Like Tasco and a few others, Vivitar is a popular brand selling affordable binoculars. Collectors and purists of other stripes (birders, avid hunters, etc.) might scorn the Vivitar name, but they may have little good reason for doing so; lower end binoculars are not likely to render the same clarity of image, but the difference is negligible and irrelevant to many buyers. Vivitar binoculars combine function with affordability.

Vivitar traces its history back to 1938 when two German immigrants formed a company called Ponder and Best. In 1979, the company became Vivitar. They specialize in many aspects of imaging and optics, including photography. They own 85 patents in optics and electronic flashes. Vivitar is usually found at the forefront of popularizing breakthroughs in optics.

Some binoculars by Vivitar

The Vivitar PV Sport is an 8x21 with some generous features. These are built tough, with the sports enthusiast in mind. In addition, they are lightweight (under 12 oz.) and have a generous field of view (367 feet at 1,000 yards). They use traditional Porro prisms, multi-coated lenses and a center wheel focus. For all that, these can be found online under $30.

The Vivitar Compact 63-4642 is another affordable set of binoculars with some decent standard features - the standout being its weight: 6 oz. These also come with a field of view of 367 feet at 1,000 yards. These can be found online for as low as $35 US.

Vivitar Mariner 8x30 is near the top end of Vivitar binoculars. You get some pretty nice features including waterproofing and fog proofing (and we always distinguish this from water resistance, of course). The field of view is also noteworthy: 445 feet at 1,000 yards. These use “Porro prisms” (probably BK 7's but we're not sure). These marine binoculars can be found online for as little as $153 - a low price for a lot of features.

Don't confuse these with the Vivitar Mariner underwater camera, another neat gadget that is considerably lower in price. Vivitar also makes these binoculars in a 10x42.