Athlon Midas G2 UHD 10×25 Binoculars: Our Review

At A Glance

PROS:

• Bright image, sharp at close and medium ranges 
• Very lightweight and packable
• Large comfortable eyecups help with usability and image quality

CONS:

• Focus wheel placement requires focusing with ring or middle finger
• Small focus wheel can be hard to adjust quickly
• Minimal armoring on barrels
• Narrow field of view
• Only available as 10x

STATS:

• Price: $212 MSRP at press time. Prices often fluctuate, so check with retailers
• Close focus: Listed at 5.2 feet (160 cm). In tests, we could focus these binoculars to about 6.3 feet (193 cm)
• Field of view: 5.4° (284 feet at 1,000 yards). More about field of view 
• Weight: 8.8 oz (249 g)—that’s about 1.9 oz (53 g) lighter than the average for pocket binoculars in our review
• Eye relief: 15.5 mm

Viewing Experience: These bins have a good, sharp, and decently bright image. Athlon does not currently make an 8x version of the Midas G2, so this is the only 10x model in our pocket binocular review. Having slightly more magnification was a boon in some cases—with American Robins foraging up to 250 yards away in a tilled field, we easily discerned the yellow bills and white eyerings, for instance. But the higher magnification also yields a narrow field of view and slightly less bright image compared to many 8x binoculars.

They were easy to pick up and quickly get a good, clear circular view. The focus wheel is smooth and pleasantly resistant, taking four swipes to move fully through its range. This longer track for the focus wheel made fine tuning fairly easy but a bit slow, making it difficult to lock in quickly on fast-moving birds. However, the narrow field of view made some types of birding more challenging, such as finding a spring kinglet playing peek-a-boo in yellowing willow branches, or following a Barn Swallow swooping swiftly across shifting backgrounds of sky and trees.

Feel and Build: This Midas G2 is a bit lighter than average for the pocket binocular category, perhaps in part because the manufacturer chose not to put additional armoring (rubber or plastic housing) over the black metal barrels. While it saves weight and gives the binoculars a no-nonsense look, it may also reduce the binoculars’ shock-absorbing capability. We also found the unusual placement of the focus wheel at the end of the bridge. This forces users to focus with their ring finger rather than their index finger and can be hard to get used to.

Like many other pocket binoculars, the Midas’s double-hinge design makes them more compact and adjusts well for close-set eyes; but can also be, fiddly, prone to drifting out of adjustment, and may pinch your hands when unfolding. The eyecups are comfortably rounded and click into three pre-set positions. The neckstrap is big and padded, perhaps more than necessary given the weight. The strap has the welcome feature of attaching with clips for easy removal, making it easy to switch from neck mode to pocket mode.

This article is one in a series of mini-reviews. To see how these binoculars compare to others we’ve tested, see our full review of pocket binoculars.