gr8fuldoug's SHOT Show 2011 report (1 Viewer)

It's posted over at 24hourcampfire

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4859347/1

Interesting highlights:

I was very impressed with their new Steiner Predator XTreme binoculars which are rugged, feature winged eye cups, are waterproof and as all Steiners are...Made in Germany. Very impressive to hold and look thru and then I found out that they are only $399.99 for the 8x42's I did a double take and checked them out again. This may be our new top selling, under $500.00 binocular.

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Almost certainly assembled in Germany from Chinese components but that's just a detail! But might be interesting to look at.

He likes the new Nikon EDGs but wonders about the price.

Viper Spotting Scopes....NICE. Under $1000.00 - Rubber Skinned - Lighter than the Skyline Series that it is replacing - Optically Superior to the Skyline Series as well. I did not have the opportunity at the show to compare it to my highest regarded Asian Spotter (IMO, the Pentax PF-80ED has been a best option vs spending big $$$ for the Euros), however, the boys from Vortex assure me that when I do a side by side I will be impressed as theirs is as good and is only $799.99 for the 20-60x80mm HD version and $699.99 for the non-HD...$549.99 for the 15-45x65 HD and $100.00 less for the non-HD. (Personally for the $100.00 difference I would not bother with the non-HD version. I'd spend the extra $100.00 and get the optically superior version).

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Pentax To be quite honest I was meeting with them more out of personal relationships with some of their customer service people than excitement over what they had to offer (SHOT is that once a year time I get to see lots of folks I spend the year speaking with on the phone. Gives that "Big party reunion" kinda thing going on) as I did not expect much from them. I was happily surprised....
They showed a new binocular and I may be wrong about this so please do not attack me, but I think it is a unique sized binocular.....9x32 DCF BC and 9x42 DCF BR.
*Waterproof & Nitrogen Filled
*Phase Coated
*Open Bridge Design (Did everyone steal this from Swarovski)
*Plus all the standard features that you'd want from a quality binocular
The 9x32 sells for $299.00 and the 9x42 @ $349.00 So they are affordable and IMO, priced below their value in order to get them out into the market place to get some attention and use.

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ZEISS. I knew ahead of time that the only new thing that I was going to see was their Dialyt 18-45x65 Field Spotter which they claim will be in stock in the next few weeks and will sell for $1299.99. It has a nice robust feel to it, armor coated, easy to focus, high quality ZEISS optics, only 15.5" long and about 2.5 pounds. It has a built on tripod mount with good position for balance. I think it is a winner and it was nice to see it not priced close to $2000.00 as one would expect.

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I wondered about th $399 "German made" Predator extreme too. I think it is fairly common knowledge Steiner has a facility in China. So, I think you are right, some fiddling with where it was "made" and what "made" means is most likely going on here. A with any new optic, I'd like to see one, but I expect it has mostly Chinese components.

Perhaps they just stick the 8x42 or 10x42 label on the focuser in Germany.

No. They'd never do that

I suspect it's subcomponents assembly and alignment/test in Germany (perhaps even with automation). The EU has rules on what "Made in ..." means so they would have to stick to those to sell in the EU.

I wouldn't be surprised if they get objective assembly, enclosure + prism assembly and eyepiece assembly built in China then put together in Germany.

The flip side of this is that it might leverage German and Chinese talents optimally. The Chinese can make good optical components (and make them consistently) but I'm not too sure they full get the "Toyota" closing the loop to make a uniformly high quality products. I think (from what I've seen) that ends up with the people who contract with the OEM. The Germans can be very good at making sure they're put together correctly and go out the door matching the original spec. German companies have done this in other countries in the car business, for example. Skoda, SEAT, and other car companies folks in the US have never heard of

I wonder if this is a similar process to the Meopta US made bins. (from Czech components).