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Hawke nature trek 7x30 poro binoculars (1 Viewer)

breydon

Well-known member
Hi All. Just wondering has any one tried these binoculars? Like the mag and nice and compact look. Just wondering how good the eyecups are ie do they stay up ok or not have a pair of Kowa 6x30s these are superb. Any comments welcome Thanks Chris
 
I've tried a few similar binoculars. I had a Celestron 8x30 model a while ago, that was sent back as it had excess play in the focus mechanism. At the moment I have an Olivon 7x30 porro that looks identical to the Nature trek.
My problem with the examples I've had of waterproof porro in this style is the focus. It appears to me that because there is some kind of greased seal on each eye-piece, each can have slightly differing resistance to movement up and down the body. This causes one or other of the eyepieces to lag a little. Adjusting the dioptre to suit isn't possible as it's different nearly each time, and of course worse in the cold.
I tried a couple of new strategies to help get over this. One was to push the eyepieces gently into my face to provide a sort of spring loading to get them to move in predictable ways, the other was to hold them off the body by light finger pressure. These are not solutions that I can recommend and only brought partialy better focussing. The other, lesser problem has been that the central focussing ring had axial play. Before the bridge is moved the ring has to worm its way to the stop. Small amounts are tolerable, but too much is, er, too much.
All this is a real pity, because "once it's focussed", it gives a nice detailed view.

I hope that with use, the focus might wear in a little. In the meantime, I now regret not spending more and getting the Vortex Raptor or the similar Kowa porro 8x. I had a Raptor for a few hours before returning it as it had a big ding on the objective surrounding. I recall that the focus worked properly on it.
Perhaps these were just problems with poor examples that came my way. It's put me off buying similar bins untried.

Dave
 
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Thanks for the input my friend. The Kowa 6x30 I have as I said is a superb binocular. Will check the raptor 6.5 out
 
The Steiner 7 x 30 with or without compass are quite nice, now called Navigator but on special offer maybe 5 years ago under another name?
 
Breydon, commenting on optics as Dave hasn't. Recently Kowa 6x30 and Hawke 7x30 were shortlisted when I looked for a low-cost, sub-8x porro, inert-gas-waterproofed, with a ≥8° field of view, and v. light. Decided on the Kowa. Reviews I read rate it highly - and now I do! Going by my exprnc. with other NatureTrek models, and the fact that NT is among H's lower-priced ranges (e.g. in their website the priciest non-flat-field 10x42 roofs are £ 450-500 and NT 10x42 roofs are £ 115-140), I reckon the optical quality is not as good as the Kowa. Dave or someone else who has looked through one might like to comment.
 
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