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Chinese binoculars (1 Viewer)

Giorgio

Porro bins are a bit like war, they are made by yo
Hi.
I was having a look at a site where i bought some astro APO optics and other stuff, then i found some chinabins (the TS optics bins) http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop...n/cat/c98_Binoculars----Nature------56mm.html that are here "no brand", instead of the other known brand appelations they normally have.
It seems interesting and it tempts me to try some models of roofs, they are almost all fully multicoated, with phase coated prisms and the best lens quality avalaible at the production factory, + prisms Bak4. The adventure series seems kinda good.
Their porro's interest me aswell.
If anyone as any experience with these type of materials, would be great if you could share your knowledge. I'll add this site to be really trustable and very serious professionnals, they arent lying on binocs specs ;-).
Ciao
 
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Georgio - At one time virtually all the so-called alphas, i.e., Zeiss, Swarovski, Leicas, and high end Nikons passed through my hands for examination and momentary use. Eventually, any collection hobby takes on its own form of benign insanity, and so I selected out those models which tickled my fancy and moved the others on. Recently, the so-called Chinese optics, i.e, made in China but marketed by a host of vendors have been coming on the market. And some have been so-so, but others have begun to approach the alphas at bargain basement prices.

The Leupold Yosemite 6x30, e.g., has excellent optics in a cheap plastic chassis. The Bushnell Infinity (a discontinued model) has all the bells and whistles of the alphas at a fraction of the cost
.
The fact that more and more binoculars are made in China is a function more of economics than of quality. Americans, of which I am one, have difficulty comprehending that more people in China speak English than live in the USA. Out of 1.4 billiion people in China there are an extraordinary number of highly inteligent people of industry and talent who are figuring out ways to move in the world economy. Do not be surprised if within the next several decades, China will produce binoculars to rival any of the alphas.

There are several advantages to the purchasing of alphas that are not readily apparent to first time purchasers, viz., mechanical reliability, state of the art materials, and whether guarantees are nothing more than word puffery. The alphas have reputations to protect, but whether their marketing experts can convince the buying public their astronomical prices are worth paying, only time will tell.

IMO China will produce a total range of optics from so-so to superior. I will not live long enough to see how all this plays out, but China will become a major world player in producing binoculars.

John
 
John,

I totally agree with you.

Their best porro already qualified to complete with any top glasses in the world. Top ED Roof prism maybe a bit behind those big names, but mainly in craftmanship and details. Their optics are so close to alphas that someone needs hawk eyes to tell the difference.

Andy
 
Georgio - At one time virtually all the so-called alphas, i.e., Zeiss, Swarovski, Leicas, and high end Nikons passed through my hands for examination and momentary use. Eventually, any collection hobby takes on its own form of benign insanity, and so I selected out those models which tickled my fancy and moved the others on. Recently, the so-called Chinese optics, i.e, made in China but marketed by a host of vendors have been coming on the market. And some have been so-so, but others have begun to approach the alphas at bargain basement prices.

The Leupold Yosemite 6x30, e.g., has excellent optics in a cheap plastic chassis. The Bushnell Infinity (a discontinued model) has all the bells and whistles of the alphas at a fraction of the cost
.
The fact that more and more binoculars are made in China is a function more of economics than of quality. Americans, of which I am one, have difficulty comprehending that more people in China speak English than live in the USA. Out of 1.4 billiion people in China there are an extraordinary number of highly inteligent people of industry and talent who are figuring out ways to move in the world economy. Do not be surprised if within the next several decades, China will produce binoculars to rival any of the alphas.

There are several advantages to the purchasing of alphas that are not readily apparent to first time purchasers, viz., mechanical reliability, state of the art materials, and whether guarantees are nothing more than word puffery. The alphas have reputations to protect, but whether their marketing experts can convince the buying public their astronomical prices are worth paying, only time will tell.

IMO China will produce a total range of optics from so-so to superior. I will not live long enough to see how all this plays out, but China will become a major world player in producing binoculars.

John

I liked everything about this post.
 
I agree that Chinese binoculars are satisfying a lot of birders, optically and economically, and that they will increase in numbers in the field.

Hopefully they will also increase the quality control and environmental sustainable manufacturing. Then the price would of course be a bit less appealing... but I consider it worth it.

Many chinese ED binos seems to be very good optically, having at least decent mechanical build but how the durability with time is, we'll have to wait and se.

With the Prime Zen-Ray and Hawke Panorama, maybe there is a new age of Chinese Alpa optics coming...

As a side note about "more people in China speak English than live in the USA", it's not true (could be if it means Chinese Americans). That would mean that 1/4 of mainland chinese people would speak english. (Well, if you count saying "OK" now and then as speaking english.) At best it's true that 1/4 is speaking english in Hong Kong. But then it would not be over 300 million.

(This of course doesn't mean they are more or less intelligent and talented than any other people!)
 
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I presume the making of lenses is regarded as quite an old science now and there's no reason to assume the Chinese don't know how to make good glass. Since the quality of lenses and prisms are important, The Chinese are quite capable of taking great lenses from anywhere in the world and using them to make all sorts of optics.

I heard years ago the making of camera lenses in Japan was almost a "cottage industry" with people ordering lenses and housings and mounting them. As you can see from other posts, the number of optic manufacturers in Japan was massive. Did they all make their own lenses? This is part of the fun of collecting or studying optics, finding an unknown brand that had access to some great glass. The cosmetic appearance of an instrument isn't important as long as the importatnt components are assembled correctly to a proper design.
 
Hello

I've come a little late to this thread. Thanks for posting - the TS binoculars look quite interesting and it's good to see the range of Porro binos. I came across some others whilst browsing a certain site that may be of interest badged as Visionking. Not sure if anyone has had any experience with them:
8x42 and 10x36

Andrew
 
I have owned the 8x42 Visionking linked to above. It is in my flickr page below. I sold it to another forum member about a month ago. Very good optical performance especially for the price. These can be found on ebay US for about $45.
Fully multicoated, Bak-4 prisms. They are comparable optically to the Bushnell Legends and Orion Ultraviews optically.

I saw the 10x36 too and was hoping to find an 8x36 as well but no luck on that one. I am eyeing up the 7x50 though.
 
Speaking about chinaporri.
You gonna hate me, and i also feel i gonna hate me Frank.
I told myself this week, that i'll order a pair of 10x porro.
I was hesitating between the famous discontinued Olympus exps-1 10x42 and his glorious "fortheprice" reviews, the Nikon action vii 10x50, the Vixen foresta 10x42 , Nikon action ex 10x50.
I went for the action vii 10x50 lol.
Not that i could not sell my organs this week and get better bins.
I needed a very bright pair, 10x, robustness, very high resolution and large fov (i dont pay much attention to the fov edges).
Holger Merlitz (wrong, it is Edz) did put a 3 arcs resolution on them when watching an air force resolution target. Thats one of the best resolutions of his studies.
I wanted a good porro with no twist eyecups, breaking often very fast. This type of eyecups traumatized me lol.
No risks with the action vii.
 
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I no hate u.

;)

Have fun with the Nikons. I am sure you will enjoy them. There is a reason they are often rated #1 in the low-price bracket.

If I buy one of those 7x50 Visionkings then I will be sure to post about it. Just checking into the advertised field of view which seems ridiculously high for a modern 7x50 porro.
 
I hope i'll like them. Anyway, for their price... i really wonder if it's possible to be deceived.
I do trust what Edz (not Holger Merlitz) said about their resolution.
Their role will be a "garden" pair of bins from where i can spot some hogs, small mountains and birds.
I'll use them during my future summer stargazing.
I hope you'll post a review of the chinese, and even why not some pictures as you usually do on flickr.
 
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