-
Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.
Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Hawke 8x43 ED Mk11 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter litespeed
- Start date
laurencejackson
Well-known member
I have just bought the mk 2 frontier 8x43ED and can confirm it is terrific. Having downsized from Swarovski (swarovision and SLC HD) as I couldn't justify having two expensive bins sitting around and not being used, I was expecting something at best respectable but not the clarity of this image.
The only slight negative is the eye relief which although it's fine on paper (16mm or so), in practice the is quite a lip between the glass and the cup so you lose maybe 1-2 mm. It's ok for me but not optimal. I found the 10x43 mk2s worse in this respect and returned them (thanks to amazon's extended return policy of Christmas).
I also bought the 8x36 Frontier ED mk 1 for my wife which is also great, slightly less depth of field and a smaller sweet spot generally. Still for £200 new, not a bad purchase and it shall be interesting to compare them both.
I would like now to compare them both with the 8x43 mk 1s...
Cheers
The only slight negative is the eye relief which although it's fine on paper (16mm or so), in practice the is quite a lip between the glass and the cup so you lose maybe 1-2 mm. It's ok for me but not optimal. I found the 10x43 mk2s worse in this respect and returned them (thanks to amazon's extended return policy of Christmas).
I also bought the 8x36 Frontier ED mk 1 for my wife which is also great, slightly less depth of field and a smaller sweet spot generally. Still for £200 new, not a bad purchase and it shall be interesting to compare them both.
I would like now to compare them both with the 8x43 mk 1s...
Cheers
Hi Laurence
This is starting to look bad for Swaro. I sold my el also but I bought a Leica HD and then a Hawke 8x56 ED and 8x25 both of which I'm mighty impressed with especially at the price but the price is not everything. If the Hawke were not good then I would rather do without but unfortunately for euro brands its not the case. Hawke are very suitable except for maybe the most extreme adventurer who may need that bit more harsh enviorenment operation but of my three bins the Leica is the one that needed a focus repair or resetting and it was a new bin. No issues with the Hawkes?
This is starting to look bad for Swaro. I sold my el also but I bought a Leica HD and then a Hawke 8x56 ED and 8x25 both of which I'm mighty impressed with especially at the price but the price is not everything. If the Hawke were not good then I would rather do without but unfortunately for euro brands its not the case. Hawke are very suitable except for maybe the most extreme adventurer who may need that bit more harsh enviorenment operation but of my three bins the Leica is the one that needed a focus repair or resetting and it was a new bin. No issues with the Hawkes?
Last edited:
FalcoSingh
Well-known member
I recently bought a set of 8x43 Mk1's and within an hour of winter birding the left barrel stopped focussing. Returned them.
While they worked they completely trashed the Nikon Monarch Mk3's that were almost already on their way back to Amazon. FOV (big wow), contrast, sharpness etc. they won hands-down. The focus wheel was annoying - less travel the better I say; and so were the neck strap loops that dug into my hands.
However the Nikon's will now be sent back and replaced with some lightly-used but immaculate Opticron Imagic BGA SE's which I just won off eBay for a very decent price.
Decided build quality, reliability and overall image quality would win-out over the Hawke's FOV - but wow, what an amazing FOV it was...before they packed-up :-(
While they worked they completely trashed the Nikon Monarch Mk3's that were almost already on their way back to Amazon. FOV (big wow), contrast, sharpness etc. they won hands-down. The focus wheel was annoying - less travel the better I say; and so were the neck strap loops that dug into my hands.
However the Nikon's will now be sent back and replaced with some lightly-used but immaculate Opticron Imagic BGA SE's which I just won off eBay for a very decent price.
Decided build quality, reliability and overall image quality would win-out over the Hawke's FOV - but wow, what an amazing FOV it was...before they packed-up :-(
Veracocha
Well-known member
I have just spent a week with my MKII 8 x 43 (courtesy of LJ) and I am now trading with another member to get my MKI 10 x 43 back. There appears to me to be no difference in the quality of the image but I miss the reach of the 10's. I liked the new feel of them and the integrated covers very much. On the Sapphires; I bottled out of purchasing as I didn't feel they gave anywhere near as warm an image as the Frontier ED's if that makes sense.
I agree about the warmness issue with the Sapphire (my 8x43) but there is something good going on with them.
Such that they now make my 10x56 Prostalk (warm) annnnnnnnd 10x32 Hd Leica (comparitavely very saturated warmwise but still stronger in blue but with more CA) feel lacking in someting namely transmission and focus sharpness and yet the Leica are still probably the best over distance but I can't help but be impressed by the Sapphire. Let some-one try both and was advised to sell the Leica, but I did not agree.
There seems not to be one bin that does all, they all have their merrits but its the gets better with lower light of the Sapphire and the huge view that I think is worth consideration also how birds in particular seem to jump out like some sort of magic radar. They make me feel that I wish the Prostalk and Leica had better transmission as per the Sapphire and the Sapphire make me wish they had better colour saturation.
Just glad I have all of them!
Such that they now make my 10x56 Prostalk (warm) annnnnnnnd 10x32 Hd Leica (comparitavely very saturated warmwise but still stronger in blue but with more CA) feel lacking in someting namely transmission and focus sharpness and yet the Leica are still probably the best over distance but I can't help but be impressed by the Sapphire. Let some-one try both and was advised to sell the Leica, but I did not agree.
There seems not to be one bin that does all, they all have their merrits but its the gets better with lower light of the Sapphire and the huge view that I think is worth consideration also how birds in particular seem to jump out like some sort of magic radar. They make me feel that I wish the Prostalk and Leica had better transmission as per the Sapphire and the Sapphire make me wish they had better colour saturation.
Just glad I have all of them!
Last edited:
