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Best 8x42 bins under £400? (1 Viewer)

T

Tippbirder

Member
Hi,

Current bins are Minox bl 8x44 br. I have them about 4 years and am looking to upgrade. To be honest they struggle in poor light but do have a great wide FOV. It's impossible to do the kind of side by side testing over here that you are lucky to be able to do in UK and US. From what I have looked up so far the Hawke 8x42 Frontier EDX at £350 has my serious attention. Under 700g, wide FOV.
Anyone have any thoughts or advice on these or other alternatives i should consider.

Thanks
 
Thats easy. Tract Toric 8x42s if you buy them before Tuesday! 30% off this weekend and I bet they'll ship them across the pond.
 
The Birder Store in Worcester are doing the Hawke Sapphire ED's (all models) for under £300. I just picked up another pair of 10 x 43 Open Hinge, outstanding deal.
 
Thanks for the replies, after alot of surfing I have narrowed it down I think to 4 options, all 8x42.
Hawke Frontier EDX @£360, Opticron Countryman HD+@£330, Hawke Saphire ED @ £269, and Bushnell Legend M @£199.
 
Bushnell Legend M can be had for as little as $139 right now.

I also wouldn't overlook the Bushnell Engage, which is a very small and excellent handling bin with a very sharp image. They are $208 on Amazon plus a $70 rebate.
 
My two cents on the Hawke vs Opticron in your shortlist...

The new Frontier ED X is IMO the best build quality Hawke have produced to date. Each pair are quality control tested and a check list supplied with the binocular. The eye cups can be twisted off similarly to an 'alpha' binocular which makes for easy cleaning and replacing if they are well used. Optically they are superb but only very marginally better than the Sapphire ED. While the Sapphire was at full price, it was a no brainer as the Frontier ED X was cheaper. Now the price of the Sapphire makes it a trickier decision between the two.

The Opticron Countryman is Japanese made (Hawke are Chinese made) so build quality is superior. Lovely smooth focus wheel, lockable dioptre, very firm, comfortable eye cups etc. Narrower field of the view than the Hawkes but very sharp. Named HD+ but don't think they have ED glass? Last time I used them I noticed more CA with them compared to the Frontier or Sapphire. We don't have figures for light transmission but I'd imagine all perform similar.

Good luck :)
 
Opticron Countryman has a £50 cashback until end of year I noticed - see Opticron site - on the other hand the other options sound pretty good too.
 
I gotta tell ya, if you don't mind the size and stiff focus wheel, you'll be hard pressed to beat the Bushnell Legend M's in 8x42 for less than $750. I am still amazed at the image they produce, and how bright they are.
 
The Bushnell Engage is essentially the Legend M in a smaller package per my discussion with Bushnell CS. You can buy on Amazon for $208 right now and get an additional $70 rebate. That’s if Amazon ships across the pond? Also would be good to check with Bushnell about the rebate overseas. If not Vanguard is running $100 rebaits on the Endeavor II and IV here so they might be over there too.
 
Hi all,

Just to update, after weeks of mulling it over I finally purchased Opticron Imagic VHD 8x42 today. Clifton Cameras have a 10% off Jan sale. Price was £395. Basically thats 450 Euro by the time they reach me and the most i can justify spending. After reading lots of posts here and reviews elsewhere i think iv'e spent my cash well.

Shane
 
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