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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss ht discontinued ? (1 Viewer)

What is strange is that they swallowed their own marketing fluff so completely :eat: that they:-
Abandoned the successful FRP chassis material of the FL series in favour of making the HT a brick, and

If the HT is gone for good, then isn't that a decades long history of that basic design lineage down the gurgler ?!

Chosun :gh:

CJ
I loved the FRP body of the FL but a significant part of the market wanted nothing to do with 'plastic' at this price level.

HT42 has gone but HT54 continues and the Victory RF rangefinders in 42mm and 54mm use AK prisms.

Lee
 
Patudo,

Agree.

Most hunters in the US, the ones I know, ex-military, do not spend $$$ on a Swaro, but the real tool of their craft, scopes and rifles. So yes, the majority of birders are the Swaro consumers, to me no big loss for Zeiss at all. There are probably more Nikons out there with Hunters than anything else.

Andy W.

Correct Andy
Market research by the German company KISKA revealed that hunters in the States are reluctant to spend more than $500 on binos, and you can guess that if $500 was their top whack that the bulk of purchases were some way down on this.

Lee
 
Agree!

How long was the HT 42mms offered? Will any Zeiss binocular EVER beat the success of the FL series?

The HT was announced long before it actually reached the stores. I got mine on pre-order in late 2012, so it was on sale for about 5.25 years. FL launched in 2004 so was on sale for about 8 years. However if you take the view that HT was an upgraded FL then you could say the FL-series including HT was around for more than 13 years.

Lee
 
CJ
I loved the FRP body of the FL but a significant part of the market wanted nothing to do with 'plastic' at this price level.

HT42 has gone but HT54 continues and the Victory RF rangefinders in 42mm and 54mm use AK prisms.

Lee
Lee, I have a feeling Bill would say something like the 'market don't know what they don't know' , or 'the market only knows what you tell them' , or some such ! :-O ....... these are 'HunTers' we're talking about after all ..... ;)

Perhaps the Next HT (NxT? :) should have a chassis made of Kevlar composite reinforced plastic instead of the pedestrian Fiberglass, then Zeiss could speak s-l-o-w-l-y to the target market and tell them that it is , b-u-l-l-e-t - p-r-o-o-f ! ....... :eek!: 3:)

Birders of course would just appreciate another lightweight quality instrument :king:



Chosun :gh:
 
Those are all great binos Paddy. Tell you what though, SF 8x42's 148m at 1,000m field of view gives you a whopping great view of Walberswick marshes..

Lee
True - but so does the FL 8x32 (and the recently acquired Nikon 8x30 Eii!) - and without all the heat shimmer of the Bosses of the Blue, Swarovski.....
 
True - but so does the FL 8x32 (and the recently acquired Nikon 8x30 Eii!) - and without all the heat shimmer of the Bosses of the Blue, Swarovski.....

OK I can't argue with that. FL 8x32 is pretty good and I still have mine.

Lee
 
The 10x40 was THE binocular to have in the 80's and I still see many in the field so I would agree.

On a recent visit to a Dartford Warbler site in Suffolk I saw two pairs of Dialyt 10x40 BGATs during the day, both well-worn and both being carried by ladies.

Lee
 
On a recent visit to a Dartford Warbler site in Suffolk I saw two pairs of Dialyt 10x40 BGATs during the day, both well-worn and both being carried by ladies.

Lee

There seems to be loads around in Suffolk - and old Leica BNs. We don't hold with all this change, you see.....
Just about to depart for a week's birding in the Western Rhodope and Balkan Mts in Bulgaria, and what goes into the hand luggage by default? 8x32 FL. A true go-anywhere, cope with everything binocular.
 
Aren't the FL beat by the 10x40, 7x42, and 8x56 BGATP?

--AP

The 10x40 was THE binocular to have in the 80's and I still see many in the field so I would agree.

I sure agree the 10X40 is in there. It's a great binocular. I wouldn't mind having one myself.

Concerning the FL and HT series... The FL came out in 2004...Lotutec was added in 2006. The HT came out in 2012. Of course the FL is still being made in the 32mm models. I can't believe my FL 7X42 is at LEAST 12 years old!
 
There seems to be loads around in Suffolk - and old Leica BNs. We don't hold with all this change, you see.....
Just about to depart for a week's birding in the Western Rhodope and Balkan Mts in Bulgaria, and what goes into the hand luggage by default? 8x32 FL. A true go-anywhere, cope with everything binocular.

Have a great time Paddy. We are off to Ardnamurchan in a few weeks.

Lee
 
Fl

You should do a comparison review on those three different size binoculars. That would be very interesting to compare three binoculars in the same line but with different apertures.

Dennis,

After reading comments from members from other posts, regarding subjective reviews, IMO it would not be worthwhile, besides I think the three are so different it should be obvious to most. Additionally, after a while the bashing gets really old and boring to read, at first I would provide a snide comment in response, but then I realized it was not worth it.

I bought these because of being new (8X56 and 8X32), the 8X42 a mint sample only used once, the owner (business client) could not deal with the weight of the 8X42 so he purchased a FL 8X32 and left them in the box for years, the condition is as new.
I also collect some glass, and these represent IMO a milestone for Zeiss, optics but also construction, a true German Zeiss product. If I can find a true mint sample of a 7X42, I will procure it.

Lately I have come to like a non flat view in a glass, so these provide a nice change from My EDGs, which I have all but the 7X42.

The views of the northern sky with the 8X56 was great last night, clear with no clouds in a perfect setting with no light pollution, three hours of awesome viewing.

Andy W.
 
Does anybody know how to find the production year of a Dialyt 7x42 T*P with the product # 574098 ?

Hi Canip

You need to ask Zeiss. The serial numbers for modern Zeiss Sports Optics products have been and still are issued in batches and if the batch of numbers isn't used up by the first product they are applied to, the remaining numbers get transferred to another product and used up there. What this means is that the serial numbers no longer correspond smoothly to years of production like they used to. I don't know when this practice started but I think it was before Dialyt 7x42.

Lee
 
Steve, this two pronged approach seems entirely logical to me. Such a strategy gives excellent market coverage and consumer choice to Swarovski with the SLC and SV. Zeiss has:-
Minimal glass lenses and a more natural field curvature, A-K prisms, HT & FL glass for maximal brightness on one hand with the HT, and
Multiple lens ocular and wide flat field with S-P prisms of the SF on the other.

What is strange is that they swallowed their own marketing fluff so completely :eat: that they:-
Abandoned the successful FRP chassis material of the FL series in favour of making the HT a brick, and
Hamstrung the SF from being all that it could be by not including HT glass for added brightness and a more neutral colour balance .....

In seeking to differentiate product so completely to suit the marketing department agenda, the lunatics took over the asylum.

If the HT is gone for good, then isn't that a decades long history of that basic design lineage down the gurgler ?!

Perhaps Zeiss will finally see the "light" and supercede it with the same optical train in a more advanced lightweight material model :cat:



Chosun :gh:

A brillant analysis.:clap:

But then, visionary leaders are not going into the binocular business. Leica could need one too and even Swarovski.

Zeiss seems totally lost. HT: Three steps back from FL. SF... no more comments on that one.

Yeah, FL form factor with Carbon or whatever shell... slightly evolved FL optics... and perfect precision manufacturing and QC. In short: FL Classic. Don´t forget the Z.

And a decent customer service.
 
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