Gear Review: Nikon Travelite 9×25 Binoculars

It seems like forever since I first started working with Nikon.  My first experience with the company was in 2009 at an archery event where I first fell in love with the Monarch binocular series.

Hunting in the Midwest, I didn’t always need such a powerful, not to mention heavy set of binoculars.  For the mist part, I hunt in wooded tracts of land, many times with visibility only up to about 50 yards.

Occasionally I’ll hunt the edges of open fields 300-400 yards long but I generally don’t glass for prey like you do out west where power is a must when you’re trying to identify a buck two mountains over.

In my next set of binoculars I wanted to try something lighter, weighing in at 9 ounces the Travelite VI 8X25 was perfect!  It was light and easily focused in on close encounters as well as extending to 1,000 yards if need be.

As far as ergonomics go, while it’s small in stature the rubber housing keeps the binos from slipping out of your hands, and for a woman with smaller hands with long fingers, I can vouch for both small handed women and large handed men, it was very comfortable in my grip.  The housing is made of water resistant carbon fiber, which is an extremely strong and light fiber reinforced polymer containing fibers, making it extremely durable and rugged.  Which suits me since I throw my stuff around quite a bit.  I generally only use the best equipment so I can abuse it a bit more, I have yet to be disappointed in any of the Nikon products.

Boasting aspherical eyepieces, the surface of the glass eliminates any possibility of optical imperfections (ghosting etc.).

The binoculars are contrived of BAK-4 (Porro) Prisms; considered to be the best available as they are made of superior optical glass, producing incredibly clear images.

The center focus knob was very responsive and focused very quickly.  And one of my favorite features was the peel down eyecups.

My mood dictates whether I wear glasses or contacts that day.  When I’m wearing glasses I prefer to leave to the cups outward which provides a nice resting guide for my glasses.  When I’m wearing my contacts I don’t want anything near my eyeballs and fold them back.

My husband used it while we hunted whitetail deer from a blind on public land in Sauk County, Wisconsin.  The lenses never fogged up in the extreme cold and he was able to successfully use the focus dial with thick gloves on.

I have used it several times while scouting or even just watching a baseball game.  It’s small, lightweight design fits easily into a pocket and the strap that comes with it does not pull hard against my neck.

The carrying case that comes with it easily fits on any belt for convenient carrying.

Product Rating

Overall Rating: 5

MSRP: $99.95

Performance: Excellent

Ease of Use: Extremely easy, I would feel very confident that my 4 year old niece could use these binoculars.

Versatility: Could be used for any kind of hunting, from big game to varmint.

Other Uses: Bird watching, baseball games, wild life viewing

~
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post please share it with the world!

Don’t forget you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.

While you’re here, check out the current and previous Wild World of CarrieZ episodes and don’t forget to leave a review on ITunes.

If you’d like to get immediate email notifications when a new article, contest or show is posted; enter your email address in the sign up box on the right.

Or you can sign up for the monthly newsletter sent out the 1st of each month covering all posts and podcasts episodes published the month before.

Thanks for your support!