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

High-end Binoculars Round Up 2008 (1 Viewer)

Sancho said:
:t: Agreed. Ever read theatre, book or cinema "reviews"? So why should optics reviews be any different? There isn´t any objective standard, all opinions are relative and the bottom line is the only review that means anything to you is the one you do yourself.
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I agree also. But most of us who do not spend a lot of time comparing all sorts of binoculars (which leaves out many posters here I realize), usually need to rely on other people's reviews to narrow the field of consideration.

oleaf said:
Sorry... Or advertise in their magazine.

Cheers
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This link indicates that the Thompson family, not the Porters, started and run Birdwatchers Digest: http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/bwd_story.aspx According to the link, Roger Tory Peterson himself provided a lot of input into the magazine in the early days.

Best,
Jim
 
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J. Moore said:
I agree also. But most of us who do not spend a lot of time comparing all sorts of binoculars (which leaves out many posters here I realize), usually need to rely on other people's reviews to narrow the field of consideration.
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Even those who review a lot of bins do this too.

That's why reputation rating the reviews is useful. The more info you have the bigger the picture. But it takes time. But if you are going to spend $1500 or £1000 how much effort should you put in?

With the top end bins optics isn't the issue under consideration (and even for less expensive bins too) it's how well the bins perform for you. But the only way to do this is to try bins out. You don't have to own them. You can borrow them for a screening. And with companies like Eagle Optics that give you 30 days to try the bin or return them for a full refund you can compare three (even expensive bins) at your leisure for a percent or two interest on the credit card.

Of course people who are satisficiers (who enjoy the "good enough" without worrying about the better) have a much better time than the "optimizers". And I say that as an optimizer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satisficing
 
Kevin Purcell said:
And the solipsist point ("I've not read the review but it's clearly worthless") is the most unreliable viewpoint of all.QUOTE]

"Solipsist"?. Come on, do you know what the word means? I'm not making claims about the nature of reality, but simply expressing skepticism about the value of reviews by interested parties. What's solipsistic (or even controversial) about that? And solipsistic or not, where does "unreliability" come into it?

Otherwise I find little to disagree with in what you say.
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Did you get a look at the picture of the alleged reviewers? They all seem like nice enough folks, but ALL are wearing glasses! Think eye relief (where Zeiss excels) might have trumped true optical resolution and performance considerations?
 
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Robert / Seattle said:
Did you get a look at the picture of the alleged reviewers? They all seem like nice enough folks, but ALL are wearing glasses! Think eye relief (where Zeiss excels) might have trumped true optical resolution and performance considerations?
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Wow. Good catch Robert.

Still doesn't explain their "Fit and Feel" scores being tops for Zeiss |=\|.... unless...this is how they quantify their approval of satisfactory eye relief with glasses. We may need a decoder ring to get to the bottom of this.
 
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I dunno Robert. Outside of the measurable dimensions, it all seems rather subjective. As to the merit of including "Fit and Feel", I think it can be quite meaningful in the context of binoculars, if it's well defined. In this report we don't know what they mean by fit and feel. It could mean adequate eye relief for all we know.
 
Kevin Conville said:
I dunno Robert. Outside of the measurable dimensions, it all seems rather subjective. ....
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Quite right !

Unfortunately there is frequently no distinction between hard, measurable features and personal "impressions". It would help all discussions if that line be drawn more sharply.
Tom
 
Robert / Seattle said:
Did you get a look at the picture of the alleged reviewers? They all seem like nice enough folks, but ALL are wearing glasses! ....
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Now that's fine with me .... as long as they are wearing proper ED glasses.

What makes me more wary about this "review" is the fact that these people also sell binos. It's just one click away from the shop (two clicks to the "give your credit card number, if your card still works" option, I guess).

Doubtful about people who judge & sell,
Suspicious Tom
 
Outside of the measurable dimensions, it all seems rather subjective.

Absolutely. Everyone's eyes are slightly different, and the combination of factors (and weighting that we apply to them) we use in arriving at our own choice of binos is extensive.

I think it is useful to read/hear different reviews/thoughts but you really do have to hold and look through as many as you can and weigh up the factors before reaching a decision.

Whatever you choose is right for you and it doesn't really matter what others think providing you are happy. A number of people will have the same binos as me, but there will be a lot of variation in the reasons why we made the choice we did.

Anyway, enough of this rambling. Read reviews, look through binos but make your own choice.
 
Robert / Seattle said:
...Think eye relief (where Zeiss excels) might have trumped true optical resolution and performance considerations?
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No, because it isn't true that Zeiss excels at eye-relief, except maybe if you are only comparing Zeiss to Leica, and even then, only especially w/respect to the 8x32 models. Moreover, some other brands fairly consistently outperform Zeiss eye-relief specs (e.g. Nikon, Pentax).

--AP
 
I looked at the article and thought "that's nice" -opinion and not sure how it would apply to me.

I wear glasses when I bird. If I don't a Powerful Owl could land three feet from me and I would miss it. I am nearsighted (I think that means I can see things really near) and astigmatic. I have often thought that how well my sight is corrected has as much to do as anything in what I see through my bins. I don't know if that is right or wrong.

As to "fit and feel" I always kind of figured that has a lot more to do with the size of one's hand and nose as anything else.
 
As a happy user of a pair of 8.5X42 ELs, I consider the quality of their optics is a bit overrated, the same is true for the FLs IMHO. Where would go the 8X32SE? Over 5?
 
Now that manufacturers have the optics part figured out I'm waiting for a pair that definitively ID's the bird. That would help me a lot. I can already see more than I can understand. (c:

jrwilton
 
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