After struggling with the Leaysoo 8x32 bino (*) for a while, I finally had enough of it. I decided to sell it and get a replacement bino. But this time, I will up the budget to 200+ yuan.
(*) I believe the model is 雷龙 索趣 1S, but I'm not certain.
What's wrong with the Leaysoo bino?
I find it difficult to merge images. Sometimes, it is easy. But sometimes, I need to adjust the IPD (inter-pupillary distance) many times. Is it sensitive or out of alignment? I cannot tell.
I'm not sure if this is because the image path is non-circular? I have never heard of such a thing. The view through the viewfinder is circular, of course, but if you put the bino at an arm's length and look through it, it is clearly non-circular. To be exact, half of it is a perfect semi-circle. The other half is a partial semi-circle — the ends are cut off.
I found a low-end 8x32 bino from 阅森 (Reasur), its 自然旅行家 series (Nature Traveller). I was not able to find any mention of it, though. It costs 278 yuan (S$51.50). I now think this is about as cheap a 8x32 bino can get without compromising optical quality.
| Reasur | SV202 | Forester HD 2.0 | Leaysoo | Outland X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power | 8x32 | 8x32 ED | 8x32 | 8x32 | 8x42 |
| Prism | BAK4 | BaK-4 | ? | BAK4 | BaK-4 |
| Prism coating | – | di-electric, phase correction | di-electric, phase correction | – | ? |
| Coating | FMC | SMC | FMC | FMC | MC |
| L FoV @ 1000 yards | 372 ft | 409 ft | 387 ft | 357 ft | |
| Angular FoV | 7.08° | 7.79° | 7.37° | 6.8° | |
| Min focus | 2 m | 1.2 m | 4.0 m | ||
| Eye relief | 15.6 mm | 15.6 mm | 17 mm | 16.5 mm | 17.8 mm |
| Eyepiece lens | 18 mm | 21 mm | 21 mm | 19 mm | 21 mm |
| Weight | 415 g | 477 g | 555 g | 470 g | 624 g |
| Weight (measured) | 460 g | 510 g | 570 g | 410 g | 550 g |
| Size (L x W x H) | 125 x 110 x 51 mm | 123 x 115 x 42 mm | 138 x 123 x 48 mm | 135 x 118 x 46 mm | 146 x 126 x 53 mm |
It lists two other spec that are seldom mentioned in budget binos: 6/4 glass/group and 16 mm prism size.
6/4 should give reasonable optical quality. High quality ones are 8/6 (with some 7/5). The Leaysoo bino, from what I observe, is 5/3.
Prism size is usually omitted unless it is 20 mm. 16 mm is as small as it gets, but is understandable given the price.
I'll love to have phase correction coating, but it only appears in binos at 400+ yuan pricing. Cheapos can't be choosers. :lol:
First impression: it is physically small, like SV202. First impression on viewing: it is bright! Definitely much brighter than Leaysoo. It is less bright than SV202 (very obvious) and Forester HD 2.0 (less obvious). I feel it is brighter than Outland X, but I don't have it anymore to compare.
I'm surprised it is so bright. I checked it does not have phase correction coating (has line across prism when viewed through objective lens), so likely no dielectric reflective coating as well. This probably means all glasses are coated including the prism.
I can merge image easily. Center is not as sharp as SV202, as expected. Field of view is slightly less, so 7.1° seems accurate. Focusing knob has little resistance and is smooth. It is internal focusing, so its claim of being waterproof is likely to be true. Leaysoo claims to be water resistant too, but it is unlikely as it is not internal focusing. It has also little veiling flare.
Minimum focusing distance is 4.6 m instead of 3 m. To be fair, Leaysoo claims 1.3 m, but is actually 3.0 m.
The eyepiece lens is only 18 mm, but it does not seem to have any negative effect.
Case closed!
I've not watched it, but from reviews I read online, this is not 'Perfect Edition'.
First, it is cleaned up using AI and some details are removed together with the grain. Colors are also oversaturated.
Second, some sections were filmed out-of-focus. There is no way to correct them.
I have bought DYRL enough times. If they can restore the out-of-focus sections, I'll consider buying it one more time. :lol:
After watching several Douyin and Bilibili videos, it is clear that Terence (特伦斯) V50 has the best sound among low-end foldables — it sounds like a piano!
(You can't help but think Terence sponsors many of the influencers. When I search for foldable piano (折叠钢琴), Terence foldables show up overwhelmingly.)
Other than accurate sound samples, this is also due to its dual 15W speakers. You need decent power to produce good sound.
Of course, it is also the most expensive among those compared. Nonetheless, it sets a baseline. Once you hear this, it is difficult to go back.
The speakers face up, this gives clearer sound to the player.
Good speakers are important when you use VST (Virtual Studio Technology). The keyboard acts as a MIDI controller, sends the keypress to a tablet, which then plays much more accurate sound through the speakers via bluetooth — provided the speakers are able to reproduce them.
Or you just want to use it as a bluetooth speaker.
It has non-progressive semi-weighted keys and weighs 5.2 kg. Interestingly, maximum polyphony is not stated. Unfortunately, it does not use USB-C power, so need to bring a separate power adapter along.
Its price is 1,673 yuan (S$311.50) with one-foot pedal. This is even more expensive than Betsy B353! So, buy this only for portability.
For purists, Terence just released V70 that is the world's first foldable hammer-action keyboard. It weighs around 9 kg. It has four speakers: two 20W full-range speakers and two 5W tweeters. The speakers face back, which is better for giving a performance.
SJI has 4 categories of CCAs: Sports, Performing Arts, Uniformed Groups and Clubs & Societies.
There are only a handful of Clubs & Societies and none of them can be core CCA, so effectively there are only 3 categories.
Sports is purely competitive and most have 3-day/week schedule. There is no recreational team.
My son's initial choices:
There is basically zero chance of getting into Tennis and Table-tennis.
Canoeing is tough: thrice a week, external venue, outdoors. I told him no one — except for enthusiasts and DSA — would choose it. He then said he was shortlisted just by attending the trial! I told him this was all the more reason he should not put it as a choice!
I'm also not in favour of Band. It is thrice a week and you need to play in a group. Of the PAs, I only favour Guitar. It is twice a week, but you learn a lifelong skill.
Of the UGs, I feel St John is the most chill. Let's see if it is actually true. I prefer Scouts over NCC, even though need to go an extra Saturday per month. NCC is like serving 4 years of NS. People normally want to serve less, not more. But my son did not want to change the order.
SJI does not have Chess Club, but there is a chess group. I told him to take it into account. He should consider a non-time consuimg core CCA so that he has time for chess. Sometimes, the correct choice is a choice not given to you (directly).
So he modified his choices:
The selection is out. He got into St John.
I was told UGs are now considered 'dumping ground'. I can see why. Sports is purely competitive. Performing Arts limit their intake. Where can the rest go?
MOE says to take CCA into consideration when choosing secondary school. This omits a crucial fineprint: make sure they can get into the CCA! Often, this means they already have exposure to it. You want to join a CCA to learn from scratch? Nope.
This is an OEM model. Its OEM name is Octavebaby (八度宝贝) 889.
It can emulate 200 instruments (音色), has 200 rhythms (音奏) and 80 demo songs (示范曲). So many instruments on a low-end piano means they are not digital samples but are generated synthetically.
The demo songs are all classical music. I only recognize a few of them. The keys will light up as the song plays. What is amusing is that there are frequent tones outside of the 61-keys, so no keys can be lighted up.
The keyboard has touch sensitivity (力度). It has 4 levels of sensitivity — the most I can tell apart, anyway. It defaults to off on power on.
Its specs does not mention polyphony (复音数), speaker power nor weight.
Its measured weight is 1.7 kg.
The music sheet holder was black. I sprayed paint it to white.
The speaker quality is pretty bad, as expected. It is missing both low end and high end. This is clear when you use it as a bluetooth speaker. It sounds even worse than my notebook speakers!
The sound is good enough for practice, but you definitely don't want to give a performance with it. Sound through headphone is decent.
The keyboard will cut off previous sounds when I press 4 keys simultaneously twice in quick succession. Pressing 3-3-2 also works. Does this mean it has only 8-note polyphony? :horror:
Is light-up function useful? Not at all, but it looks cool. However, the lighting effect is very bad cos it only illuminates the part of the key where the LED is. If the entire key is illuminated evenly, it'll look super cool.
I don't want to use it to learn. I just want it to show the keys I pressed.
It should use RGB LEDs so that we can change the color. :lol:
