• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Conquest HD 8x42 first impessions (1 Viewer)

quedecree

Member
I thought it was about time I treated myself to a really nice pair of Binos. I've got some low/mid priced models (Canon IS 10x30, Leupold Mojave 8x42 and an older pair of Tasco 10x50 Porro's) but was wanting something that gave a bit of 'wow' factor every time I looked through it. I was thinking one of the 'Alpha's' originally and found a pair of Ziess Victory FL 8x42's in a local shop - my first reaction to looking through it was that sure, it was very bright and sharp in the center, but geez, the sharpness falls away towards the edge awfully fast and besides, the eye relief wasn't quite enough for my glasses. Also tried a pair of 10x42 SLC's which I thought were better as far as edge definition goes but still a bit short on eye relief.

A little later on I had a look through the Conquest HD's and immediately found them sharp and comfy to use. I went back to the store with my Leupold's to compare them and the HD's made the Leupold's look somewhat dim and lack-lustre by comparison. They quoted me a cheaper price than I found on the internet so the deal was done.

I haven't seen anywhere that says whether or not the HD's actually use ED glass or not, but while I can see a tiny bit of color fringing, I really have to look for it. The views are certainly sharp, contrasty and brilliant. Whites are really white (unlike slightly yellow or blue with my other bino's). The HD's are not sharp to the edge, but they're sharp enough not to annoy me. I certainly felt they were much better at the edge than the FL's but that's based on a very quick look through the FL's so take that with a grain of salt.

Field of view is reasonably wide - 59 degrees AFoV - not as wide as some but wide enough to keep me happy. Eye relief is excellent. Focusing is very smooth and they focus very close - 2m, I think. All in all, I think these are a very worthwhile step up from the general $400 - $500 range of binos. For your $1000 bucks, you get a noticeably brighter, sharper image. I don't feel there's the same improvement going from these to a $2000 pair - but that's entirely subjective and not based on spending anything more than a few minutes looking through the FL's and SLC's.

The HD"s feel relatively heavy and solidly built. The hinge and diopter adjustment are quite firm and require a bit of pressure to move. The focus is at the other end of the scale - very smooth. I would possibly prefer to have the focus just a tad firmer as I find it a little too easy to accidentally brush it with my finger and move the focus. Eyecups are a little stiff and clunky to move up and down - but that's not really a problem as I tend to have them all the way down/in and leave them there.

I haven't got to look at any exciting birds with them yet, I've had to settle for some magpies and a couple of wood ducks! But those views have certainly been awesome sharp and contrasty and compared to what I'm used to, I think the term "HD" is justified.

I assume that the LouTec coatings are roughly comparable to the oleo phobic coatings that I've had on my last couple of sets of glasses, and they have been really easy to keep clean - so much so that I'd never buy a pair without those coatings on.

And guess what? So far, everytime I pick 'em up and look through them I think 'wow, these are SHARP!' Of course, all things are relative but I feel I've got good value for my dollar with the Conquest HD's.

Cheers - John
 
Thanks, its helping pushing me toward upgrading from my "Grey" Bushnell Legend Ultra ED's which I dropped and the focus now has stiff spots.
 
I've got these and they definitely have the wow factor, everybody(non birders) who has looked through them has literally said "wow". I think there have been some problems for some people from the eyecups, I don't wear glasses have them all the way up and can honestly say I've had no problems.I can't really compare them with more expensive bins as I've never looked through any, but were definitely worth the extra i paid from the optricons and other bins i tried around the £400 mark.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 10 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top