Meopta amazing test results! German magazine (1 Viewer)

"Handling the Meostar 8x32 makes me like it better day by day. The Meostar 8x32 HD will be my everyday to-go/beater bin and may be the last binocular I'll buy.":eek!:

I would like to get the Nikon 8 or 10 Monarch 7 some time. The 10 makes more sense for me.

mooreorless said:

I would like to get the Nikon 8 or 10 Monarch 7 some time. The 10 makes more sense for me.

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You should try it first. I understand that the M7 30 mm already is heavily discounted. Looked through the Kite 10x30 very, very briefly but wasn't as impressed as I was with the 8x30. It's my intention to keep away from 10x but I'd hesitate to get such a lightweight 10x as the M7 10x30.
Some more heft calms the shake down. The Meostar 10x42 HD has heft.

//L

Lars, I checked the Midway site and the price they show for the Monarch 7 30mm is about the same as other sites now. This was clicking on the original link on the bargain thread. I think Midway was just honoring their price quote at that time, they made a mistake. I should of jumped on it.

jgraider said:

You're the clown that mentioned "HD or non HD" in the same breath, and they have a different view. I was just clearing that up for you since you've obviously never laid eyes on one, but felt the need to comment anyway.

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While fanboyism use to cause the most superfluous contributions in the optics-forums here, surreptitious advertising is more than just a pain in the axx. What is your relationship to Meopta?

absolut_beethoven said:

But there is NO confusion as to which 8x42 Meopta was tested as it's clearly pointed out in the German magazine that they tested the new 8x42 HD model.

Hopefully this straightens out the apparent confusion once and for all.

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I'm afraid I can't follow you here because in the test chart there's no mentioning of HD. It could well be that the mentioning in the German text is just a typo or an error. AFAIK so far there is still no 8x42 Meopta Meostar B1 HD available at the German or even European market and the test was done several months ago. I assume the author did confuse the 10x42 with the 8x42 in some way.

BTW, I'm not sure what "HD" (= high definition?) should have to do with color rendition. Every company seem to use their own meaning of these letters.

hinnark said:

While fanboyism use to cause the most superfluous contributions in the optics-forums here, surreptitious advertising is more than just a pain in the axx. What is your relationship to Meopta?

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There's not one Einstein. I use a Kowa 884 spotter BTW.

Hinnark, jgraider, this stops now. No more personal attacks.

hinnark said:

I'm afraid I can't follow you here because in the test chart there's no mentioning of HD. It could well be that the mentioning in the German text is just a typo or an error. AFAIK so far there is still no 8x42 Meopta Meostar B1 HD available at the German or even European market and the test was done several months ago. I assume the author did confuse the 10x42 with the 8x42 in some way.

BTW, I'm not sure what "HD" (= high definition?) should have to do with color rendition. Every company seem to use their own meaning of these letters.

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Ein extrem kompaktes Glas mit äußerst stabilem Aluminiumgehäuse. Das mit 910 Gramm schwerste Testglas wurde moosgrün gummiarmiert. Daumenmulden und Nop* pen tragen zu einem sicheren Griff bei. Die gummiarmierte Kombiwalze ist perfekt erreichbar. Auf der Walzenoberseite sitzt ein Rad für den Dioptrienausgleich. Beides wird ausschließlich im Inneren justiert. Das Glas mit nicht abnehmbaren Drehaugen* muscheln ohne Zwischenstufen liegt gut ausbalanciert in der Hand. Die Auflösung ist sehr hoch und die Randschärfe gut. Das riesige Sehfeld von 137 m/1000 m können Brillenträger mit geringer Sehfeldeinbuße nutzen. Das Glas weist mit 89 Prozent (Tag) und 86 Prozent (Nacht) eine hohe Lichttransmission auf, wenngleich der Nachtwert stark abfällt. Der Kontrast ist sehr gut (HD*Glas). Geboten wird ein sehr scharfes, hel* les Bild mit sehr guter Detailerkennbarkeit. Das Meopta Meostar ist als Allroundglas für Tag, Dämmerung und Nacht bei gutem Mondlicht verwendbar.

I have copied and pasted the article above exactly as it appears in the original German magazine except for bolding the appropriate HD part seeing as you only looked at the chart without bothering to read the article itself.

As discussed earlier, nobody knows what HD means, except for the fact that most optics companies use it as a descriptive marketing label - usually in order to distinguish their older models from their newer upgraded ones. IMHO, that's it's only really useful purpose. Exactly what the "newer upgraded technologies" are will have to be gleaned from other sources.

absolut_beethoven said:

... Das Glas weist mit 89 Prozent (Tag) und 86 Prozent (Nacht) eine hohe Lichttransmission auf, wenngleich der Nachtwert stark abfällt. ...

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This could indicate that the prisms are still using silver-reflectors: Typically, their reflectivity is dropping somewhat toward the low frequency end of the visible spectrum, and therefore the integrated transmission is reduced during the night. The overall image tone should be a little warm then ...

Cheers,
Holger

To be clear, Meopta does not manufacture or sell a MeoStar B1 8x42 HD binocular. When articles are written by journalists there are many instances where products are mis-named or labeled incorrectly.
Keep everything in perspective. If you find a $250 pair of ED or HD 8x42 binoculars more likely than not, the quality of the optics will not be on the same level as a $1000 pair of ED or HD 8x42 binoculars.