Frontier ED 8x36 (1 Viewer)

Hi there ...A question about this model...well,a couple..first of all,,How bad is Eye relief compared with the 43mm version?,,stated eye relief is 14mm..I dont have any reason to doubt manufacturer specifications,..but ...puzzles me that the 8x has 2 mm less than the 10x...usually is the other way around...Isn't it?
Also ..This bin is very similar to the famous ZenRay 7x36..The Zen original 7x36 release suffered from bad glare issues but this was solved in a fast redesign of the inner tubes and a second incarnation was released with the glare issue now addressed ..I tried both versions and the difference was a big improvement in performance...
Are the Hawke 8x36 as similar to the Zen 7x36 in the inside ,as they are in the outside ,and If they are...are they closer to the improved version or..¿
can anyone post a picture of the inner tubes of this bin,or comment about this?

many thanks and best regards

mayoayo said:

Hi there ...A question about this model...well,a couple..first of all,,How bad is Eye relief compared with the 43mm version?,,stated eye relief is 14mm..I dont have any reason to doubt manufacturer specifications,..but ...puzzles me that the 8x has 2 mm less than the 10x...usually is the other way around...Isn't it?
Also ..This bin is very similar to the famous ZenRay 7x36..The Zen original 7x36 release suffered from bad glare issues but this was solved in a fast redesign of the inner tubes and a second incarnation was released with the glare issue now addressed ..I tried both versions and the difference was a big improvement in performance...
Are the Hawke 8x36 as similar to the Zen 7x36 in the inside ,as they are in the outside ,and If they are...are they closer to the improved version or..¿
can anyone post a picture of the inner tubes of this bin,or comment about this?

many thanks and best regards

Click to expand...

I'll try to take a photo this weekend when I visit Sportman's Outlet. Tried the ZR 7x36 ED2, two samples, for several months, and I tried the Hawke 8x36 ED outside the hunting outlet shop for about 15 minutes each on two separate occasions. Physically, the 7x36 and 8x36 are identical, same body and rubber, same focuser, but they are different optically.

The ZR has more pincushion, too much for my taste. They both give a very sharp image in the centerfield. The 7x ED2 has a "cleaner" image, that is, less CA. Not that the Hawke is bad, but the 7x gives the ZR an edge in that dept.

Sportsman's Outlet, which is where the samples I tried were sold (the store is an authorized Hawke dealer) also had the 8x43 ED. Tried two of those, too. The 8x43 version seemed long and unwieldy to me, and there was too much distortion in the image (I tried two samples, and both were the same). I preferred the 8x36 version. I compared the Hawke with my Nikon 8x32 SE. While the off-axis sharpness is nowhere as good as the SE, on-axis, they were closer than I would have expected, being that the store sells the 8x36 Hawke ED for $299.

I didn't detect any flaring like the original ZR, but the sun was low in the sky behind me, so my viewing wasn't under the most challenging conditions.

The depth perception wasn't too bad, but not as good as the 7x ED2. Like almost every roof I've tried, the view is somewhat compressed compared to my porros. But if you like roofs, that's pretty much a convention that you have to accept.

All and all, I thought for the price, they were pretty good optically and mechanically, but I would prefer a 7x36 ED2 with less pincushion because the 7x provides a better 3-D effect.

Brock