Found a pair of cheapo Made in Japan Tasco 7-14 binos on Fleabay

[30-30man]

I took a gamble on a cheap pair of tasco binos for the neice to use when hunting with me.  I was surprised to win them with a $5 bid.  I had about $10 in them and laughed when I got the box at the door.   The thing cost over $8 to ship, so I guess they gave them away.  They are 7-14x35 and are marked Made in Japan.  They seem to work pretty good on low power, but get a little hazy when the zoom is wound up.  How old do you think these binos are?  They came with a case and caps.  They look almost new but smell of moth balls.  I know they are cheap, but I think they were worth the $10.

[charles p]

Had a cheap pair of Tasco at least 30 years ago.  They were 7X50 Marine binocs.  Moisture got inside and molded against the inside lens.  They were never in the rain, just good old Southern humidity.

[Graybeard]

Nope I doubt they are worth $10 unless you just like to collect oddities. I'd hang them on a wall peg as a conversation starter.

[Gun Runner]

Got a pair of 7x50, Manon made in Japan. Got them for $13.00 at the exchange on Midway Island in 1964, when I was stationed there. There coated optics and come in a hard bound leather case. They have traveled around 1/2 the world, and many hunting and fishing  trips and still work real good.

Gun Runner

[Graybeard]

Yeah but they aren't variable power. Generally speaking variable power binoculars are JUNK. There is a new one out now that's not technically a variable but is a two power deal. It's a main line brand and I have heard it works OK, not great but OK. Old variable power binoculars are just JUNK however.

[30-30man]

Yeah, they are junk.  Upon more review there are two images and no matter what I do the condition exist.  I think there may be some misalignment somewhere in the lenses or prisms.  They quickly gave me a headache after only a few minutes trying to adjust them.  I guess both parties got stuck on this deal.  I'll give them to the kids to play with. 

[Graybeard]

Binocular barrels must be properly collimated so as to align both barrels to give a single image. High quality binoculars are properly collimated from the factory and are tough enough to maintain that collimation thru normal use for a great many years unless severely abused or dropped. Cheap binoculars are seldom properly collimated to begin with and seldom hold what collimation they had for normal use.

It might be a shifting of the prisms or something else but it's definitely something that has shifted or lens that are becoming decemented another problem common to cheap binos and other optics. Cheap is seldom worth the money and old variables NEVER are.

[30-30man]

I never expected anything from the price.  I just wanted to see what people were going on about "Made in Japan" Tascos.  Turned out they were talking about nothing...

[Graybeard]

Ah not so. Made in Japan Tasco World Class SCOPES are excellent quality instruments. As I said variable binoculars are JUNK period. Having them made in Japan ain't gonna change that. The ONLY Tasco scopes I cared for were the Made in Japan World Class scopes.

[Drilling Man]

  So, i guess you don't think much of your neice, eh??  lol

  DM

[30-30man]

Naw, it's not for her, but the kids at church.  It's already in the bin next to the plastic fort.  I had to make sure there were no small parts that would come off, a quick set of Lysol, and the kids will have many hours of fun playing GI Joe.

I never liked full size bino for the hunting I do anyway.  I have a pair of compact B&Ls that have worked for over 30 years, I guess it would be ashame to stop using them now.