Hello, tweets.

Just wanted to share my enthusiasm for the Brunton Epoch binoculars,
as I acquired a pair of them just before I left for Arizona a few
weeks ago. They are really great, as good as the review in the Feb
2003 Birding magazine. They are probably no better in optics or light
gathering or durability or some other important features than their
competitors (but still superb), but two features make them unique,
both of them winners.

(1) Close focus. They focus to 3 feet or a little less, a fabulous
opportunity to view butterflies and dragonflies and flowers and other
things at high magnification. You don't focus on your feet, you focus
on your knees! There is parallax, so you have to view with only one
eye at that distance, but beyond about 5 feet the parallax effect
goes away.

(2) Fast focus. They focus quite rapidly from infinity to 3 feet and
back because of a special variable focus system.

(3) I should add that they look cool, always important to the birder, right?

I should add on top of that that they are also expensive, and only
because of my long frustration at not being able to focus as close as
I would like was I willing to shell out big bucks for brawny bins,
but this model was the obvious choice once I had decided I would take
the plunge - to be able to focus that closely was only a dream before
these glasses appeared. Their list price is $1500, but you can get
them for $1400 from some dealers, I believe. They also have
considerably less expensive Eternas that focus to 5 feet and are said
to be quite good, too.

Their web site is www.brunton.com.

I'm neither an employee nor a stockholder, for my last addition.

Dennis
--
Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
1500 N. Warner, #1088
Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html