Bushnell Elite Binoculars

If you've been birder for a significant number of years, you've undoubtedly had a chance to handle the old Bausch & Lomb Elites or know someone who owns a pair. They're usually experienced and serious birders, and this is an optic that suits them. The latest version of this venerable high-quality binocular line, the Bushnell Elite, has been completely re-designed to create a new entity under a similar name. In the mid 1970s, Bausch and Lomb licensed their name to Bushnell, who began producing all of Bausch and Lomb's sport optics. This licensing agreement ended in 2004, and Bausch and Lomb declined to renew the license, leaving Bushnell to manufacture under their own name. Confused yet? All you need to know is that the tradition of quality associated with the brand has continued. Lightweight, bright, sharp and ergonomically-optimized, the new Elite is a beautiful binocular, a worthy competitor in the high-end market, and rather hard to come by owing to a demand that currently outstrips the supply. Available in 8x43 and 10x43 versions, we got a 10x model for review, and enjoyed the experience.

For those familiar with the older models of the Elite, the first thing you'll notice is that the new Elite differs dramatically in shape. The hard and rather slick rubber armoring of the older model has been replaced with a finely-grained, pebbled surface that seems to stick to the hands. Your thumbs fall into the shallow grooves on the underside of the barrels and it melts into your hand. The next thing you'll notice is the weight, or rather, the lack of it. Fully extended, this binocular measures 4.75 inches wide and a bit less than 6 inches tall, but at just 24.0 oz., this is one of the lightest 10x binoculars in the high-end class that we've reviewed. Bushnell has done a fantastic job at reducing the overall weight of their binocular. Another dramatic piece of re-design is in the hinges that link the barrels. Instead of the single linear hinge of the earlier versions, Bushnell has gone to a double bridge hinge, strongly reminiscent of a certain European manufacturer whom we won't name (hint: think green!). That's some of the major physical differences. What about the optical properties?

Like the older models, these Elites are roof prisms, fully sealed and nitrogen-purged to be waterproof, dustproof and fogproof. The glass is the expected BaK4, standard for most top-level optics. Bushnell brings something extra to the table here with their proprietary RainGuard® coating on the exterior lens surfaces. RainGuard® is a hydrophobic coating that causes moisture to bead up in tiny droplets that obscure the view less than condensation or rain would on an uncoated lens. We tried this out with simulated rain and it worked well, shedding water very rapidly. Like all binocular manufacturers, Bushnell has their own proprietary phase-coating (called PC-3®) and like most, it's designed to enhance resolution and contrast, resulting in sharper clearer images. Bushnell also trumpets their XTR™ technology: up to 60 layers of coatings on each prism that enhance light transmission, pooling and optimizing available light for the brightest possible image. Naturally, there's a lot of hyperbole about this in their literature. We're not willing to say this is the brightest 10x binocular we've ever seen, but we will say that the new Elites won't disappoint in this regard.

In other physical characteristics of note, the 10x Elites have a 314-foot field of view at 1000 yards. Compared with other 10x binoculars, this is about average performance. We measured the minimum close focus at 7 feet without significant collapse of the visual field, slightly better than what's listed in Bushnell's literature, but again, about average for this class of binocular. Eye relief on the 10x Elite is 17 mm, which is a bit short of average, but not problematically so. The 8x are a bit better at 19.5 mm. The eyecups have a take-it-or-leave-it mechanism: locking in either a fully-in or fully-out position. They showed no tendency to collapse during use, but some intermediate positions here would have been nice.

The diopter adjustment is something new. Located on the inner surface of the focus knob, it's a ring with a raised flange. Pulling the ring towards the focus knob reveals a red inner ring with a single white point to line up with the flange to mark the position for equal eyes. Twisting the ring to either side permits adjustment of the diopter setting. A series of dots on the twisting ring itself marks all unequal settings, and these settings are also stabilized by a very finely-graded series of detents. When the desired position is reached, simply push the ring out to cover the red inner ring and lock the setting in place. This is a unique mechanism, and once gotten used to, it meets all the requirements of a diopter adjustment quite suitably. Give Bushnell credit for something both innovative and effective here!

The focus knob is quite large, with textured ridges to improve traction, and a very easy turning motion right out of the box. On the negative side, the Elites take fully 1.75 turns of the focus knob to go from minimum close focus to infinity, making this one of the slowest mechanisms of all high-cost binoculars we've reviewed. One can achieve very fine focus with such a mechanism and it should be noted in passing that the Elites have better than average depth of field, but the slow response means that fast-moving targets will be difficult to keep sharply in view for long. The Elites exhibited what we see as a fairly typical edge effect (the bowing of straight lines at the edge of the visual field) and rather lower than average chromatic aberration on high-contrast objects in brighter light conditions. The Elites have an interpupilary distance range of 59-78 mm. This range is shifted higher than most ranges we've measured, meaning the Elites would be particularly comfortable to users with wider faces but less comfortable for users with closer-set eyes.

The objective lens caps are attached by tethers to rings around the barrels. We like tethered lens caps since they're so much harder to lose. This particular system could be improved slightly either by attaching them to the hinge post, or by having slightly longer tethers. These dangle just a bit too close to the lenses themselves and get in the way sometimes. The rainguard is made of soft rubber cups linked by a very flexible bridge segment and it attaches to the strap by threading through a solid bracket on the left, or a gapped bracket on the right. Our only quibble with this design is that the caps don't fit the oculars very tightly so they are way too easily dislodged. The strap construction isn't too different: it's the usual nylon-type strap sewn to a soft, neoprene-like section that encircles the neck. Bushnell provided a generous surplus of the nylon strap, which permits the user to set a broad range of strap lengths. The unique part of the strap is how it attaches to the barrels. The strap hooks into two circular, gimbaled brackets that fit asymmetrically into depressions in the barrels. Evidently, all new Bushnell binoculars have this mechanism. This keeps the strap attachment site mostly out of uncomfortable contact with the webbing between one's thumb and forefinger. Again, you have to credit Bushnell with innovative design here. The case has rather a different structure too. Rather than being soft leather, it is a semi-hard case, affording more protection for the binocular. It is also deep enough to allow for an extra compartment inside for lens cleaning cloths or brushes. The case is big enough to accommodate the binocular strap, folded completely inside and still easily zip shut. The only quibble is a minor one: it isn't quite long enough to fit the binocular with the eye cups still up: one must collapse them to put the binoculars in easily.

So where does the Elite fit into the crowded class of high-end binoculars available today? Somewhere in the upper half, we think. The optical performance is excellent in most regards, the look and feel, and ease of handling and use are superb, and priced at an MSRP of $1500 (but discounted to $1000 for the 10x, $980 for the 8x), they are seriously underselling some of the major competition. There are an awful lot of very impressive top-of-the-line binoculars to choose from nowadays. We expect a lot of birders to be choosing Elites.

Bushnell Elite Binoculars - current price and availability.