Next Generation Of Binoculars/Scopes (1 Viewer)

Hi,
I have been wondering for a while whether I should start to save for top end binoculars and scope, it would take me a while to save. I was just wondering how long I would have to wait to get the next generation of top end Binoculars/Scopes?

Thanks

Don't worry, whatever you buy and whenever you buy, some other newer binocular will be introduced that will claim improvement over whatever it is you bought. If you can save enough quickly to buy a great pair of binoculars, do so. But don't wait so long that you miss on viewing opportunities. The near-great models today are as good as the best of just a couple years ago, maybe better. Companies like Vortex, Meopta and Pentax are challenging the notion that it takes top price to get top glass.

I bought a 10x36 Nikon 4 or 5 years ago, it is now obsolete. The high end stuff will hold their value a bit longer.

Most changes in binocular design are idiosyncratic rather than progressive. With rare exception (e.g. introduction of phase-correction coatings in roof prisms), overall improvement in optics has been incremental rather than generational. For me, today's best binos leave little to be desired. I'd like to see a roof prism with the ergonomics of the Swarovski 8x32 EL, the relatively flat and astigmatism free field of the Nikon 8x32 LXL, and the chromatic aberration control of the Zeiss 8x32 FL, but I'm not holding my breath. And such a bino would offer little practical advantage over current models. More significant in practice would be image stabilization--that is likely to be the next improvement so big as to define a "generation" once it is perfected and widely adopted. I think it will be quite a while before we see the image stabilized optical and ergonomic peers of today's premium binos.
--AP