Binoculars Guide

Bushnell ImageView 10×25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular
This page covers the Bushnell ImageView 10×25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular. Also where accessible we have listed a set of customer remarks and relevant critiques for you.

Manufactured by: Bushnell
Part Number 11-1025

Product overview :
ReviewCombining a pair of binoculars with a digital camera is a brilliant idea with endless possibilities with useful applications from birdwatchers documenting their greatest catches to parents zooming in on their kids on the playing field. Unfortunately Bushnell’s Imageview digital binoculars which integrate digital imaging into a pair of 10×25 binoculars may be ahead of their time.

The image quality of the binoculars isn’t a problem as they employ clear optics that allow for sharp focusing at the fixed 10x zoom level. Build quality also is good with thick rubber coating on the sides to ensure a good grip and fold-down rubber eyecups to accommodate eyeglass wearers. The small 25mm objective lenses however don’t provide substantial light-gathering but do keep the design as small and light as possible

The built-in camera will be the real problem for most users. It uses a low-resolution CCD that snaps pictures at a fixed resolution of 640 x 480 which is fine for e-mail but not adequate for making prints. To make matters worse most of the shots we took were grainy with lots of compression artifacts and subpar color.

If you can live with those limitations the camera does have the benefits of ease of use and plenty of image-storaging capacity. With 8 MB of built-in memory we snapped nearly 150 pictures before connecting the camera to a PC. No image preview is available but a basic black-and-white LCD display on top of the camera tells you how many pictures you’ve snapped and the selected mode.

With a better digital camera and removable memory slots this idea of a high-quality camera-binocular hybrid could realize its full potential. However the image quality compromises imposed by the Imageview will be too much for many to bear regardless of the low price. –T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Compact binoculars
• Camera is easy to use and doesn’t require two hands
• Stores nearly 150 pictures in internal memory

Cons:

• Low picture quality
• No direct image preview or management
• 25mm objective lens means you need a lot of light to get the most out of the binoculars

A good binocular can enhance your view; Image View binoculars will do the same for your memories. Bushnell Performance Optics has combined the high magnification and powerful performance of a Bushnell binocular with the advanced technical wizardry of a compact digital camera giving you the option to capture and save any sight you experience. The Image View is ideal for sports fans outdoor enthusiasts adventure travelers anyone with a desire to view and record whatever experiences come their way. Why settle for magnifying life when you can remember it for all time?

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Amazon Customer Rating ->> 3 out of 5

This merchandise has been critiqued at Amazon and for your ease of access we have recorded the underlisted visitor remarks on the Bushnell ImageView 10×25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular.

:These were given as a gift the product was easy to set up and use don’t know about the picture quality

The driver disk that I have will not work anymore so I figured that I could download it online. However it is not available anywhere for download. Now I am stuck with a product that is useless to me. Do not waste your money on this or any other Bushnell product customer support is non-existent!

Excellent idea but Bushnell really fell down on the job with this one. My fiance bought this used for $10.00 and now I’m glad she didn’t pay anymore for them.
It’s my job to figure out any new gadgets she gets so I went to Bushnell’s site first and after some browsing I found the binoculars and there was a manual available in PDF (it shows the camera functions only) but no drivers to be found. Luckily the disc she got with the purchase worked!!
She has Photoshop already so all I installed were the drivers from the CD onto her XP Pro computer. There is absolutely NO DOCUMENTATION on how to get the pictures off the camera so I opened Photoshop and used import and sure enough Bushnell was there. I clicked on it and the Bushnell software came up but it’s a by guess and by gosh process to figure out how to transfer the pictures from the camera into Photoshop.
Once transferred I checked image size and it was 640×480 at 1mp per inch so scenery is visible but I have my doubts as to small animals etc.
Another thing that irritated me was that I couldn’t get the 2 sides of the binoculars close enough together to get a good view in other words I had to look through 1 lens at a time. I’ve never had that problem with a pair of binoculars before.
Bushnell has always been a good name but they sure couldn’t prove it with this product.
Buyer BEWARE!!!!!!!

The binoculars worked fine but I have no idea how the cameral worked. We have 3 computers (laptops) with 3 different operating systems – windows 2000 vista