Gosky 10×42 HD Roof Prism Binoculars

The Gosky 10×42 Roof Prism Binoculars are Gosky’s bestseller. Gosky is a Chinese brand that in the past few years has made a name for itself and sells binoculars, telescopes, spotting scopes, microscopes, and optical accessories in many places around the world.

Gosky Binoculars

Binoculars from Gosky have quickly become quite popular among outdoor enthusiasts.  The astonishingly affordable, but thanks to modern production facilities and technology, robustly built Gsoky binoculars are ideal for beginners and anyone who occasionally observes nature and wildlife and does not expect optical performance at the highest level.

Gosky stands out on the market with innovative equipment and practical applications, extensive accessories are included with their products.

The binoculars and spotting scopes come standard with smartphone adapters for the increasingly popular digiscoping, this makes it easy to photograph animals and objects directly.

Gosky 10×42 HD Roof Prism Binoculars

The Gosky 10×42 Roof Prism Binoculars is amazingly affordable, the binoculars cost less than $100. But are Gosky binoculars good? At first glance, the workmanship and optical performance appear to be all right and there are a whole lot of accessories is included.

Specifications of Gosky 10×42 HD Binoculars

Optical Glass	HD Glass
Lens Coating	Fully Multi-coated
Prism systems	BaK4
Magnification	10x
Objective diameter	42 mm
Exit pupil	4.2 mm
Eye relief	12 mm
Field of view	103m/1000m 307ft/1000yrd
Close focus	16 feet 5 meter
Twilight factor	20.49
Water resistance	Water-resistant
Weight	19.2 oz/ 546 gr

First Impression of the Gosky 10×42 binoculars

The first impression is pretty good. The binoculars are compact, light, easy to hold and the rubber-armored housing provides good grip.

According to the manufacturer’s specs, the housing is made of an aluminum alloy, it is not O-ring sealed, so it’s likely, not waterproof just water-resistant. It does have a tripod adapter connection.

The binoculars alone, without the strap and lens cover, weighs less than 20 ounces. This makes it more of a lightweight among the 10 x 42 binoculars.

Mechanics

The hinge of the barrel bridge moves smoothly and nothing wobbles. The center focus wheel can be turned one and a half turn from near to infinite, it moves smoothly and evenly and is quite large so that you could operate it with a glove.

The eyecups can be twisted out a good quarter of an inch, not much, but sufficient for the short eye relief. There are no values given for the diopter compensation, I think it is around 1 to max 1.5 diopters.

Optical Performance

Binoculars with the specifications 10 x 42 are good all-around binoculars. The 10x magnification allows distant objects to be viewed in detail. With a 42mm objective lens, the exit pupil is 4.2mm wide, both useful values so that such binoculars should offer sufficiently good performance in poor light conditions. Good prisms and good lens coatings could further improve low light performance.

Lens Coating

According to the manufacturer, the lenses are fully multicoated. This enhances light transmission and improve the usability of the instrument in poor light conditions. When looking at the objective lenses, one can easily look into the binoculars, the inside walls are evenly blackened. This reduces stray light and unwanted reflections. Holding the binoculars under light and letting light strike the lenses it reflects with a light bluish-green tint.

Prisms

When holding the Gosky 10×42 binoculars with outstretched arms into the light and looking into the exit pupil, it appears beautifully round and even.

This is characteristic of BaK4 glass prisms.

The BaK4 glass prisms are generally better than the Bk7 and promise better optical performance.

Eye Relief

The eye relief of 12 millimeters can certainly not be called long. For me as a normally sighted person, this is definitely not a problem. For those who wear glasses when using binoculars, this is not enough.

Close Focus

At close range I was able to observe at about 12 feet, the image appeared sharp and in focus. Viewing in the close range below 20 feet is exhausting because the collimation leaves something to be desired. But this is a well-known problem in inexpensive roof prism binoculars. In this case, it is better to close one eye and observe monocularly.

Collimation

For fatigue-free, relaxed observation, the optical axes of the two binocular tubes must run exactly parallel to avoid double images. Then the collimation is correct. The collimation can be lost if the binoculars fall and the prisms slip or if the barrel hinge bridge is damaged. So collimation should be checked, as inexpensive binocular manufacturers do not quality control every instrument that is manufactured, but only 1 in 100 or even 1000.

To test, aim at a distant object, focus, and then alternately open and close your eyes. The same image section must be seen in both eyes without jumping back and forth or the horizon jumping vertically up and down.

With the model tested here, the collimation was ok except in the close range it left something to be desired.

Edge sharpness and Edge Blurring

When viewing, the image appears well focused and sharp in the central image area. Halfway towards the edge, a slightly increasing edge blur is noticeable and the sharpness decreases. For the fact that it is an instrument that costs under 100 dollars and edge blur appears beyond the (the middle 50% are sharp) main field of view, there is nothing to complain about.

Distortion

When lenses magnify objects, the magnification is not uniform but can be slightly distorted. Distorsion is based on optical laws and can decrease or increase from the center of the image to the edge of the image.

During static observation with the Gosky 10×42 binoculars, the image is free from distortion. If one slowly pans the instrument and moves across a power pole or the edge of a house wall, a slight pincushion distortion occurs at the upper and lower edge of the field of view.

Color fidelity

When observing trees, landscape, and scenery, colors appear natural and normal. When looking at a white house wall under a blue sky, no color difference is noticeable, the house wall appears in the same white. If at all, then a very slight bluish tint.

Chromatic Aberration / Color Fringing

In inexpensive binoculars, one can often notice more or less color fringing at the transitions between light and dark contrasts. This is also the case with this Gosky Roof Prism Binocular.

During normal daylight observation, faint color fringing can be seen across and lengthways at high-contrast transitions. This is low and acceptable for an inexpensive model.

Advantages of Gosky 10×42 HD Roof Prism Binoculars

The Gosky 10×42 binoculars look good, feel robust, and are comfortable to hold. The rubber-coated exterior offers a good grip and adequate protection should the binoculars be banged somewhere.

The 10-fold magnification and the resulting field of view of approx. 107 m brings in distant objects close, to allow detailed observation.

An objective lens of 42 mm in combination with the BAK 4 roof prisms offers bright and contrast-rich color-true images even in poor lighting conditions.

The low weight is another positive feature 20 ounces are quite light for 10×42 binoculars.

Accessories included: Neck strap, a carry case with neck, eyepiece, and lens covers, and a microfiber lens cleaning cloth. As a particularly practical extra, a smartphone mount is included which is compatible with almost all common smartphones

Disadvantages 0f the Gosky 10×42 binoculars

The short eye relief of 12 mm is sufficient for people with normal vision, but those who wear glasses and are dependent on their visual aids even when using binos can hardly use the Gosky 10×42 binoculars.

Only limited suitability for extreme weather conditions as the instrument is not O-ring sealed.

The chromatic and spherical aberration as observed is in the normal range for budget binoculars. Most of the users who opt for such cheap binoculars will probably not notice this at all.

Using The Gosky 10×42 Binoculars

When using the binoculars outside, be it nature or wildlife observation, but also in the city, the observed objects are sharp and true to color. When viewing against the sun, the Gosky 10×42 binoculars show weak, scattering, and irritating reflections that occur in the field of view at certain angles.

For the best eyepiece viewing comfort, the Gosky 10×42 binoculars must be held properly centered in front of the eyes, otherwise, there may be shadowing towards the edge (‘kidney beaning’). The binoculars can be focused quickly and easily when you view objects in different distances.

So Are Gosky Binoculars Good?

The Gosky 10×42 HD Roof Prism Binoculars is a great value budget binocular for occasional users or beginners. The binoculars are not suitable for experts, advanced or professional users. Users who need to wear their glasses when looking through binoculars are unlikely to be happy with these Gosky 10×42 binoculars because of the modest eye relief.

But if you are looking for really budget-friendly binoculars for beginners that provide good optical performance for bird watching, hunting, hiking, and other outdoor activities, then the Gosky 10×42 Roof Prism Binoculars is a good choice.