thomasbarker81
Well-known member
Over the last 9 months I went travelling with my new wife around the world. We visited most of South America, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.
I pretty much used a pair of Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 everyday, subjecting them to ridiculous heat and humidity, freezing temperatures and everything inbetween.
Originally I was going to take my Zeiss FL 8x42, however I decided that I wasn't prepared to risk losing/breaking/damaging them. I therefore went for something that would still be a pleasure to use but weren't quite so precious.
For the whole time they were an absolute pleasure to use, optics were nigh on perfect, they never me wanting. Mechanically they functioned in all conditions, the focus ring did get slightly stiffer when it was very cold and was pretty loose in the hottest places but this was pretty minor. The only problem I encountered was that sand got into the mechanism that slides the eyepiece down meaning the eyepiece cant be completely twisted down, not a huge deal even when I wore glasses though. This should be hopefully sorted when I return them under warranty.
I know some people have questioned the build quality of hawkes, saying the optics might be good but they aren't up to the build quality of more traditional brands, but i obviously haven't really found that
Anyway just wanted to give some kudos to the hawkes, an absolute bargain for the price I think.
I pretty much used a pair of Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 everyday, subjecting them to ridiculous heat and humidity, freezing temperatures and everything inbetween.
Originally I was going to take my Zeiss FL 8x42, however I decided that I wasn't prepared to risk losing/breaking/damaging them. I therefore went for something that would still be a pleasure to use but weren't quite so precious.
For the whole time they were an absolute pleasure to use, optics were nigh on perfect, they never me wanting. Mechanically they functioned in all conditions, the focus ring did get slightly stiffer when it was very cold and was pretty loose in the hottest places but this was pretty minor. The only problem I encountered was that sand got into the mechanism that slides the eyepiece down meaning the eyepiece cant be completely twisted down, not a huge deal even when I wore glasses though. This should be hopefully sorted when I return them under warranty.
I know some people have questioned the build quality of hawkes, saying the optics might be good but they aren't up to the build quality of more traditional brands, but i obviously haven't really found that
Anyway just wanted to give some kudos to the hawkes, an absolute bargain for the price I think.