9x high end bins???? (1 Viewer)

Would a 9x36 EL, Victory, Ultravid, or LXL be a popular bino? It seems to me that if you could make a 9x36 roof with a 360'-400' FOV, and keep the weight to 20-24 ounces, you would have a market for both birders and hunters. If you need to make two models in order to make it profitable, then add a 7x36 model to the mix with a 400' plus FOV. Sounds like a great way to go, or would manufacturers see it as two new models pulling $$$ away from current 8-10x32 models? I personally would love to see a 9x36, but I may be a market of one!

karmantra said:

Would a 9x36 EL, Victory, Ultravid, or LXL be a popular bino? It seems to me that if you could make a 9x36 roof with a 360'-400' FOV, and keep the weight to 20-24 ounces, you would have a market for both birders and hunters. If you need to make two models in order to make it profitable, then add a 7x36 model to the mix with a 400' plus FOV. Sounds like a great way to go, or would manufacturers see it as two new models pulling $$$ away from current 8-10x32 models? I personally would love to see a 9x36, but I may be a market of one!

Click to expand...

Hi

Its an interesting option and one that has been a topic before
It kind of explains the Swift Audubon and Swarovski EL 8.5 models success in the commercial market
Both these bins have good fov and are excellent imho
I certainly never felt any sense of power loss when using either of these though to be fair i have looked thru other birders Swift's more often
I think 9 x may just be on the limit for hand holding and i guess commercial dealings probably put the curse on re-tooling up for new bodies etc still you never know i have heard rumour on this forum recently ref a Zeiss FL 7 x so maybe a 9x for one of the big manufacturers might be a possibility

Regards
Rich

karmantra said:

Would a 9x36 EL, Victory, Ultravid, or LXL be a popular bino? It seems to me that if you could make a 9x36 roof with a 360'-400' FOV, and keep the weight to 20-24 ounces, you would have a market for both birders and hunters. If you need to make two models in order to make it profitable, then add a 7x36 model to the mix with a 400' plus FOV. Sounds like a great way to go, or would manufacturers see it as two new models pulling $$$ away from current 8-10x32 models? I personally would love to see a 9x36, but I may be a market of one!

Click to expand...

My wife and I both had some 9x B&Ls, and we liked them and the 9x magnification. (I sold mine due to extremely poor eye relief. She still has her Discovers, but doesn't use them.) With their current 8.5x42, I am not sure also having a 9x36 EL would make much sense.

Personally, I'd like to see Swarovski bring out a 7x35 version of the SLCs <g>, with 20mm of eye relief, a good close focus, and a wide field.

Clear skies, Alan

9x has a curious appeal. Henry Link has made favorable comments on that power in a number of his posts on Bird Forum. Celestron briefly made a 9.5 x 45 that became a cult classic. If you stop in your travels on our interstate highway system at a scenic overlook and it has one of those binoculars you pay a quarter to use, it is a 9x. If you can stand Individual Focus you can get a very nice 9.5 x 44 roof prism made by Minox from Deutsche Optik. I've always liked Nikon's 9 x 25 reverse porro but I wish it had a wider field. About 25 years ago, Nikon made a 9 x 31 (or was it 34) that cost about $300.00 and was very popular. Steiner currently makes big, rugged hunting Porros in a 9 x 40 format. They have sold them for many years for about $250.00 and up (there was a high end version) so there is a market for them in hunting. They also have a rather narrow FOV of about 310' at 1000 yards.

Make them with a reasonably wide FOV and I think they would sell, but it would hurt the sales of 8's and 10's also. On the upside, it might help bring back the sales of 7's since people who own more than one bin would favor a 2 step drop or jump rather than a 1 step.

Happy New Year,
Bob