brings 10x at the same 23.3 oz, with a 341 ft field against 426, 15.2 mm of eye relief against 17.2 and focus to 8.2 ft against 6.5. It costs a little more.
• A one-handed grip. The Argos G2 UHD 8x42, which Athlon describes as having "a secure, ergonomic, and comfortable one-handed grip", gives 17.3 mm of eye relief, a tenth more, and costs less. The Midas answers with a 426 ft field against 371, focus to 6.5 ft against 13, and 23.3 oz against 25.5.
• Hunters and nature watchers, the sheet's other two applications.

Accessories & Compatibility

• Tripod. A ¼-20 tripod adapter socket under the logo plate on the hinge takes the Athlon Binocular Tripod Adapter, made to "mount a binocular to regular camera tripod".