I liked the Habicht for awhile until I started observing the glare and flare it exhibits. The Habicht is totally useless when trying to observe at sharp angles like in a canyon or a high tree. I found the flare totally covers the FOV and you can't see anything. Once I saw this flare I sold mine the next day and I will never have another. It is also has the hardest focuser of any binocular I have ever used and I have tried a lot of different binoculars. The focuser is totally useless for fast focusing on different objects. Your correct in that your low light test is unscientific. I can't see how it proves anything. Try using a resolution chart and you will find the EII is just as sharp if not sharper than the Habicht. Henry Link did a very detailed test of the Habicht and found it exhibited veiling glare and here is the link where he describes the reason's behind it. The EII is a much better birding binocular than the Habicht. Here was the highly respected Henry Link's comments on the Habicht compared to the Nikon EII and SE.Just a couple of my recent experiences - I’ve often compared the E2 in 8x and 10x to the Habicht in 8x and 10x.
Either Habicht has better resolution and is significantly brighter.
Just a few observations on low light viewing - I’ve tested brightness recently using a 4Watt lamp inside a curtained window situated ten metres away from a ten metre tall Chinese Elm tree. Sitting outside with arms supported and viewing the bark at night in these very dim conditions twenty metres away from the tree reveals a huge difference between these Binoculars. I’d say this is an area E2 is really quite a poor performer. This may not be the most scientific test but simply by counting streaks of bark and notches in wood, the differences between Binoculars are made obvious within a second or two.
I use the Fujinon 7x50 fmt-sx as a reference for this test and the little Habicht is far far closer to the big Fujinon’s performance and low light resolution that it is to the dim E2.
(I compared the benchmark SV 8.5 with the 8x42 Noctivid in the same test and the Noctivid was better. The Noctivid image did not appear to be ‘brighter’, but the extra detail was there to be seen. The incredible Noctivid contrast was there to be seen even in extremely low light viewing. The Noctivid was also clearly better than a mint Zeiss 7x42 bgatp, and was on par or better than a mint Zeiss 8x56 bgatp...more testing required with those two. The Noctivid has been a bit of a surprise in very low light viewing)
Rathaus
"The only things I really like about the current 8x30 Habicht are the state of the art light transmission and color accuracy.
No 8x30/32 is my cup of tea. The axial image quality and ease of view of every one I've seen is obviously inferior to the 8x56 I normally use, but if the comparison is limited to just the ones you listed I would say the Swarovski is superior to my copies of the three Nikons only for light transmission and color accuracy. I haven't seen a current production 8x30 EII with the latest Nikon coatings, so I don't know how that would compare to the Habicht.
All three of my Nikons have a bit sharper axial images than the Habicht because their axial aberrations, both spherical and chromatic, are lower. Off-axis the E is similar to the Habicht, the EII is better and the SE is much better. All three Nikons also have better glare resistance.
In spite of all that I wouldn't want to part with the Habicht because I like having a reference standard for light transmission and color accuracy around and it's a kind of sentimental favorite. A Habicht 8x30 W GA was one of the first binoculars I bought way back in 1986."
Henry
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=3201487&postcount=23
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