The Brunton Echo has a polymer frame, BaK-4 prism glass, and is tripod/monopod compatible.  There are snap-off front and rear lens covers.  The front Brunton Logo screws off to reveal a threaded tripod mount.

The optics are coated with a green-ish multi-coating Brunton calls "EmeraldFire." The purpose of lens coating, as explained by Rick Oleson, is to "...reduce reflections from the lens’ surface. Light reflects from the surface of the glass because the refractive index of the glass is different from that of the air, and the reflection is formed at this interface of different refractive indices. "

The body of the Echo has strategically placed grip pads to make it easy to hold and use, even when the temperature changes.

The eye pieces have rubber coated twist-up spacers to make them more comfortable.  This system also makes the Echo binoculars eyeglass compatible.  And keeps the makeup from some female members of staff off the glass...

The rear lens cap can be attached to the neckstrap as shown, and the other end is slitted so that you can pull the cord out when you want to use it.  The front caps have the same slits for the same thing.  We only wish there was some better way to stow the front ones because we know we will lose them.

The Echo optic chambers are nitrogen filled to make them both fogproof and waterproof.  The center focus now is rubber-coated for precise control. The optics of the Echo (10x32) can focus on objects as close a 6 feet and have a field of view of 315 feet at 1000 yards.

The right eye piece has dioptic adjustment for those with differring visions in their eyes.  The Brunton Echo comes with a carrying bag, but we are planning on getting a more protective travel case.

A few of us briefly tried out the Echo in the office and were quite amazed at how bright the image was.  We are looking forward to taking these Brunton out into the field. 

NOTE: The pics above doesn't really count as a FirstUse.  We just wanted to see if we could shoot digital images through the Echo eyepiece...so you can see what we see :-)  Seems to have worked pretty well.  It even has the round silhouette of the eyepiece!

Brunton's motto is "Get Out There" and they mean it.  They make a wide variety of high end adventure gear (optics, GPS, stoves, power packs) specifically designed to enable folks like us to get out, enjoy ourselves, and make it back to tell you, our readers, about it.

When we are "out there," sometimes we like to get a little closer to things of interest...when we can't get there physically, we can now get there virtually by using a pair of these Brunton Echo binoculars.

In this FirstLook, we will take a closer look at the Brunton Echo 1032 binoculars themselves.

For the FirstUse report, we'll take the Echo with us on the SpringOuting to see how well they perform. We'll also be using them all Summer :-)

Reviews:

1. First Look

2. First Use

3. In The Wild Report

Review Summary:

Initial Impression- Easy to grip

Usability- Super sharp optics

Durability- 5 year warranty

Price- $260