After reading many threads about Hawke 8x43ED I decided to buy a pair by mail order from the UK. A few weeks ago I received them. A nice bin. A lot has been said about the optical quality of the bin by people far more knowledgeable then me so I will not say too much about that. As I understand Promaster and Zen Ray have almost identical bins made in the same factory as the Hawke. So far I am perfectly happy with the Hawke. Although I think optically they are not as good as my Nikon 8x32SE I am still impressed by the optical and build quality of bin. (the SE has a greater sweet spot , at least to my eyes) Since I am a bit of a DIY kinda guy I thought I should share 2 changes I made to the bins.
The strap
I have read that the strap is much too long for a person less then 2,5 meters tall. I agree. I asked my girlfriend to shorten the strap since she is very handy with a sewing machine. I cut the threads that attaches the nylon strap to the neoprene part. She cut of about 20 centimeters of the neoprene and re-attached the parts. On the picture you can see the result. Maybe not so obvious since she did a very good job. The strap is OK now. I am please with the soft neoprene.
The objective covers
These are so loose that they are bound to fall off on the first trip out. Although much has been said about the usefulness of covers I figured some of you still want to protect the objectives. I solved this problem by attaching 2 narrow cable ties to each other around the end of the bin. (2 ties together on each end of the bin) I don’t think they will ever fall of (keeping fingers crossed). I think the picture explains itself.
Hope this may help some of you.
Cheers Peter
The strap
I have read that the strap is much too long for a person less then 2,5 meters tall. I agree. I asked my girlfriend to shorten the strap since she is very handy with a sewing machine. I cut the threads that attaches the nylon strap to the neoprene part. She cut of about 20 centimeters of the neoprene and re-attached the parts. On the picture you can see the result. Maybe not so obvious since she did a very good job. The strap is OK now. I am please with the soft neoprene.
The objective covers
These are so loose that they are bound to fall off on the first trip out. Although much has been said about the usefulness of covers I figured some of you still want to protect the objectives. I solved this problem by attaching 2 narrow cable ties to each other around the end of the bin. (2 ties together on each end of the bin) I don’t think they will ever fall of (keeping fingers crossed). I think the picture explains itself.
Hope this may help some of you.
Cheers Peter
