Ostara Elinor 10x50 binoculars review

The Ostara Elinor binoculars come with a smart protective soft case, rubber protective caps front and rear, twist-up eyecups and a standard tripod bush at the front.

The binoculars are also rubber coated to give a good grip.

There is a good range to the interpupillary adjustment and the right eyepiece’s dioptre adjustment is a serrated wheel, which allows for quite a smooth operation.

Although the optical surfaces are fully multicoated, we did notice a slight flaring when turned on the brightest stars.

They are the second heaviest pair on test but we barely noticed the weight and could spend a long time holding them for a lengthy tour of the sky.

Our field of view test on Altair gave crisp views across 75 per cent of the 6° wide view, while the distortion over the last 25 per cent to the field edges was less than others we’ve tested.

Galaxies such as M51 and M101 were well seen, M51 even having a slight bulge that hinted at its smaller companion. M8 and M17 were a delight to view, as were star clusters such as M39 and M11.

The Andromeda Galaxy was also a great sight, with its disc stretching across at least half the view.

Turning to doubles, we could just split the colourful double Albireo, while Nu Draconis was well separated.

We easily spotted Jupiter’s four main moons as well.

Overall, the Elinor binoculars did a great job on a wide variety of objects, were easy to use and, despite a slight flaring on the brightest stars, gave great contrast on all the deep-sky objects we toured.

This review appeared in the October 2010 issue of Sky at Night Magazine