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Troubador's Review of GPO Passion 8x42 HD (1 Viewer)

Troubador

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German Precision Optics (hereafter GPO) is a newcomer on the scene with a base in Germany and an agent in the USA called GPO, USA. Both German and American companies are owned and run by guys with many years of experience in sports optics working for, amongst others, Zeiss, and one of whom started his sports optics career machining parts for binoculars. GPO has organised distribution in the States via GPO, USA while in Europe distribution is not yet finalised although part of the market will be handled via the RUAG Group under the GECO brand name. No distribution agreements have been reached in the UK at the time of writing this.

The binos currently offered are the EDs (lower priced) and HDs (upper-mid priced) and it is the HD 8x42 that is being reviewed here. HD models are made in Japan and it is clear that GPO has put considerable thought into the design as will become apparent when I describe the eyecups fitted to this model.

When I first took this unit out of its box I was immediately struck by the extremely high standard of fit and finish. I know that some of this can be regarded as a subjective judgement but the precise fit of the armour, the feel of precision of the eyecups as they are adjusted and the depth of lustre of the paint on the bridge all impressed me greatly. This is possibly the best-finished bino I have come across.

I have complained on Bird Forum often enough about Zeiss eyecups and those fitted to the GPO, while not quite perfect, really do put some eyecups from better-known brands to shame. They are specially designed by GPO and made from machined aluminium incorporating a brass pin as a positive ‘stop’ to make the positions easily detectable by feel even wearing gloves and to be absolutely reliable. Moreover to prevent the eyecups being inadvertently loosened or even unscrewed when they are backed out to the non-spectacle wearer’s position, they actually unscrew from the binos in a clockwise direction. It is gratifying that this level of careful thought has been given to a component that some more established brands regard as trivial. Are they perfect? Not quite because I would like to see 2 stops available at both the spectacle and non-spectacle positions but guess what? These eyecups don’t wobble and flop loosely as you screw them up and down, they glide with a tight precision which means if you leave them in a place other than one of the click-stops, they don’t move.

The rainguard isn’t quite the success of the eyecups because although it shrouds the eyepieces very well, it grips them too tightly so that getting them on and off quickly in the rain isn’t easy. In addition the split ring on one side for temporarily attaching that side to the strap to keep it out of the way and not flopping around rotating the strap, works as well as on most other rainguards i.e. not at all. Almost any movement of the strap causes the rainguard to free itself and using it to attach the guard to the other end of the strap doesn’t work either because it very soon becomes detached from there too. Far better to thread the guard through the two lengths of strap by which you adjust the overall length of the neck strap and it stays put. Forgive me if I don’t comment on the objective covers as I never use these myself and they are subject to many different personal preferences so I will refrain from going there.

The neck strap is nicely padded but is of the old-fashioned kind that hangs from the back of your neck instead of the type that is tailored to fit around your shoulders. Personally I find this uncomfortable unless I am wearing clothes with a high collar that the strap can rest against but there are plenty of after-market straps to solve this one if needed. The carrying case is of the semi-hard clamshell design and I found no problem in putting the bins inside with the neck strap wrapped around them.

The armour is specially made from TPE or ‘thermoplastic rubber’ as this was the only material that would provide the high level of finish that GPO required. The surface of the armour is divided into smooth and textured areas and I find the latter to be reminiscent of the ‘leatherette’ covers of classic Leicas and Zeisses of the past. The armour endows the GPO with an appearance simultaneously classic and modern. I am enclosing some photos with this review and I hope they convey this appearance adequately.

A quick glance over the specifications demonstrates that the GPO is competitive on FOV and close focus, and that the weight is towards the top end of 42mm models although at 830g / 29.3ozs it is pretty much the same as Swaro’s EL 8.5x42 and not too many people have trouble carrying those around. So not a class-leader by these parameters but up there with the competition.

The dioptre adjustment is accessed by pulling up the focus wheel and you would think that this arrangement was sufficient to prevent unintended movement of the dioptre but GPO have gone for a belt and braces approach because the action of the adjustment moves in tiny increments with a detent between each. I did wonder if this would allow me to get precisely the adjustment I required but actually I did.

Getting down to business, how do the optics perform? Actually they are really, really nice. Stepping outside to view black overhead cables against white clouds revealed no CA in the centre-field and I had to search for it in the extreme field edge, while a look across the valley to where a metallic blue car and a metallic red car usually park delivered rich colours from both, verifying that the opposite ends of the spectrum are well transmitted.

A walk across a local piece of open land and scattered woodland gave a surprising opportunity to test for glare as the sun suddenly appeared on an otherwise unpromising day. I could see a small semi-circular milky area in the lower part of the FOV but only when I was much closer to the sun than I would normally dare view. Following a request on Bird Forum to go into more detail than simply saying ‘closer to the sun than usual’ I went outside in bright sunshine to test this once again and then posted the following: “With the bins viewing horizontally I could rotate my view until directly under the sun with no glare. Lifting the bins up until I was in danger of the sun creeping into the field of view provoked a small area of glare in the lower portion of the field of view but ensuring my eyes were centred on axis meant this didn't appear until it was dangerous to proceed any further. I came indoors with my vision dazzled by the brightness for a minute or two. In terms of degrees how close did I get to the sun? I don't know but hey, I sure as hell didn't want to get any closer and wouldn't normally view anywhere near as close as this”

Visiting a local nature reserve with a fellow Bird Forum member gave a view over a lagoon covered in choppy waves resulting from the breeze and populated by dozens of Black-headed Gulls, while in the back-ground the leaves on trees were wafting to and fro with the breeze. The GPO reproduced this scene with excellent contrast. The white plumage of the gulls contrasted nicely with their dark heads, while the shining sides of the wavelets of the water contrasted with their other, darker sides, and the same thing was happening with the leaves being wafted in the trees as they displayed first a shiny side wet with rain and then a dark underside that wasn’t catching the light. But it wasn’t just that the borders between extremely contrasting regions were emphasised but also less obviously contrasting regions too. Lifting my Zeiss SF’s to view the scene it was apparent that they didn’t have quite the same nuance of contrast and this made the view through the GPO’s a little punchier and a tiny bit more ‘alive’. I am not talking night and day differences here but enough to make me view the HDs with additional respect.

On the following day I visited my traditional test site with a wide variety of waterfowl and other subjects. Examining the plumage details of an aggressive male Mute Swan as it sailed along with wings arched over its back confirmed the GPO’s ability to deliver detail down to the finest vanes and filaments. The GPO also revealed the many subtle tones of browns on a Canada Goose’s flanks and wing coverts at close range and at longer distances the barring effect was stunning. I shall never look at a Canada Goose again in quite the same way and it is surely the sign of a good bino that it can make you take a second and third look at such a familiar bird and find new aspects to enjoy.

The GPO’s smooth focus is a good balance between speed and precision. Using my standard measurement of the number of turns to focus from a distant target (that’s a farm 4km or 2.5 miles away) down to a very close object (2.0m or 2.19yd away) it accomplished this in 0.9 turns so a little faster than Zeiss SF at 1 turn but not as fast as my favourite butterfly-bino, Zeiss’s Conquest HD 8x32 with 0.5 turns. The focus works in an anti-clockwise fashion from near to far and I hope that this idiosyncrasy doesn’t put anyone off from trying out this fine instrument. My wife and a fellow BF member tried them and didn’t notice or comment on this.

At the GPO’s price level (€980 in Europe and $980 in the USA and an estimated £825 when it reaches the UK) there are many good models from both established brands in Europe/UK like Kowa, Leica, Meopta, Minox, Nikon, and Zeiss as well as more recent entrants such as Kite and Vortex, while in the States there are all these brands plus Maven. Quite simply there are too many models in this frame to discuss them all here, and to pick out one or two would be unfair on the rest.

What you get with the GPO is a stunningly finished instrument that delivers crisp, satisfying images that exceeded my expectations at its price point.

Lee
 

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Seems like a "luxury" binocular at less than half the price.
Nice to have such high quality finish and optics offered at this price level.
Weight is just a bit too much on the 10x42 for me at 30 oz.
I actually prefer a tight fitting rain guard, so that is a plus for me.

Thanks for the great review as usual :)
 
Nice review, Lee. Seems like the 'Precision' component of the company name is quite accurate. I especially like that the glare control, eyecups, and focus knob seem of high quality as those are weak spots on many binoculars I've owned, including alpha models.

What, in your opinion, separates this from that muddled mess of $800-1200 optics such as the Razor HD, Genesis, Monarch HG, Conquest HD, etc? I only ask because unless this pair of binoculars gets into retail stores at some point, it will be difficult to convince someone to buy this over, e.g. the Razor HD which is lighter and available for trial at some of the 'big box' stores.

Justin
 
Nice review, Lee. Seems like the 'Precision' component of the company name is quite accurate. I especially like that the glare control, eyecups, and focus knob seem of high quality as those are weak spots on many binoculars I've owned, including alpha models.

What, in your opinion, separates this from that muddled mess of $800-1200 optics such as the Razor HD, Genesis, Monarch HG, Conquest HD, etc? I only ask because unless this pair of binoculars gets into retail stores at some point, it will be difficult to convince someone to buy this over, e.g. the Razor HD which is lighter and available for trial at some of the 'big box' stores.

Justin

Just jumping in here, our plan in the USA is full retail distribution. We have contracted two of the largest and most recognized sales agencies to service and sell retail brick and mortar stores, and we are in the process of setting up these retailers now. Salesmen have limited samples, which will change in the next 30 days and will accelerate this process, but I am receiving retailer paperwork daily.
 
Lee,

I am not as sold on the value of these as GG. Bins at this price 'should be' immaculately put together. I have similar questions to Justin - these seem to be run of the mill 2nd tier optics with ordinary Fov and far from class leading lightness (think Nikon MHG, Vortex Razor HD) and in no way are they leading on price .... so where is the compulsion to buy?

I would like to see Dennis compare these to his Alpha terminating Tracts!..... :cat:

P.S. be careful of stumbling into the sun when viewing - I've caught the odd inadvertent flash of sunlight myself when tracking fast moving raptors etc. That's why I advocate knowing the threshold angles and characteristics of glare in your bin, so that you can pull out or shut your eyes in time .... :cool:


Chosun :gh:
 
Nice review, Lee. Seems like the 'Precision' component of the company name is quite accurate. I especially like that the glare control, eyecups, and focus knob seem of high quality as those are weak spots on many binoculars I've owned, including alpha models.

What, in your opinion, separates this from that muddled mess of $800-1200 optics such as the Razor HD, Genesis, Monarch HG, Conquest HD, etc? I only ask because unless this pair of binoculars gets into retail stores at some point, it will be difficult to convince someone to buy this over, e.g. the Razor HD which is lighter and available for trial at some of the 'big box' stores.

Justin

Thanks Justin. I would like to respond about the comparison of the other models you mention but I haven't done a side by side with them. I have a Conquest HD 8x32 though and I can say that the GPO beats it on CA control and contrast. GPO are certainly entering a hotly contested part of the market but if you saw one of these on a shelf in a store you would want to pick it up and stroke it.

Lee
 
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Lee,

I am not as sold on the value of these as GG. Bins at this price 'should be' immaculately put together. I have similar questions to Justin - these seem to be run of the mill 2nd tier optics with ordinary Fov and far from class leading lightness (think Nikon MHG, Vortex Razor HD) and in no way are they leading on price .... so where is the compulsion to buy?

Chosun :gh:

CJ they have a great quality punchy view with neutral colours and are a pleasure to handle and use with super-nice focuser and eyecups that put Zeiss to shame. Price is about the same as Zeiss Conquest HD but they are better finished.

Lee
 
Seems like a "luxury" binocular at less than half the price.
Nice to have such high quality finish and optics offered at this price level.
Weight is just a bit too much on the 10x42 for me at 30 oz.
I actually prefer a tight fitting rain guard, so that is a plus for me.

Thanks for the great review as usual :)

Hi GiGi

Thanks for dropping by and for your kind words.

Lee
 
Hi Lee,

Thanks for this insight.

Maybe Mike can/will tune in, but what wonders me is that GPO choosed RUAG as distributor (100% hunting all the way down) and the Ammunition brand GECO as name. So it is the hunting scene as targetgroup. Docter (Germany) and Kahles (Japan) are allready distributed by RUAG, so an equal 3rd party called GECO with the same distributor??

Jan
 
Lee,

I am not as sold on the value of these as GG. Bins at this price 'should be' immaculately put together. I have similar questions to Justin - these seem to be run of the mill 2nd tier optics with ordinary Fov and far from class leading lightness (think Nikon MHG, Vortex Razor HD) and in no way are they leading on price .... so where is the compulsion to buy?




Chosun :gh:

I'm not really sold on these. I mentioned they "seem like" luxury bins based on Lee's reviews (which I do trust btw). I would need to try these myself to be truly sold (or not) on anything about them. just based on photos it does look attractive. It's too heavy for me though and I wouldn't consider buying it, but so far seems very nice from the little bits of feedback coming in.
I wish I could afford that 10x42 SF :)
 
CJ they have a great quality punchy view with neutral colours and are a pleasure to handle and use with super-nice focuser and eyecups that put Zeiss to shame. Price is about the same as Zeiss Conquest HD but they are better finished.

Lee
Lee,

Do you still have them to compare to your HT? (if you still have that) - particularly for colour at the ends of the spectrum (blue, and red). Even my several hundred $ Zen does red about as good as most, the blue, not so much (relatively) - Kinda SF like in its transmission curve.

Also the CCW focuser is a big miss for me. It also rules out several other KK sourced bins like the Vortex Razor HD and Maven B2, etc. Surely it wouldn't be that hard (or expensive) to specify and engineer a ClockWise focuser even in a standard off the shelf basic CCW design.


Chosun :gh:
 
Lee,

Do you still have them to compare to your HT? (if you still have that) - particularly for colour at the ends of the spectrum (blue, and red). Even my several hundred $ Zen does red about as good as most, the blue, not so much (relatively) - Kinda SF like in its transmission curve.

Also the CCW focuser is a big miss for me. It also rules out several other KK sourced bins like the Vortex Razor HD and Maven B2, etc. Surely it wouldn't be that hard (or expensive) to specify and engineer a ClockWise focuser even in a standard off the shelf basic CCW design.


Chosun :gh:

Yes I still have them and I still have HT. It pi**ing down with rain just now and dark as something severly lacking in light outside but the forecast is better tomorrow so give me a day and I will get back to you. It will need to go some to get near HT though.

I have no idea why they went for CCW focuser and I thought I would find it awkward but it was fine apart from when I was out with it alongside two pairs of Bushnells that I will report on eventually because on Bushy was CW and the other CCW so I got dizzy. But out on its own the GPO was OK and I only slipped up on direction a handful or so times. I think I could get used to it but it might put some folks like you off.

If you want to check out the growing list of CCW bins go to:http://speedydeletion.wikia.com/wiki/Binoculars_focus_direction

Lee
 
Hi Lee,

Thanks for this insight.

Maybe Mike can/will tune in, but what wonders me is that GPO choosed RUAG as distributor (100% hunting all the way down) and the Ammunition brand GECO as name. So it is the hunting scene as targetgroup. Docter (Germany) and Kahles (Japan) are allready distributed by RUAG, so an equal 3rd party called GECO with the same distributor??

Jan

Jan, It is my understanding that the binoculars will be available in Europe under both brands. RUAG has distribution rights in the hunting market and has therefore chosen to use their brand GEKO. However, GPO product can and will be sold under the GPO brand to the nature observation and general use markets.
 
Jan, It is my understanding that the binoculars will be available in Europe under both brands. RUAG has distribution rights in the hunting market and has therefore chosen to use their brand GEKO. However, GPO product can and will be sold under the GPO brand to the nature observation and general use markets.


Thanks Mike for this info:t:

Jan
 
Jan, It is my understanding that the binoculars will be available in Europe under both brands. RUAG has distribution rights in the hunting market and has therefore chosen to use their brand GEKO. However, GPO product can and will be sold under the GPO brand to the nature observation and general use markets.

What warranty will the GPO have if sold in Europe? I see that GPO USA have lifetime warranty but the Geco sold in Europe only have 10 years, Will it be the same with the binoculars under the GPO brand?
 
Lee,

Appreciate the fine review with your descriptive detailed field performances of the GPO 8X42HD. Now, another fine instrument as a choice to consider!

Quick question Lee. You acknowledge the focuser as smooth (nice), fast (great for birding) and accurate (always imperative). How would you rate the adjustment tension\resistance, say as compared to the SF?

Ted
 
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