Review: Styrka S9
8x42. Next up in the new
binocular brand review series is the Styrka S9. This is their top of
the line model. They can be purchased at around the $980 mark. Styrka is pronounced Steer-ka. Supposedly a Norse word for strength.
Not being a Norse speaker, I’ll have to take their word for it. Styrka was formed in
2014 and binoculars have been available for about a year. They are a
company closely affiliated with Celestron. Most current Stryka
people came directly from Celestron. Some of those people have
previous employment experience at Kowa. Celestron provides
engineering assistance and functions as the OEM. Evidently Celestron
is happy with their position as an Astronomy company. The evidently
decided it was worth expanding into a broader market, but decided to
use a different brand name. They are an independent entity from
Celestron, in spit of affiliation They have a pretty
simple, straightforward warranty; They call it Styrka Pride. From
the website: “That’s why the
Styrka Pride Warranty is so simple. In the event of damage or
malfunction, we will repair or replace your Stryka product free of
charge. No questions asked. No registration required. No receipt
needed. No matter who bought it. The only caveat? The warranty
doesn’t cover theft, loss or intentional damage. Send us your
Stryka product and we’ll clean and tune it up once per year.
Regular maintenance helps keep your Styrka performing like the day
you bought it.” Styrka offices are
in Egan, Minnesota. They have a service facility there, where the
bulk of the warranty and service work will occur. More difficult
repairs will go to Celestron. They tell me they inspect every
binocular before it leaves their possession. The test includes a
spin over a collimator. Out of the box comes
a sturdy, somewhat chunky, well armored dual hinge binocular with a
pleasing, solid feel. There are a good selection of accessories.
There is a zippered case that comes with a harness designed to allow
the user to carry the binocular on their chest, a padded neck strap,
a cleaning cloth, and straps for the case if you opt not to go the
chest harness route. It has very good standard ocular and objective
covers. Focus action: Focus
is counterclockwise to infinity. There is a total of one and a half
turns. From the close focus distance of 6 feet, a full turn of the
wheel gets to a focus of distance of 75 feet. One quarter turn gets
to infinity, with an additional one quarter travel past infinity,
The focus is soft and smooth with no side to side play as direction
is changed. The eye cups are
pretty typical click stop affairs. Down, halfway, and fully
extended. All the way down you can get to within 1 mm of the ocular
lens surface. Full extension is 12 mm. Eye relief is listed as 18
mm. They are solid enough, but they have some tendency to retract a
stop on their own in use. The eye cup assembly is a screw off affair.
The weak point in
this binocular is the eye cups. Not to pick on Styrka, but this is a
pet peeve of mine with binoculars as a whole. The problem is that
they may need more extension for some users to match the eye relief
specifications. The S9 shares this feature, the eye cup extends out
12 mm above the surface of the ocular lens. You can get to within 1
mm of the surface of the lens with the eye cups all the way down.
The eye cups are quite comfortable and I have no problem getting full
field with extended eye cups with reading glasses.
Image performance:
The S9 has a listed 7.5* fov (394’). This checks out under actual
measurement. There is no field flattener technology used. There is
a typical classic edge with minimal distortions at the edge. The
sweet spot is wide and the edge is not particularly distracting. This
binocular happens to have a distinct brightness strong point in dark,
dreary, gray day usage. There is a very
slight yellow bias, but the colors in the image appear pretty
neutral. The S9 is possessed of a very sharp image and very good
contrast. Edges of objects are very well defined, and things like fur and
feather detail are easily observed. Apparent sharpness is top notch.
Overall we have a very clean, sharp, colorful image that is pretty
easy on the eyes. This is a top notch image and should be considered
well above good enough. This is a superb
binocular for CA and glare control. I can’t induce either one in
any condition. Ergonomics and
construction: This is a solid and substantial feeling binocular. It
has ample grippy armoring. It has a somewhat chunky feel compared to
other dual hinge binoculars, but is rather typical in handling
characteristics. With cell phones
there is the iFixit site which does complete tear downs of various
phones. They are checked for ease of repair,, for construction, and
the cost of the total of the parts is evaluated. We likely need a
similar site for binoculars, somebody to tear down the instrument and
evaluate its construction. Lacking that, I will offer the comment
that this looks to be a very solid, well made instrument. Summary: We can
wonder why we see an influx of new companies into what seems like a
crowded binocular market. The thing they seem to have in common is
they are founded by people with considerable optical experience.
That seems to me to indicate they have all seen something they can
use to do better. I don’t know, but in any case I welcome the
competition. We all benefit from that. The Styrka S9 is a
superb binocular and seems worth every penny of its asking price. It
has a great image, sharp with good contrast, is particularly bright
in gloomy gray days, and has excellent focus action (yeah I know some
will complain about either focus direction). The S9 has superior
glare resistance and CA control. It may be a bit chunky for some,
the big white STYRKA across the case will be visible from quite a
ways off (curable with a sharpie marker), and the eye cups may lack
some extension. But if something is out there to be found, you will
be able to find it with this. Yes it is new. It
is also very good. I will let you make your own decision on where
you stand on the new issue.
------------- Steve "Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted". William Bruce Cameron
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