A good question, but I believe Nikon only made an 8x32, 10x42 and 12x50 SE, I could be mistaken though. I own and love my 10x42 SE and am very interested in comparing a Nikon 8x32SE to my 8x32BN and 8x42 Ultravid. I would be curious how the famous 8x32SE compared to one of these new Chinese wonderkinds as well.
John
I have all three and have compared them: the SE is sharper and "cleaner" than the Hawke or the Promaster.
I just wrote up my observations on a new thread (it's worth it's own title).
http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=1349640
If optics was your only consideration and you can find one then that would be the "best" bin. But the usual caveats apply: SE is not waterproof and has eye relief blackout problems for some people. The latter can make it a pain to use if you are afflicted.
If optics was your only consideration and you can find one then that would be the "best" bin. But the usual caveats apply: SE is not waterproof and has eye relief problems for some people. The latter can make it a pain to use.
Another consideration is value for money. In Europe it seems the Hawke has a considerable lead (at least for now!) over some of the other rivals though I suspect you'll see quite a few more Chinese ED bins appearing in other brands in 2009.
bitterntwisted said:
Also, while commenting on the Hawkes, I did experience the same 'stray light' effect that others have noticed. This is manageable and happens quite infrequently, but with the sun behind and, for me, to the left, at one particular angle, light would creep in onto the eyepiece lens.
The stray light issues I talk about all have light coming in the objective. Side on or behind you stay light issues (which I do get as I wear glasses) are a given. The Hawke gets veiling glare quicker than Promaster and also has an occasional "rainbow ring" around the field stop (I think due to light scattering in the edge of the eyepiece lenses). But neither are deal killers but they show room for improvement IMHO. But I do go out with the Promasters as my default bin these days.
As for image differences, all binoculars tend to have a different "look" to them. These differences will seem more profound to some people than others. Some like the Leica views , some Zeiss, some like the Swarovski view. Some like the 3-D effect of a good porro, like the Nikon SE.
Actually I rather discounted the porro 3D effect as I've mostly been using roofs recently but I took the SE and Promaster birding together (I've started AB comparing bins whilst birding ... it's quite revealing technique). I was rather surprised how much I liked the enhanced 3D especially birding in trees. So there's a trade off there in view and ergonomics (in addition to sharpness).
The Chinese ED are very good value for money and in terms of absolute view are not challenged until you get to the "excellent" bins of the Euro 4 and Nikon. They certainly give the top bins of others like Pentax, Minox, Meopta and Kowa a run for their money.
In Europe the Hawke at £270 is excellent value for money (except as mentioned above by some very good porros).
In the US the Promasters are better value.
So they should make the short list.
Search the binocular forum for reviews and comments. There are several threads on these Chinese ED bins (and others that we keep finding!).