Hawke Sapphire 10x42 (1 Viewer)

Does anyone know if this is any good?

I am considering getting one now that I no longer have my Leica 10x32 and the Hawke Frontier/Endurance 10x32 didn't work out.

I expect the optics would be very clear and CA very well controlled as per my 8x43 Sapphire but I expect the edges maybe are a lot softer and there will be more glare???

Have a look at the RSPB BG PC. I think they are better than the Hawke Frontier ED and as good as the RSPB HD and Viking ED. I have settled on the 8x42s and will not change my bins again as I don't see anything being better, including throwing a grand at the problem!

Swifty49 said:

Have a look at the RSPB BG PC. I think they are better than the Hawke Frontier ED and as good as the RSPB HD and Viking ED. I have settled on the 8x42s and will not change my bins again as I don't see anything being better, including throwing a grand at the problem!

Click to expand...

Thanks. It seems that I have just won a pair of Sapphire 10x42 on auction so I will soon get to find out if I like those. I could have had the Viking HD for less money but it is totally unknown to me so I did not go for that but from what you say it appears to be another very good option.

I'm also interested to see how the 10x42 Sapphire compare with my larger sized 8x43 as there seems to be quite a price difference between the open hinge and smaller single bridge models and yet they supposedly have the same optical system and if so I would have thought the smaller single bridge model would be preferable.

Mainly I want to see if they are good enough to replace my Prostalk 10x56 and if so then I will probably let those go.

In case it might be of interest to someone I sadly have to report that I am returning the 10x42.

I basically didn't find it as good as either my Prostalk 10x56 ED or my Sapphire 8x43 ED.

The Prostalk seem to have much richer colour and contrast and flatter view.

The Sapphire 8x43 again had richer colour and are brighter with more contrast and a noticably larger and more relaxed view.

So I was a bit dissapointed with the 10x42 Sapphire although they are by no means bad, its just that my current bins seem clearly better although the 10x42 is certainly more portable than the Prostalk.

The 10x42 is built and operates very nicely but I pretty much began to doubt that I would be as happy with it as with my other pairs as soon as I tried it and compared against my existing bins. I was genuinely surprised to find the Prostalk view quite so good in comparison.

I would have to recommend the 8x43 over the 10x42. Wonder would the 10x43 be any better? I expect the 8x42 would be better and more like the 8x43 but nicely compact.

I think now I'm going to stick with the 8x43 being my main bin and keep the Prostalk as a backup.