Oberwerk Product Features

Some OBERWERK® binoculars may look very similar to other brands, but there are important differences:

• Exclusivity- OBERWERK® binoculars are made in an assembly plant that makes our innovative and unique binocular models exclusively for Oberwerk.  You won't find our binoculars with someone else's brand on them.  
• Prisms-  All OBERWERK® binoculars feature highest-quality BAK4 prisms, which give the best performance across the entire field of view.  Competitors often use less-expensive BK-7 prisms, which darkens the image near the edges of the field of view.
• Multi-coatings- Quality multi-coatings maximize the amount of light that passes through a lens. An uncoated lens surface passes only 95% of the light that hits it- 5% is lost due to reflection and scattering. A single-coated lens surface is more efficient, passing 98-99%, with a 1-2% loss. A multi-coated lens surface is the most efficient, passing about 99.5%, with just a 0.5% loss. Binoculars have many air-to-glass surfaces (between 14 and 22 for each side), so the number of uncoated, single-coated, and multi-coated surfaces can make a huge difference in overall efficiency. All OBERWERK® binoculars utilize the highest-quality broadband multi-coating on all air-to-glass surfaces. Note the reflections of a circular fluorescent bulb in the binocular shown at the right. Some competitors multi-coat only the interior surface of the objective lenses, single-coat the other lenses, and often have uncoated prisms. Their binoculars will typically show one green reflection, with multiple light blue (single-coated) and white (uncoated) reflections.
• Focusers- OBERWERK® center-focus binoculars feature “slow” focusers that require more than one turn of the focus wheel to move from one end of the focus range to the other. Other brands utilize “fast” focusers that move from one end to the other in less than 1/2 turn of the focus wheel. Unlike competitor’s “fast” focusers, OBERWERK® “slow” focusers have a more precise adjustment, and will not drift from pressure on the oculars.
• "Usable" Eye Relief- OBERWERK® binocular eyepieces are designed to minimize any recess between the top of the eyepiece and the outermost lens, in order to achieve greater eye relief than similar models from other brands- which is important for those that must wear eyeglasses.  Unlike our competitors, we measure eye relief as "usable" eye relief, so while our eye relief specifications may appear to be less than similar models from other brands, in reality, it's usually greater.  
• Collimation (alignment)- A binocular is basically two side-by-side telescopes. “Collimation” is the alignment of each of those telescopes to each other, so that the images from each side are correctly merged.  Perfect collimation is critical for the extreme magnifications our binocular telescopes are capable of, and that's been our specialty for the last 25 years.  We wouldn't be the world's leading supplier of high-power binoculars if our alignment was less than perfect.  We apply that same standard of alignment perfection to every binocular we sell- from our $6300 127XL-SD binocular telescopes to our smallest and least-expensive models.  Every single one is carefully tested, aligned if necessary, and shipped with a hand-written checklist.   
• Warranty- OBERWERK® binoculars are covered by a 5-year limited warranty (from date of purchase) for problems due to manufacturing defects.
• Exchange Program- Only OBERWERK offers a Lifetime Binocular Exchange Program. Customers may exchange an OBERWERK® binocular, regardless of age or condition, for a new binocular of the same model, at 25% off the regular price, or apply that savings to a more expensive model.