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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

A New Binocular Brand is Launched (1 Viewer)

Had a chance to take a quick look through the website.

The specs look competitive but not ground-breaking.
Not sure what Ultra Eye Relief is supposed to mean but most ERs look decent although one is down at 15mm. They also make clear how they measure the ER which is a nice touch.

Surprised to see both aluminium eyecup-tubes and magnesium bodies in both ED and HD ranges.

Below is a better pic of the HD range and it looks pretty handsome. Folks that don't warm to open-bridge designs will be cheering.

Lee
 

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Wow, there sure is a lot of immediate negativity in this thread. My view is it a good thing to have more options from a company backed by two individuals with extensive high level experience in the optics industry. I am willing to see what they have to offer.

Quite right Bruce. Lets see what the bins are like when they become available.

Lee
 
They look like a great line of binoculars and priced at 1/2 of an alpha like a Maven or Tract. I told you alpha's are dead. Some of the bigger apertures like 56mm use AK prisms. They have a 8x56 ED which would be pretty cool. Has Chill 4x4 bought one yet?;) He usually buy's the latest.
 
The Nikon has interesting specs but the initial reviews have been mixed. It may be a good strategy to be open to considering both. It seems to me to be premature to dismiss a binocular before anyone has even seen it.



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The reviews for 10x42 seem very good so far for the Nikon HG, but I take all user reviews with a grain of salt anyway. I will try it for myself.

I have dismissed lots of binoculars based on Specs alone. For instance, the full size Mavens are just too big and heavy for me and so is the new Noctivid. I'm sure they are great binoculars, but the image is not the only aspect of a binocular I take into consideration when making a purchase.

My Ultravid 7x42 is 27.2 ounces and I'd not like to go any heavier than this. This Passion HD is almost 30 ounces. I also find the wider FOV of the HG 10x42 attractive. So yeah, I'm going to dismiss this new binocular. I don't quite have the desire or energy to constantly order bins and try them out like others do here, so I do look at the specs and decide if it meets my personal preferences.
 
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While I'm not a supporter of the NRA, they also donate to Safari Club International, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and American Birding Association. These are actually fairly good conservation groups.
 
Below is a better pic of the HD range and it looks pretty handsome. Folks that don't warm to open-bridge designs will be cheering.

Agree, looks nice. Similar shape as the mentionned Intrepid, or the Nikon HG.

Wow, there sure is a lot of immediate negativity in this thread. My view is it a good thing to have more options from a company backed by two individuals with extensive high level experience in the optics industry.

A lot of marketing BS, this causes the immediate negative reaction, from my side at least.

Leica recently, Zeiss before etc, they all got bashed a lot for the marking BS when launching new binoculars. At least in this regard, some of these Kamakura-sellers seem indeed to catch up with the alpha brands.

More options is good, I agree. But at first glance, this just looks like more of the same to me.
 
Ha,Ha! I was going to put the link to that scene but I thought it might be to racy for some.

It took a British filmaker to do it. John Boorman bought the rights of the book, co-wrote the screen play, and directed it. He had the good sense to cast the books author James Dickey as the Sheriff.
 
I am not sure why a 91% total transmission does not seem likely. There are other binoculars out there that have a similar spec or more. Also the 99.7% figure is shown as "99.7% ags". That looks quite explicit and not misleading.

Example-Classic design SP prism of 93%
http://www.allbinos.com/303-binoculars_review-Swarovski_SLC_10x42_W_B.html

Well, why is the line "99.7% transmission ags" misleading - maybe because:

- it uses an obscure abbreviation which might be known to a specialist but not to the general public - and not somewhere deep in the stats but in the marketing blurb...

- the transmission per surface value is not really right since there should be two non-multicoated surfaces in the Schmidt-Pechan prism. Or if there aren't, you loose contrast.

- the mirror will eat the transmission of many multicoated surfaces.

And yes, the SLC was tested at 93 percent... but everybody else is at 90% or so...

Joachim
 
While I'm not a supporter of the NRA, they also donate to Safari Club International, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, and American Birding Association. These are actually fairly good conservation groups.

In fairness, whatever people may think of the NRA (whether in the USA or elsewhere), the company allows purchasers to specify which organisation any donation from the profit on their instrument goes to which seems fair enough to me.
 
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