The Helios Fieldmaster 7x50 comes in a soft case, protected by well-fitting front lens and rear eyepiece caps.
They have a pleasing, well-balanced heft when held to the eyes and the smooth-moving central focuser is well placed.
There’s also a good range of dioptre adjustment on the right-hand eyepiece.
Changing interpupillary distance was a simple task, thanks to fluid movement in the central axis.
The Fieldmaster will also accept the standard tripod adaptor bracket.
The field of view is similar to the Olivon QB at 6.3°.
Views of the stars Capella and Procyon revealed a field sharp across the inner 75 per cent, with only slight loss of quality towards the edge.
The Moon showed good detail along the terminator, despite the low magnification, while Saturn again gave a suggestion of its planetary nature; its flattened appearance a hint of the existence of those rings.
On the deep sky, views were excellent, the Beehive Cluster in particular.
One perk of the wide field was catching two of the cluster’s outlying stars, Delta and Gamma Cancri, in the panorama.
Meanwhile in Orion, the Hunter’s Belt and Sword just fitted into the field.
The Orion Nebula was also outstanding and we could make out the smaller nebula Messier 78, albeit faintly.
Spurred on by this unexpected sighting, we searched for more pale gems, picking out the galaxies M81 and M82 in Ursa Major and the spiral galaxy NGC 2903 in Leo.
To say the least, we were impressed with these binoculars’ clarity of view.
Vital stats
- Price: £49.00
- Weight: 825g
- Supplier: Optical Vision Ltd
- Telephone: 01359 244200
- Website:www.opticalvision.co.uk
