I had a first look at the Victory FL:s (8x42 and 7x42 models) at the Swedish Oudoor Fair today. This is my first impression from an hour of indoor-testing so take it from that.
The demo bins were a bit ”preproduction” according to the zeiss people and the twist up eye cups had a ”cheap plastic” feel and they were going to be changed.
The production country of the FL:s is clearly Germany and ”made in germany” is printed on the very slim bridge that holds the two barrels together. The shape of the barrels are a bit ”EL”-like and the balance was pretty good but not on pair with the EL:s. The feel fo the FL:s are a bit like a hybrid of Leica trinovid and Swarovski EL so they are not as slender and compact as the Ultravids.
The view is clearly related to the ”zeiss victory II” and the brightness is excellent. I could see very little CA at the edges of the field but indoor testing is not conclusive for color parameters but as I also tested Nikon SE:s, Swarovski EL:s and Leica Ultravids I got references for comparison.
Close focus is very good for the FL:s and and I had no problems focusing on objects only 1,5 meter away. The focus wheel is high-geared (one turn from near to far), wide and feels very natural and easy to use, but it is a bit stiff for my taste (the stiffness were, as the eye cups, on the todo-better-list).
Eye relief is on pair with the Leica Ultravids and eye comfort is very similar with these, perhaps even a bit better.
The 7x:s has an amazing 150 FOV and are sharper than the Dialyt 7x42 BGATP. The view is very easy on the eye for the 7x FL (so are the ultravid 7x). (The classic 7x42 Dialyt will be taken out of production in just a couple of month according to Zeiss.)
I think the FL:s looks rather promising and I look forward to test the fully developed product. I don’t think that they will be the optimal binoculars concerning all parameters but they may be a very good compromise with the image quality as their strongest aspect.
The demo bins were a bit ”preproduction” according to the zeiss people and the twist up eye cups had a ”cheap plastic” feel and they were going to be changed.
The production country of the FL:s is clearly Germany and ”made in germany” is printed on the very slim bridge that holds the two barrels together. The shape of the barrels are a bit ”EL”-like and the balance was pretty good but not on pair with the EL:s. The feel fo the FL:s are a bit like a hybrid of Leica trinovid and Swarovski EL so they are not as slender and compact as the Ultravids.
The view is clearly related to the ”zeiss victory II” and the brightness is excellent. I could see very little CA at the edges of the field but indoor testing is not conclusive for color parameters but as I also tested Nikon SE:s, Swarovski EL:s and Leica Ultravids I got references for comparison.
Close focus is very good for the FL:s and and I had no problems focusing on objects only 1,5 meter away. The focus wheel is high-geared (one turn from near to far), wide and feels very natural and easy to use, but it is a bit stiff for my taste (the stiffness were, as the eye cups, on the todo-better-list).
Eye relief is on pair with the Leica Ultravids and eye comfort is very similar with these, perhaps even a bit better.
The 7x:s has an amazing 150 FOV and are sharper than the Dialyt 7x42 BGATP. The view is very easy on the eye for the 7x FL (so are the ultravid 7x). (The classic 7x42 Dialyt will be taken out of production in just a couple of month according to Zeiss.)
I think the FL:s looks rather promising and I look forward to test the fully developed product. I don’t think that they will be the optimal binoculars concerning all parameters but they may be a very good compromise with the image quality as their strongest aspect.
