Brock,
Well I more or less expected this, not critical, just an observation.
I sent them the Conquest video with the suggestion they replicate it. Since the B2 is Kamakura and so is the Conquest HD, I figured it might be a good idea. The dealer thing is problematic, you are right. They are aware of that. I suggested a couple of things along with the video. They are planning to upgrade their site and are probably monitoring this so this may be a good place to make helpful suggestions. With no dealers they need to figure ways to get people inside the binoculars more or less virtually through the website. You are correct I have plenty of stuff to shoot it with
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This is the link to the build your own page, maybe that will get you there.
http://app.mavenbuilt.com/#/B1/0842...072/2900082L/2900082R/2900103/2900092/2900112
You are full of it about your CA sensitivity being normal.
We've gone around with this before. I have checked with everybody I know in the Optics world from engineers to product managers, to dealers and every one of them thinks that most people do not see CA. Because you do see it, you think your reality is or should be everybody's reality. CA control is a design goal because it is an optical fact of life, some people don't see it, some people do see it, and they are vocal about it, so a well controlled CA design is therefore a good thing. I can see why they are vocal about it too, don't get that wrong, but because I don't see does not mean I don't think there are those that do. I do know some who have, to their ultimate grief, taught themselves CA sensitivity. You have even questioned my eye sight (thinking I'm color blind) because I don't see it. Those that do see it can not seem to come to grips with the fact there are those who don't and that there may well more that don't see it than those who do. Now I am wide open to well documented information that says otherwise. I've been wrong before, and might be here, but I'm not wasting any time chasing that weasel around the mulberry bush.
I'm glad you liked the review. This is a heck of a binocular and it deserves a good review. I tried to be as straight forward, objective and realistic as I could, but I see there is no way I'll escape the glowing thing
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Steve,
If Maven can duplicate the test results of the Conquest HD, that would be the best marketing they could do, better than their "mountain town" mumbo jumbo. I was really impressed with that video. It's comforting to know that if I'm out birding on gamelands and a hunter shoots at pheasants or turkeys and misses, the Conquest will absorb the buckshot. :eat:
That link is what I posted earlier, but I had to turn on four cookies in order to make the options work. It's amazing how many options there are, you can even make different colored ocular rings or objective rings on ether side, though why anyone would want asymmetrical coloring is a mystery.
I made my B2 all black since I don't like shiny surfaces on my bins for aesthetic reasons and because they glint in the sun. The only thing I like two-toned are women in bikinis and 1950s cars. I call the all black B2, the Stealth. The only part I colorized was the "M" logo, which looked cool in red.
You can make any of the options black or gray/silver without charge. For the armor, they offer FIVE styles of camo, which will cost you $50 to $100 extra, depending on the pattern. Alas, no pinko camo for ladies and socialists.
The funny thing about your remarks about ME seeing the world through chromatically aberrated glasses is that I was thinking the same thing about YOU when I read your dismissive post about CA, that you see the world through ED glasses.
I thought the fact that so many companies offer ED glass now and that all the alphas top models have it, and the experts weighed in on why companies added it to roofs would have persuaded you otherwise. As to all the engineers and industry people you polled, what do you expect them to say? Yes, our binoculars do have chromatic aberration, we need to add ED glass, but we're afraid the extra cost will drive customers away? I think we need to do a BF poll on CA. Do you see it, yes or no. If you see it, does it bother you? However, it's not that simple.
Under the right conditions, I see CA in every bin without ED glass and even in some with ED glass, but not to the same degree. Some non-ED bins such as my SE show very little CA. Conditions have to be deplorable for the SE to show enough to be distracting whereas the EII shows more. That's partly due to the much wider FOV (more edge, more CA).
The 10x42 SLC-HD showed no CA on-axis no matter how high the background contrast whereas I could induce some CA slightly off-axis in the 10x42 EDG. Both use ED glass.
So it's not like either you're "sensitive" to it or not, but if you can see it, how much do you see in a particular bin, and is it enough to be distracting to you?
The fact that you can't see CA in any bin doesn't mean it's not there, it's there and it can be photographed, but somehow your brain chooses to filter it out. I think having a CA filter brain is less common than those who see CA to some degree or another, depending on lighting conditions, but since you think I'm "full of it," I'd need a poll to convince you since in addition to your brain filtering out CA, it apparently also filters out posts from members who report seeing CA with their bins!
If you send me the Maven B2, I'll let you know how much CA it has, and then I'll send it to Henry so he can prove me right. :smoke:
Brock