Bushnell ImageView 10x25 VGA Digital Camera Binocular

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Summary: This is not for xp users
Review: I have windows ME and it works fine. No problem taking pictures and downloading them to the pc. Pictures are sharp and clear for such a low cost digital. All in all I'm very happy with it. chiaz

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Summary: Is it a bird or a leaf.
Review: I love this idea. Take a picture of what you see thru a binocular. However, this camera has it's limits. Not only could I not review the pix (til I got to my PC), the image was NOT what I saw. The yellow bird in the tree, became the tree with a yellow leaf, maybe.
The binocular is Great: small, powerful, easy to focus. The tech support thru Bushnell was terrific. Making the PC recognize the camera took one phone call. The op manual needs HELP, or maybe I'm too much of an novice in this field.

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Summary: Get normal binocs instead
Review: I wanted a cheap pair of binoculars with nice magnification and got these because the image capture seemed like a bonus. The binocular quality is fine but the digital camera is another story. I was first skeptical when the instructions mentioned that the camera is infinite focus fixed beyond 49 yards. Therefore, you are not shooting exactly what you are viewing since you can go up to 10x with the lenses. In any case this is irrelevant because after taking some test shots I tried connecting to my PC. I've done troubleshooting for a lot of devices in my day, I know what I'm doing, and I like the relative ease of the USB standard. No such luck with this. The included driver didn't work, the updated driver from bushnell's website didn't work (btw, I'm using XP). I always got an 'unable to connect to device' error. After an hour of trying all the tricks to get it to work I decided to return it. I would strongly advise ignoring the digital camera aspect of this pair of binoculars and either get regular binoculars or a better pair that doesn't require additional drivers in XP to dump images. I am returning these things today!!

Rating:
Summary: PRACTIALLY PERFECT
Review: It's not expandable and there is no preview window which is why it is small and easily portable. There are only two buttons which makes it very simple. The onboard memory (mine has 64mb) allows for 80 high quality shots that are usually clear and detailed. If you don't require pictures that will scale larger than page size then you can reduce the quality and click about 300 pictures before running out of memory. The first thing I liked about these binoculars was the sturdy design and the rubberized grips. The only thing I wish they had would be the ability to zoom in and out; however, the magnification is great for most high school sports events, parades, bird watching, and sight seeing. I have had mine for a year now and I recommend them highly. The PC interface could use a little work but once you get use to it the picture transfer from binocculars to pc is consistent and reliable. Good binocs especially for the price.

Rating:
Summary: PRACTIALLY PERFECT
Review: It's not expandable and there is no preview window which is why it is small and easily portable. There are only two buttons which makes it very simple. The onboard memory (mine has 64mb) allows for 80 high quality shots that are usually clear and detailed. If you don't require pictures that will scale larger than page size then you can reduce the quality and click about 300 pictures before running out of memory. The first thing I liked about these binoculars was the sturdy design and the rubberized grips. The only thing I wish they had would be the ability to zoom in and out; however, the magnification is great for most high school sports events, parades, bird watching, and sight seeing. I have had mine for a year now and I recommend them highly. The PC interface could use a little work but once you get use to it the picture transfer from binocculars to pc is consistent and reliable. Good binocs especially for the price.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: My wife bought one for her dad for Christmas. I was given the job of tester. There was a little concern after reading the reviews, but all is fine.
I would like one for myself. They may be better in the future, but this is today not the future. If you want one then get it.

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Summary: Hardware Si - Software, No!
Review: My wife got this for me with accumulated points at her workplace, so there was no taking it back. I'd been stalling on purchasing a digital for fear of realizing too late that I'd bought too much or too little camera, so this little starter sounded ideal. After the item arrived I read the manual, reasonably well written for these days, loaded in the PhotoSuite, took three shots from our back deck of: our corral of horses/donkeys about 50 yards out; a peak about 1/2 mile out and Pikes Peak, about 20 miles distant. So far, so good. Now to download the shots - Wait! Step 6, their scene/icons, didn't appear! Went to Web site, selected "tech support" and was greeted with "Contact hardware vendor". So much for promises of tech support if I'd register! Uninstalled, reloaded, fooled around and was just about to give up when I read these reviews and found info re the sucky software, suited for 3.x. Hey, I've got an old laptop with W98. Loaded it in, noticed immediately the install process took different steps. I loaded in the drivers and bingo, success! Pictures 1 and 2 were great (hey, this ain't no Nikon) but on shot 3 the lens picked up only the trees a couple hundred yards out. The mountain above disappeared into the sky and was not discernable. With the limited documentation, I guess I'm on my own from here on. All in all, not bad for what I find to be the average purchase price. I wonder if anyone was able to install this software on XP.

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Summary: Returned product - regretfully
Review: My wife purchased at Best Buys and gave the binoculars to me as a fathers day gift. I loved the concept and as an avid hiker and birder was anxious to use them. All pictures came out fuzzy and trees were a grayish green with all other colors a sickly sepia toned. I tried various ways of holding the camera to reduce the fuzziness and by holding it at chest level (box camera fashion) seemed to help - but obviously couldn't focus on the subject. After trying it for 3 days I decided to return it to Best Buys. They would not refund but did provide store credit. If Bushnell can fix the camera I will definitely buy the next generation model.

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Summary: Hardware Si - Software, No!
Review: SAVE YOUR MONEY, DON'T BUY IT, IT SUCKS I purchased this product and was very dissapointed with it, i found it to be absolutely useless. The handling of the binoculars are difficult, the focal view is limited and the camera sucks, meaning that you can't get a decent quality photo and what photo you do get can't be enlarged with any quality at all. What you see through the binoculars when you snap a picture is not what you get with the camera. This product is one of the worst that i have found so far and don't recomend it to anyone that is in to photography. If one could rate this product LESS THAN ONE STAR it would be a plus for this product.

Rating:
Summary: TOTALLY BAD & OVER RATED
Review: SAVE YOUR MONEY, DON'T BUY IT, IT SUCKS I purchased this product and was very dissapointed with it, i found it to be absolutely useless. The handling of the binoculars are difficult, the focal view is limited and the camera sucks, meaning that you can't get a decent quality photo and what photo you do get can't be enlarged with any quality at all. What you see through the binoculars when you snap a picture is not what you get with the camera. This product is one of the worst that i have found so far and don't recomend it to anyone that is in to photography. If one could rate this product LESS THAN ONE STAR it would be a plus for this product.