As being the original stirrer of the whole thread can I ask you what drives you to do this? I just can't understand. Is it a collecting thing? An admiration for good workmanship? Being able to compare and contrast?
Hope it still allows you time to get out birding
Yes, OP we are hijacking the thread.
I think it's a mix of all three things.
I'm a bit of a collector not to excess but that is certainly a trait.
I do like well built equipment. I particularly like hardware (and software) that's built for a purpose, meets its specs, has good price/performance and is a pleasure to use. That sort of hits on multiple features of an product but particularly a product which becomes an extension of a person.
And I do like to compare, contrast and analyse. And to come up with tests.
I have a chemistry/physics PhD and a software and quality background and a bit of an engineering bent so I like to analyze the designs and come up with test plans to differentiate them.
I've also found this to be very educational. I started off with low priced but decent bins and spent time playing with them. That actually taught me a lot of what is good with them ($100 or £100 bins are just SO much better than a decade or two ago). But also one can see their weaknesses. The corners cut to hit a price point or to protect the next model up the product line.
I'd really like to get more technical info behind the designs and see how the compromises are made. In that sense I'm a bit of a MAKE magazine style hacker. Trying to understand what makes these products tick. And how to make best use of them.
So I may be a bit of an anorak but it keeps me entertained and perhaps is even useful to others who just want a buy a decent bin (or perhaps not buy the "wrong" bin).
Oh, and yes I do bird.
One of the things playing with the bins has taught me is that you only really get a good feel for them when you actually bird with for a whole day or perhaps multiple days. I've mentioned it another thread here where you get this "keep or send it back" feeling which is only partially based on the "objective" evaluations I do. It's a strong gut feeling.
I do send bins back (I like to buy from places that accept returns on full price bins or by second hand to keep the price down). And in those cases it was after birding with the bin that my testing said was "sorta OK" that something in my head said "the stray light is driving you mad when birding: send them back".
I do bird. Both looking for new lifers and watching bird behavior. I came back to birding after spending a bunch of time naked "ear" (and naked eye) birding from my third floor apartment that's surrounded by trees on two sides. Listening to Bewicks Wrens song got me interested in birdsong and switched me from birdwatching to birding. And required me to go get some decent bins. So first learn more about bins ... and more about birds too.
