Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 Review (1 Viewer)

You can find a review of the above in the reviews section:

http://www.birdforum.net/reviews/showproduct.php/product/403/limit/recent

With a wide field of view, decent sweet spot, superb contrast and brightness, low chromatic aberration and decent mechanics, there is a lot to like. Weak spots include strong field curvature and obvious edge softness. Not everyone likes them, and as usual, try them for yourself rather than take someone else's view as gospel.

Great and honnest review. All your words could be apply to the 10X43 Frontier ED :t:

DadraFromFrance said:

Great and honnest review. All your words could be apply to the 10X43 Frontier ED :t:

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Thanks. I take it you have the 10x version. Have you been able to compare it to alpha instruments?

Leif said:

Thanks. I take it you have the 10x version. Have you been able to compare it to alpha instruments?

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Yes, I compare the 8X and the 10X after I bought my 10X. The field curvature, the sharpness and the image color are the same. More large field on the 8x but more blur at the edge...
I prefer the 8X (and 7x) for usual birding.
What could be better : a more flat field and a lighter weight ! We have to wait for the Panorama now (and rolling' balls ? :bounce: )
I compared the 10X Frontier ED with the Swaro 10X42 Sv, the Leica Ultravid and Bushnell Elite and the Zeiss Conquest (non HD !). I prefer the Swaro. The Elite (dual hinge) and the Frontier are equal optically but ergonony is better on the Bushnell. The Leica was disappointing for me : more C.A. and the miimum focus distance was a bit too long. The Zeiss Conquest are bad : too much CA, bad minimum focus and a plastic cheap feeling.

I finally, after a long time of umming and erring, bought a pair of fronteir ed 8x43, I am really impressed with them, I see little difference between them and my Zeiss Fl 8x42s, the Zeiss are better but its marginal, the zeiss have a purer, truer colour and the zeiss win on ergonomics too but I would be happy if the Hawkes were my only bins. Whereas comparing my zeiss to other mid priced bins in the past the differences have been significant but not so with the Hawkes!

Interesting stuff. As some may know I love all my Frontiers and don't see much point in changing. However, yesterday my new Pro-Stalk ED's arrived and ten minutes into my woodland session I noticed that I had been sent 10x56 and not the 8x56 that I ordered. To return these tomorrow I would be a brave man; they are possibly even brighter than my 10x43's which I have always thought would be hard to beat and I'm still trying to compare which has the warmer colour reproduction. I might take a few more days to decide.

Are these the ones with the oversized (sic) objected lenses according to Hawke?