Is the Diamonback old and updated? (1 Viewer)

Hi,

Since the Vortex Diamond is NOT ED, HD glass, do many folk consider this binocular outdated now? Or is the whole ED, HD glass thing more hype and
sales marketing?
Honestly, does the ED, HD glass really improve optics/clarity/brightness all
that much, or is it barely noticeable?

Thanks!

Diamondbacks have received optical upgrades since their inception. They have been made brighter and clearer. It is also the *most* popular model in the Vortex line (for good reason). The one main advantage of ED glass is the control of chromatic aberrations, but even low dispersion glass in multi-thousand dollar binoculars still has issues with that, essentially you will be paying hard money for minor improvements. When I tried the Viper, its glass does handle CA "better" in a way that might make it worse (in my opinion), that is, you end up with slightly fuzzy edges that if you look closely are three colors next to each other. (That is only in hard lighting conditions where CA comes into play, like watching a blackbird on trees with the bright sky behind them)

About clarity, you likely not notice a difference unless you set the binoculars on a tripod and do a controlled test using a resolution chart. In normal operating conditions your hands shake and the eyes do not have the time to assess such minute differences.

The only thing you might notice is brightness. If the diamondbacks have a transmission rate of 81% (I think) and the Vipers are at 89.5% they will look brighter and more pleasing in comparison.
http://www.allbinos.com/240-binoculars_review-Vortex_Viper_HD_10x42.html

As a rule of thumb I would never spend more that $650 on a pair of binoculars, because beyond that point you are paying for technical improvement that, although real, are beyond your retina capabilities. It is like paying for a speaker set that can play music in the ultrasound range. It is good for bragging rights but a waste in practice.

ED/HD glass is supposed to neutralize Chromatic Aberration.

Vortex brought out the Diamondback after ED glass was commonly in use in higher priced binoculars so it really can't be said that the Diamondback is "outdated." Lots of binoculars in the Diamondback price range don't have ED glass. It costs more. For that matter there seem to be different grades of ED glass so cheap binoculars that have it likely also have cheap ED glass. You will have to try each brand individually to see if they work for you if you are susceptible to CA.

Bob

The major change in the Diamondback in 2014 was a full proper 2-stage ribbed baffling up front
(I examined the 8x32). The result is an improvement in contrast, and that usually causes a major
increase in perceived 'clarity'. They changed some materials too, I guess, but going from beyond
human acuity to way beyond with ED glass doesn't do much. One thing you can do with special
glass and modern coatings is use the eyepiece elements more for sharpness at the edges,
but I didn't have time and older Diamondbacks to check that out. The field width is great to
have, though, and the defocusing is out near the edge.

Things like ED glass are more likely to help with short barrels and higher powers (10x, 12x).