Hello all. I haven't posted here much but hope to have a review of the Passion 8x32 model soon. I've been on a quest for a reasonably priced mid sized 8x binocular to replace my 8x30 Swaro Habichts that were stolen out of my car many years ago. Afterwards a bought a pair of Monarch 8x42s that served me quite well but I always thought it would be nice to get another mid size pair. So I've ended up buying a dozen different pairs of 8x30-32 binos in the sub $600 range over the last year and a half. Some have been quite nice but I haven't found a pair that feels like I want to keep it long term yet. Indeed all those pairs were either returned or resold. It's actually been a lot of fun and very educational checking them all out and amazing how different the quality can be for similarly priced glasses. I totally understand that I might never find exactly what I'm looking for in this price range but as I said I've had a lot of fun trying!
So after trying a full dozen pairs I thought I had exhausted the possibilities until I found the GPOs online this past weekend. I quickly ordered a pair from an online dealer whose website said they were in stock. When I called Monday to get an idea of how long they would take to get to me they told me they were backpordered for 25 days. That's when I decided to call GPO directly and I'm glad I did. I was able to talk with Mike Jensen directly and he had a pair shipped that very day! He was very helpful and told me he thought the Passions were better than the Terras and close to the Conquests. Since he worked for Zeiss I'm sure he knows those two models very well. My Passions are due to arrive next week. UPS takes awhile to get to Montana from the east coast! I'm looking forward to their arrival and will follow up when they get here. I'm not expecting perfection by any means but if the optics and build quality are good I'll be happy. That's it for now, I'll also give you my impressions of the others I've tried but don't have time to list them now and am headed out for the weekend shortly. Look for a follow up next week if this topic is of interest to you.
So after trying a full dozen pairs I thought I had exhausted the possibilities until I found the GPOs online this past weekend. I quickly ordered a pair from an online dealer whose website said they were in stock. When I called Monday to get an idea of how long they would take to get to me they told me they were backpordered for 25 days. That's when I decided to call GPO directly and I'm glad I did. I was able to talk with Mike Jensen directly and he had a pair shipped that very day! He was very helpful and told me he thought the Passions were better than the Terras and close to the Conquests. Since he worked for Zeiss I'm sure he knows those two models very well. My Passions are due to arrive next week. UPS takes awhile to get to Montana from the east coast! I'm looking forward to their arrival and will follow up when they get here. I'm not expecting perfection by any means but if the optics and build quality are good I'll be happy. That's it for now, I'll also give you my impressions of the others I've tried but don't have time to list them now and am headed out for the weekend shortly. Look for a follow up next week if this topic is of interest to you.