Biggest WOW binoculars you have ever looked through? (1 Viewer)

[A2GG]

Here is the Outdoor Life Binocular Review October 2016 ranking of the different binoculars they tested.

I think there are officially just too many brands now that arent even making anything. I see 5 names on the list that I didn't even know about until this year and one I never heard of until I looked at this list.

If trinovid HD edged out the Toric and trinovid HD is not as good as the previous trinovid (claimed by some people so far) and that older trinovid (which I owned) is a noticeable step down from UVid + (my opinion from owning both ) then Toric isn't coming close to UVid +.

Now scrap everything I said above. I've never tried a Toric and I've only tried one bino on that whole list, so I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. I'm just trying to illustrate a point - take the rankings from the magazine with a grain of salt. They are subjective and ultimately don't mean anything. You would need to try every bino in that list yourself and then make up your own mind. It's mere opinion as Gijs pointed out (no real data) in the Tract thread. I like reading reviews and rankings like that ... they're fun and a few of them combined can be used as a rough guide when shopping around. But, for years the previous Ultravid HD always lagged behind the other top bins in these types of rankings and I never cared or took them too seriously since I knew what I liked and rankings couldn't change it. Leica takes the top spot in both tables of this current outdoor life ranking, but Who cares. It doesn't support my high regard for Leica...I don't need it to. If Leica came out in the middle or bottom it wouldn't threaten my high regard for Leica optics. So it doesn't matter. You like the tract and right now it works for you and you don't need a magazine to prove its usefulness.

 

[Troubador]

He changed his mind and people go apoplectic. Now that is interesting human behavior.

Apoplectic= angry and displeased (Cambridge University Dictionary)

Haven't noticed anyone angry or displeased just laughing our socks off at Dennis's cycle of behaviour.

I think you just like the word apoplectic or apo-plectic meaning people go plectic but without those annoying chromatic aberrations.

Lee

 

[A2GG]

He changed his mind and people go apoplectic. Now that is interesting human behavior.

No, that's not why. Lots of folks on here constantly change their minds and are trading up bins and nobody cares about what others do with their own money. Most of us swap bins out here and there and change our minds.

It was the arrogance, obnoxious bragging and telling everyone else they need to buy "the greatest birding bin...and be done with it"..."only buy Swaro or an alpha..." Ad nauseum for a very long time. He dismissed "lesser" bins and was insulting. Now a total reversal and that's why people are teasing Dennis. I'm not sure how you missed all of that?!

I don't blame you for trying to defend him. He's getting beat up here, but people obviously didn't forget the obnoxious past behavior. I'm going easy on him now after teasing him a little bit. I try not to take any discussion here in the forum too seriously anymore.

 

[mfunnell]

I don't blame you for trying to defend him. He's getting beat up here, but people obviously didn't forget the obnoxious past behavior. I'm going easy on him now after teasing him a little bit.

Well, it is true that Dennis can get quite, um, vocal in his enthusiasms. But that's pretty much how I take it - an enthusiastic guy who sometimes gets a bit carried away. I'm also sure that if he thinks particular binoculars are pretty good then he's probably right. He doesen't seem to pick bad ones - though the binoculars which (currently) suit him might not suit me as well as they do Dennis.

I try not to take any discussion here in the forum too seriously anymore.

No doubt an excellent policy for all of us.

...Mike

 

[[email protected]]

LOL

He is getting flak for contradicting everything he has said for the past umpteen years and he is getting it because it has happened before. A new love comes along and its, just, like, totally amazingly so blisteringly better than, well, anything.

Lee

I am not contradicting anything. A totally new binocular comes along and I like it. How is that contradicting? I also didn't say the Trac was better than anything. I said in my opinion it is the best buy on the market today.

 

[[email protected]]

He changed his mind and people go apoplectic. Now that is interesting human behavior.

Exactly.

 

[[email protected]]

I think there are officially just too many brands now that arent even making anything. I see 5 names on the list that I didn't even know about until this year and one I never heard of until I looked at this list.

If trinovid HD edged out the Toric and trinovid HD is not as good as the previous trinovid (claimed by some people so far) and that older trinovid (which I owned) is a noticeable step down from UVid + (my opinion from owning both ) then Toric isn't coming close to UVid +.

Now scrap everything I said above. I've never tried a Toric and I've only tried one bino on that whole list, so I don't know what the heck I'm talking about. I'm just trying to illustrate a point - take the rankings from the magazine with a grain of salt. They are subjective and ultimately don't mean anything. You would need to try every bino in that list yourself and then make up your own mind. It's mere opinion as Gijs pointed out (no real data) in the Tract thread. I like reading reviews and rankings like that ... they're fun and a few of them combined can be used as a rough guide when shopping around. But, for years the previous Ultravid HD always lagged behind the other top bins in these types of rankings and I never cared or took them too seriously since I knew what I liked and rankings couldn't change it. Leica takes the top spot in both tables of this current outdoor life ranking, but Who cares. It doesn't support my high regard for Leica...I don't need it to. If Leica came out in the middle or bottom it wouldn't threaten my high regard for Leica optics. So it doesn't matter. You like the tract and right now it works for you and you don't need a magazine to prove its usefulness.

I don't need the Outdoor Life review to prove the Trac's usefulness but it always helps to get support for your opinions.

 

[jgraider]

How do you come to the conclusion that Cabela's as a middleman would have to sell the Toric for about 40% to 50% more than Tract does? After all, Tract is in the same position of a middleman for Kamakura, the manufacturer of the Toric, as Cabelas would be.

Because that's what retailers do...markup stuff 40%+

In other words what is to keep Cabelas from going to Kamakura and asking them to build an equivalent binocular for them which they can sell under the Cabelas name at the same price as Tract is selling theirs?

Nothing stops them. Nothing stops the Chinese from making a SF clone either.

 

[[email protected]]

No, that's not why. Lots of folks on here constantly change their minds and are trading up bins and nobody cares about what others do with their own money. Most of us swap bins out here and there and change our minds.

It was the arrogance, obnoxious bragging and telling everyone else they need to buy "the greatest birding bin...and be done with it"..."only buy Swaro or an alpha..." Ad nauseum for a very long time. He dismissed "lesser" bins and was insulting. Now a total reversal and that's why people are teasing Dennis. I'm not sure how you missed all of that?!

I don't blame you for trying to defend him. He's getting beat up here, but people obviously didn't forget the obnoxious past behavior. I'm going easy on him now after teasing him a little bit. I try not to take any discussion here in the forum too seriously anymore.

There has never been a mid-tiered binocular until now that I would keep. I don't see why that is so difficult to understand.

 

[A2GG]

Well, it is true that Dennis can get quite, um, vocal in his enthusiasms. But that's pretty much how I take it - an enthusiastic guy who sometimes gets a bit carried away. I'm also sure that if he thinks particular binoculars are pretty good then he's probably right. He doesen't seem to pick bad ones - though the binoculars which (currently) suit him might not suit me as well as they do Dennis.
No doubt an excellent policy for all of us.

...Mike

That's true ... he doesn't pick crummy bins.

I agree with another poster who previously suggested Dennis make a list
of bins he has owned and/or tried out. It would be a lot of work to jog his memory and go back through his old reviews , but he could make it simple and list just a couple of strong points and weak points for each bino. It would be a useful guide for people shopping. It would also be a fun and interesting read IMO.
At least Dennis is critical. There are review sites online which gives a favorable review for pretty much everything. They don't seem very critical and I don't find them to be genuine. Dennis' roundup would be much more useful than these other types of reviews and it could be a handy reference here on the forum esp for new people.

What do you say Dennis?

 

[Theo98]

That's true ... he doesn't pick crummy bins.

I agree with another poster who previously suggested Dennis make a list
of bins he has owned and/or tried out. It would be a lot of work to jog his memory and go back through his old reviews , but he could make it simple and list just a couple of strong points and weak points for each bino. It would be a useful guide for people shopping. It would also be a fun and interesting read IMO.
At least Dennis is critical. There are review sites online which gives a favorable review for pretty much everything. They don't seem very critical and I don't find them to be genuine. Dennis' roundup would be much more useful than these other types of reviews and it could be a handy reference here on the forum esp for new people.

What do you say Dennis?

Agreed...Yes Dennis, when will the book be published???

 

[[email protected]]

Agreed...Yes Dennis, when will the book be published???

How many people would be interested? Maybe I will talk to a publisher.

 

[Troubador]

There has never been a mid-tiered binocular until now that I would keep. I don't see why that is so difficult to understand.

Thats not at all difficult to understand.

Yes the Trac is something totally new to you and it sounds like you love it as much as I love my Conquest 8x32. If that is so, no wonder you want to keep it and use it just as I have uses for not only the Conquest but also my little Terra.

Selling the EL after all the 'best in the world' chat is weird and contradictory because your previous statements about ELs being the best in the world were never followed by 'if only they weren't so badly affected by glare and had such a rubbish focuser'. I don't see why that is so difficult to understand.

Anyways what do you think about listing all the bins you have had and summing them up with perhaps 3 or 4 points each?

Lee

 

[ceasar]

Bass Pro Shops

It was a rhetorical question.

Let's restate it now it to ask what is to stop Bass Pro Shops (or any other big box sporting goods outfit) from doing the same thing right now by having Kamakura make the same binocular under their Brand Name?

 

[The-Wanderer]

Dennis,

You wrote "because the Zeiss 10x42 SF are my third favorite 10x's. The Swarovski 10x50 SV are first ..."


How many tads are the swaro 10x50s better than the 10x42 SFs, and where did the latter disappoint?

 

[ceasar]

Reference your post #248.

That is interesting. Let's forget your Cabelas guestimated 40% markup then.

Do you know how much Tract has marked up the cost that Kamakura is charging them for making the Toric?

Many of us here it would be very interested to know just how much it costs to manufacture a binocular like the Toric.

 

[[email protected]]

Dennis,

You wrote "because the Zeiss 10x42 SF are my third favorite 10x's. The Swarovski 10x50 SV are first ..."


How many tads are the swaro 10x50s better than the 10x42 SFs, and where did the latter disappoint?

I took the SV 10x50 SV into Cabella's when I compared the Zeiss 10x42 SF so I compared them side by side. The Zeiss SF is very close to the SV but I found the SV a little more comfortable to use because of the bigger exit pupils and easier eye placement. I really like the 10x42 SF and if I wanted a lighter more compact 10x it would be my first choice. The Zeiss SF is a WOW binocular and the handling is fantastic. I couldn't believe how LIGHT it felt for it's size. Of course Zeiss has Swarovski beat when it comes to focus smoothness and that is important when you are focusing back and forth on a bird. That is a great price on the Zeiss SF 10x42 and that would be a great all around birding binocular IMO with it's huge FOV.

 

[jgraider]

Reference your post #248.

That is interesting. Let's forget your Cabelas guestimated 40% markup then.

Do you know how much Tract has marked up the cost that Kamakura is charging them for making the Toric?

Many of us here it would be very interested to know just how much it costs to manufacture a binocular like the Toric.

If I were Toric, or Maven, I'd tell you it's none of your business. Gather up your money and go to Kamakura and find out.

The obvious point is that with a direct to consumer model you can sell them much cheaper than you can through a retailer.

 

[james holdsworth]

Agreed...Yes Dennis, when will the book be published???

Dennis is only critical after he has sold a binocular - until that time they are the best in the world. Big difference as his hyperbole might be used as a basis for someone to buy something he touts.

 

[Pileatus]

Dennis is only critical after he has sold a binocular - until that time they are the best in the world. Big difference as his hyperbole might be used as a basis for someone to buy something he touts.

Caveat Emptor.