A Work Commenced December 9 2025

Product: Sky Rover Banner Cloud 7.5 x 32 with 2-ich astronomical filters

Country of Manufacture: China

Chassis: Magnesium alloy overlaid by protective rubber

Exit Pupil: 4.3mm

Eye Relief: 18mm

Field of View: 184m@1000m(10.4 angular degrees)

Dioptre Compensation: +\-4

Coatings: Fully broadband multicoated, Phase corrected Schmidt Pechan prisms, hydrophobic coatings on ocular and objective lenses

Prism Type:H-Bak7GT

ED glass: Yes

Field Flatteners: Yes

Waterproof: Yes, 1m/30 mins

Nitrogen Purged: Yes

Close Focus: 2m advertised, 1.95m measured

Light Transmission: 90-92%

Tripod Mountable: Yes

Dimensions:13.9 x 12cm

Weight: 822g

Accessories: Soft padded carry case, objective covers, ocular rain guard, 2-inch astronomical filters, filter adaptors, padded neck strap, microfibre cloth, instruction manual

Warranty: 3 Years

Price: $409 without filters, $505 with 2” filter set

In previous reviews, I showcased two amazing new high-performance binoculars from SkyRover: the 8 x 42 and the larger 10 x 50. These featured class-leading optical designs with ED glass, flat fields and ultra-wide angle eyepieces( 9.1 & 7.5 degrees, respectively) that left their European competitors in the starting blocks. Since their launch in 2023, the Banner Cloud series has gone from strength to strength, delivering world-class performance at prices hitherto unheard of. Customers voted with their wallets, and despite desperate attempts from ignorant, spineless trolls, they are currently enjoying great success bolstered by many dozens of happy user testimonies. 

But SkyRover did not rest on their laurels, reaching out and listening to their client base, when they committed to bringing to market two new models in the 32mm aperture class: the 6 x 32 sporting a true field exceeding 12 degrees, and just recently,  a 7.5 x 32 model boasting a field of view of 10.4 angular degrees! Of course, there have been designs like these before but never offering the same level of image quality at the edges of the field and at bargain prices. The new SkyRovers are changing all that. In this review, I’ll be showcasing the long-awaited 7.5 x 32 SkyRover Banner Cloud(SRBC), which I believe could be their best binocular yet, for daytime viewing at least! To see why, read on.

A Beautifully Presented Binocular

The SRBC 7.5 x 32 arrived in a beautiful presentation box. Many of the key features of the binocular are  printed on the side, as is the new 3-year warranty. 

The padded case is very well made with an eye catching red SR logo on the front. The padded neoprene neck strap is an ideal match for the weight of this binocular too. The rain guard fits over the eyecups firmly as do the objective lenses covers. 

The 7.5 x 32 has shorter barrels than the 42mm series making it a bit more compact. It’s still a hefty glass though, tipping the scales at 822g without the rain guard and objective lens covers attached. This makes it significantly heavier than most other 32mm binoculars – a necessity to get that class-leading field of view.

The large central focus wheel is buttery smooth to turn with absolutely no free play. I reported that the focus wheel on the 8 x 42 SRBC stiffened significantly at the end of its travel but this is not the case on the new 7.5 x 32. 1.4 turns clockwise brings you from closest focus to a little bit beyond infinity. Intriguingly, the earlier models from the series focused counter clockwise!

The dioptre compensation under the right eyepiece turns with just enough inertia to stay in place once adjusted. Indeed, I have never had any issues with this on any SRBC binocular I have had the pleasure of using. 

The eye cups offer five positions in total. They click into place firmly and hold their position well. They can also be unscrewed from the binocular to get at dust and other debris picked up during extensive field use. Eye relief is very generous for the bespectacled among us. I was able to see the field stops when the cups were fully retracted while wearing my progressive glasses.

The objective lenses have multilayer antireflection coatings that ensure very high light transmission. They are well baffled against stray light and protected from whatever the weather throws at you. 

The 7.5 x 32 feels great in the hands. My fingers can wrap around the large barrels to comfortably access the focus wheel. Indeed, it balances that little bit better than the 8 x 42, guaranteeing a more secure hold in field use. 

Another neat feature of both the 6x and 7.5 x 32mm SRBCs is their ability to accept 2 inch filters for deep sky sweeping, which are affixed via two supplied screw-on adaptors. We’ll take a closer look at this provision later in the review.

Optics

My first test was to see how the binocular behaved when pointed at an intensely bright light source. Just like all the others in the Banner Cloud series, the 7.5 x 32 yield excellent results, with no significant internal reflections with a rather subdued diffraction spike. Checking for light leaks round the eye pupils yielded excellent results with round entrance pupils surrounded by lots of darkness: a good omen indeed in predicting how well the instrument would behave against the light. 

The view can summed up in a few words: wonderfully sharp from edge to edge, exceptionally immersive, with hard, round field stops, lovely contrast, accurate colours and almost no chromatic aberration save for the merest trace in the last 10-15 percent of the field. Depth of field is also very good indeed. Pincushion distortion is extremely mild especially given the exceptional size of the field. Resistance to general and veiling glare is also well above average. In short, a world-class image with a huge wow factor owing to that enormous field of view.

Notes from the Field

In order to get the most immersive field of view with the least amount of glare, I never extend the eyecups out to their fullest extent but rather bring them down two clicks as you can see in the photo below. The left eyecup is positioned correctly for my eyes compared with the fully extened cup seen on the right:

This 7.5 x SRBC is by far the most comfortable and immersive  32mm binocular I have personally experienced. The larger exit pupil over a regular 8 x 32 certainly helps here but there is also the improved depth of focus moving from 8x to 7.5x,  as well as that enormous, ultra-flat field of view. The sheer size of the field is hard to relate in numbers, but compared with say the Zeiss Victory SF 8 x 32, which hitherto presented the widest field of view in a 32mm roof prism format, the 7.5 x 32 SRBC presents a portal nearly 40 per cent larger by way of comparison!

Like the other SRBC models I’ve field tested, there is a generous amount of post infinity focusing in the 7.5 x 32, which is good news for those of us who have severe myopia. Close focus was measured to be slightly less than 2m: great for watching close up objects like insects, flowers and rocks in ‘macro’ mode. 

A Comparison with a Known ‘Alpha Class’ 32mm Format Binocular

The lust of the eyes and the pride of life…..

To give the reader some idea of the quality of the view through the 7.5 x 32, I compared it with a Leica Ultravid HD Plus 8 x 32. The latter needs no introduction of course: it is widely regarded as one of the very best compact binoculars ever made. It is also the smallest of the current genre of 32mm binoculars. With a field of view of 7.7 degrees though, the view is noticeably restricted compared with the SRBC which brings a field nearly twice the size to your eyes. Central sharpness is excellent in both but that sharpness extends all the way to the edge of the SRBC field. In contrast, the little Leica glass shows a touch of peripheral softness in the outermost 10 per cent of the field. Colour tone is a little different too, with the Leica glass serving up ‘warmer,’ more saturated colours than the more neutral tones of the SRBC. What really surprised me however, was the level of lateral chromatic aberration in both binoculars. I fully expected the SRBC to show more pronounced fringing owing to its much larger field but that was not the case. Examining a variety of high contrast targets under harsh lighting conditions, it was the Leica that showed more pronounced fringing near the field stops! Pincushion distortion was much more evident in the Leica too!

The importance of a wider field of view was brought home to me one early afternoon in December while carrying both instruments with me on a two mile trek around my local estate. On one heavily overcast occasion, I was glassing some denuded tree branches with the 7.5 x 32 SRBC, when I noticed a Great Spotted Woodpecker perched on a branch in the upper left-hand corner of my field of view. I made a mental note on where the binocular was centred and then reached for the Leica glass, centring the field of view on that same spot. The Woodpecker was no where to be seen, as it was outside the field of view of the Leica glass!

Lessoned learned: with smaller fields of view you’ll be missing stuff.

Impression has a power all of its own.

The hydrophobic coatings on both the Leica and the SRBC outer lenses worked equally well in my field tests. Both instruments quickly dispersed condensation breathed on the eyepieces on cold, damp winter days. Performance against the light was very comparable in both binoculars, that is, excellent!

Now a word on the ergonomics of both binoculars. While the Ultravid HD Plus has a very nice focuser, the focus wheel on the SRBC is even smoother and easier to move. The Leica also has a locking dioptre built into the focus wheel, which is excellent, but hardly a necessity. The traditional dioptre compensation ring located under the right eyepiece is perfectly adequate to the task. It holds its position very well indeed.

A final note on the weight difference of the binoculars: the Leica weighs in at a mere 536g compared with the significantly bulkier 822g SRBC. As I’ve noted before, the extra weight allows me to hold the SRBC a little bit more stably owing to its greater inertia. This becomes important while glassing under windy conditions, when the majority of users would notice the difference. The greater weight of the SRBC generates a more stably held image.  In summation, only if portability is the primary concern, would I choose the Leica over the Sky Rover.

Sweeping the Heavens

While a 32mm aperture binocular would not be my ideal choice for deep sky viewing, having an ultra-flat 10.4 degree field is not to be sniffed at. I chose the 7.5 x 32 over the 6x model since it goes that little bit deeper and has a larger image scale. My experiences of the 7.5 x 32 on the night sky were very favourable. The Moon is razor sharp against a dark sky hinterland. Placing the full Moon in the centre of the field gives the impression that the magnification is lower – an illusion caused by the magnanimity of its field of view. After all, the 7.5 x 32 can get 20 full Moons into its field! Again I could only detect some minor fringing when the Moon was placed quite a bit off axis but to speak of such fringing is academic at best. 

I did do one check to estimate the field size of the 7.5 x 32. Albireo in Cygnus and the Coathanger asterism in  Vulpecula are separated by about 10 degrees of sky and I was indeed able to see both in the same field of view. This could not be achieved using the 8 x 42 SRBC with its 9.1 degree field. 

Showpieces of the winter night sky were beautifully presented: the Hyades & Pleiades in Taurus, the Sword Handle and Belt stars in Orion could be seen in the same field of view with plenty of room to spare. Kemble’s Cascade, the Alpha Persei Cluster and the famous Double Cluster were also nice to observe. I did notice a modest drop in illumination of stars as they approached the field stops though. I didn’t do much observing with the UHC filters however. I observe from fairly dark rural skies so there would be little need to use them. Under my conditions they did show a modest enhancement of nebular objects such as M42 in Orion but at the expense of attenuating star brightness a bit. 

Conclusions

Test driving the new 7.5 x 32 has been a real thrill. For a modest price of just a few hundred dollars you’re getting super nice optics that is sure to wow you from the first time you bring it up to your eyes. I consider the Sky Rover Banner Cloud series to be quite revolutionary, pushing the envelope on optical quality and setting new records in wide field viewing. Christmas has certainly come early!!

Dr Neil English runs the full gamut of binocular genres in his book, Choosing & Using Binoculars, A Guide for Stargazers, Birders and Outdoor Enthusiasts

De Fideli.