Mongolia. A country of wide panoramas, vast steppes and, as the country’s slogan says, eternal blue skies. I’m privileged enough to guide a tour for WINGS in this amazing country; and, in June 2025, I was lucky enough to be able to travel with a pair of the new Victory SFL 10x50s – perfect for birding in wide, open, Mongolia landscape.
My own binoculars of choice are the SFL 10x40s – small enough to slip into a tight corner of my often full-to-the-brim backpack, yet with good enough performance and light-gather capabilities to allow for unrestricted birding from dawn till dusk. Not surprisingly, given my sensitivity to size and weight when travelling, I’ve tended to avoid binoculars with a 50 mm objective lens, which are generally on the larger side.
Step forward the SLF 50s. Bigger than the SLF 40s? Sure. But certainly no bigger than the SF 42s. They sat comfortably in my hand – the perfect size and shape for gripping on to. Enough heft that they felt solid and steady, even in the strong winds that occasionally whipped up in Mongolia’s open landscape; but light enough that they didn’t drag when worn almost continuously from dawn till dusk over the three weeks of the tour.
The extra 10 mm on the objective lens compared to the SFL 40s brought clear (and crisp and bright) advantaged – the clarity of the image thought the SFL 50s was stunning. Never had a Mongolian Lark looked so good.
That wasn’t the only species in my sights with the new SFL 50s – the trip list was varied and, for a Palearctic birder, mouth-watering: Black-billed Capercaillie, Saxaul Sparrow, a host of migrant warblers, Pacific Swift and Grey-necked Bunting – to name just a few.
All in all, while the SLF 50s add a little extra weight and bulk over their compact 40-mm cousins, the gains were worth it. In the sort of open-terrain birding that’s commonplace in Mongolia, 10x magnification is a must; and the 50 mm objective lens meant no compromises were necessary between the magnification and the brightness of the image. Perhaps I ought to say my own binoculars of choice were the SFL 10x40s – I can very easily see myself switching to the SFL 10x50s.
About Post Author
