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A New Binocular Brand is Launched (1 Viewer)

One of the quotes on the ED page caught my eye:

"Incredible: PASSION™ ED binoculars are made with durable magnesium bodies, unlike the plastic bodies of other European premium brands."

That's poor English. It should read 'some other', although apart from the Zeiss FL 7x32 what other European premium binocular uses polycarbonate ?
 
Slow down people. It seems Dennis ranting has everyone so mad that there is immediate negative vibes for a new binocular nobody has even seen yet. Dennis is succeeding in getting under everybody's skin. It is screwing up a thread he has not even had much chance to screw up...yet.

Looks kind of like a Leica focus knob. Sort of Trinovid like specs.

Anybody ever notice all these new outfits seem to have been undertaken by people with previous work experience in the optics world?
 
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Slow down people. It seems Dennis ranting has everyone so mad that there is immediate negative vibes for a new binocular nobody has even seen yet. Dennis is succeeding in getting under everybody's skin. It is screwing up a thread he has not even had much chance to screw up...yet.

Looks kind of like a Leica focus knob. Sort of Trinovid like specs.

Anybody ever notice all these new outfits seem to have been undertaken by people with previous work experience in the optics world?

Steve:

I have looked at the site, and they do stress the made in Germany
part. They may be having one of the German mfrs. help with the
manufacturing. Maybe Leica is doing some work for GPO.

Back when Mike Jenson was with Zeiss, I had some communications
back and forth with him. He is a very capable and a professional, I wish
them luck. He was very open on this forum, and that was appreciated.

Jerry
 
An Alpha 8x42 with a FOV of only 125m / 1000m ????
Doesn't seem very alpha to me .

There are so many new companies popping up left and right, but when I look at the tech specs none of them seem to separate themselves from one another. That's why Nikon Monarch HG to me is one of the most exciting mid-priced binos to come out. They are very lightweight, compact and have a massive FOV with field flattener. It seems Nikon is going in the right direction here with their new offering IMHO.

People who are looking for a good utility binocular have a lot to choose from which is nice. But, as a bino enthusiast I'm not excited about a lot of these new companies. At least Maven is offering something a little different with the A/K prisms and different magnifications which are hard to find.
 
Competition is a good thing, especially for the consumer. These new entities must feel there is market share to be gained or they wouldn't be attempting such a thing. It will be interesting how it all plays out.

I have never decided the merits of a binocular based purely on specs, literature, etc. It's a poor way to choose IMO. I was in love with the Swaro SV 8x32 based on specs and opinions from lots of people and places. I've never been so disappointed in my life when I actually bought one and used it. I've also been very pleasantly surprised a few times, as with the Mojave 8x32, Toric, Meostar HD, Gold Ring HD, and an 8x30 Maven. As I posted before, and it's worth repeating.....opinions are a poor substitute for actual experience. As Steve said, everyone should take a breath and relax, have some patience to see how it plays out. This isn't life threatening stuff here, it's only optics.
 
There are so many new companies popping up left and right, but when I look at the tech specs none of them seem to separate themselves from one another. That's why Nikon Monarch HG to me is one of the most exciting mid-priced binos to come out. They are very lightweight, compact and have a massive FOV with field flattener. It seems Nikon is going in the right direction here with their new offering IMHO.

People who are looking for a good utility binocular have a lot to choose from which is nice. But, as a bino enthusiast I'm not excited about a lot of these new companies. At least Maven is offering something a little different with the A/K prisms and different magnifications which are hard to find.
This new company seems to be offering some different magnifications and they have some AK prism models as well. It is kind of weird that the FOV's on these are kind of small and no field flatteners but I would suspect they are trying to keep costs down and RB out of the picture. I have heard that the new Nikon Monarch HG does have some RB and some people just can't tolerate it so I would suspect these companies are using a less complicated, less expensive eyepieces to avoid that can of worms and put the money into the glass and offer a binocular like the Trac Toric or Maven which emulates the Swarovski SLC HD in a lot of ways in design philosophy. I think a lot of these binoculars are aimed at hunters and many hunters don't need a huge FOV either. This is just pure speculation on my part. I understand your point though.
 
Competition is a good thing, especially for the consumer. These new entities must feel there is market share to be gained or they wouldn't be attempting such a thing. It will be interesting how it all plays out.

I have never decided the merits of a binocular based purely on specs, literature, etc. It's a poor way to choose IMO. I was in love with the Swaro SV 8x32 based on specs and opinions from lots of people and places. I've never been so disappointed in my life when I actually bought one and used it. I've also been very pleasantly surprised a few times, as with the Mojave 8x32, Toric, Meostar HD, Gold Ring HD, and an 8x30 Maven. As I posted before, and it's worth repeating.....opinions are a poor substitute for actual experience. As Steve said, everyone should take a breath and relax, have some patience to see how it plays out. This isn't life threatening stuff here, it's only optics.

Of course trying a bino out to decide if it's a good fit is the best bet instead of relying purely on specs, but most people don't have the time, energy or desire to try out a ton of optics especially when you have to order and return ad nauseam. Sure, there are those people here who have the patience for it, but most normal people do not. So, Specs are very helpful to weed out a lot of bins which don't fit your personal criteria. That's what a lot of people do first and then narrow it down to a few binos and then try and find a store to try them out or order them online hoping they have a generous return policy.

Some of these new companies do not have their optics available to try in a store, so you must order and return (if it doesn't work out) which , to me , becomes tiresome quick.

I guess there is a bigger demand for binoculars than I ever imagined. Honestly though I think we are a bit over saturated with brands at this point and none who manufacture anything or offer any service/repair.
 
...I have never decided the merits of a binocular based purely on specs, literature, etc. It's a poor way to choose IMO...
Glad you know what does and doesn't work for you. I've tried many bins in my life and I've found that specs and reviews are a good guide to how I'll react to a bin once I have in my hands, so here goes...

The specs of the top-of-line GPO 8x42 Passion HD are unimpressive all around, so given the cost I don't see why anyone would choose them over something as good or better from an established (and more likely to exist in the future) brand, like Nikon or Bushnell, or something used from Zeiss, Leica, or Swarovski.

The cheaper GPO 8x42 Passion ED has excellent specs. Its specs are as good as (identical to? Perhaps both are made in the same Chinese plant) the Bushnell 8x42 Legend Ultra HD, which is a stupendous binocular provided you don't get a (all too common) lemon unit. That recently discontinued Bushnell model and its replacement (the L-series) goes for ~$200 which is far below the nearest (perhaps not even as good) spec-competitive models from other brands like Nikon, whose 8x42 Monarch 7 is $480. The GPO 8x42 Passion lists at $380 and since I assume GPO will check units to avoid selling lemons, might be an attractive "mid-priced" option for folks who aren't willing to take the trouble to do their own quality check when buying the Bushnell at almost half the price. Only downside beside price that I can think of is that GPO may not exist in a few years (and therefore may not be able to honor its warranty), whereas Bushnell almost certainly will be with us to the end of time, and Bushnell has a good track record of repairing or replacing faulty binos.

--AP
 
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Slow down people. It seems Dennis ranting has everyone so mad that there is immediate negative vibes for a new binocular nobody has even seen yet. Dennis is succeeding in getting under everybody's skin. It is screwing up a thread he has not even had much chance to screw up...yet.

Looks kind of like a Leica focus knob. Sort of Trinovid like specs.

Anybody ever notice all these new outfits seem to have been undertaken by people with previous work experience in the optics world?
I don't think I am getting under anybodies skin with a little light humor. Maybe yours. Sometimes I think you take my humor as ranting when it is not intended that way. That is your opinion that I am screwing up the thread. You need to mellow out a bit and don't take this stuff so serious." Slow down people." REALLY! Let us have some fun, teacher.;)
 
I have looked at the site, and they do stress the made in Germany
part. They may be having one of the German mfrs. help with the
manufacturing. Maybe Leica is doing some work for GPO.
Jerry

Hi,

I didn't find any allegations of made in germany on the site:

https://www.google.com/webhp#q=made+in+germany+site:gpo-usa.com

Also Leica has been manufacturing in Portugal for many years - the binoculars are no exception...

The only current made in germany bins are the Zeiss alphas from Wetzlar - Swaro is probably also still manufacturing domestically but that's austria and everybody else has either outsourced and are frank about it like Leica or has outsourced and is doing the company sticker put on = made in trick like Minox and Steiner.

Joachim
 
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Dennis is on my ignore list, so why is this guy trying to ruin another thread.

Get lost, go play with yourself.

Jerry
 
I've tried many bins in my life and I've found that specs and reviews are a good guide to how I'll react to a bin once I have in my hands, so here goes...


--AP

yep and that's how almost everyone does it: Specs are used to rule out binoculars that you think most likely won't work and they are used to pick out ones that look like they could work well for you. So, you get your hands on the ones which have the listed Specs which meet your requirements and then try those out to see if they are a good fit or not.
 
yep and that's how almost everyone does it: Specs are used to rule out binoculars that you think most likely won't work and they are used to pick out ones that look like they could work well for you. So, you get your hands on the ones which have the listed Specs which meet your requirements and then try those out to see if they are a good fit or not.
In all my binocular purchases I usually use specifications as a guideline but many times I have purchased a binocular based on specifications and not liked it. A lot of these have been Chinese made because the specifications on paper look really good but when I got them I found I had a lot of quality issues and often times the build quality was lacking in some area. Either the focus came loose or the diopter was funky or there was a lot of slop in the eyecups. Maybe others have had better luck with Chinese binoculars but mine has been very spotty. I have had better luck with Japanese made binoculars. I wouldn't be afraid to try these new binoculars even though the specifications are not that great because sometimes they will fool you.
 
Dennis is on my ignore list, so why is this guy trying to ruin another thread.

Get lost, go play with yourself.

Jerry
Hi ND. How do you figure I am ruining the thread? At least I am contributing to it. Your the Troll because you troll around following me around calling me a Troll. Chill out Bro! By the way I don't play with myself.
 
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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

Not going to speculate about the quality of an unreleased bin, but I do wonder ... 99.7% transmission at each surface, 91% total. Is that either typical or reasonable? If those numbers are correct that means a total of 31 surfaces. Assuming a completely air-spaced triplet objective and an eyepiece as complex as an XW or Ethos (neither of which are likely) accounts for 18 of those surfaces. The Schmidt-Pechan roof prism has 4 air-glass interfaces plus one internal reflection at less than the critical angle. The roof part of the prism will also need phase coating (2 surfaces). What am I missing here?

BTW, 93% total transmission from 99.6% surface transmission is 18 surfaces, which does not seem unreasonable.
 
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Since Dennis is trying to dominate another thread, I think a good nickname for
him is "Peewee Herman", a troll that liked kids.
 
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