Alpen Shasta Ridge 10X42 (1 Viewer)

I bought Alpen Shasta Ridge 10X42 about three years ago. I really have not been happy with them. Why I selected them is hard to explain other than that I just didn't do sufficient research, but I find it very hard to go about checking out binoculars. It was the first binoculars I've had that cost more than $100, even though I'd been birding more than 35 years. Those cost around $200, and now I am looking at various models in the $400-$600 range, 8-8.5X40-44, Zen Ray, Minox, and Nikon.

I'd like to hear impressions from others who have used Alpen Shasta Ridge, perhaps someone similarly unhappy who has upgraded to binoculars they are happy with.

I'm really just bumping your post so it gets seen.

Never seen an Alpen.

I tried the Minox BL HD last summer and thought the sharpness, sweet spot, CA and sharpness were pretty good for the (UK) price. Very likeable. I have a Zen Ray Prime 10x42 and very pleased with it. I'd put is fractionally better than the Minox on most points, but apart from field flatness the difference between them is really tiny overall. The Monarch 7 8x43 I've tried a few times. Technically it's pretty good, but I find I can't ignore the distortion I see. It's quite likely that many others wouldn't see it so don't discount it on my say so.

David

Why exactly are you unhappy with them? If you are unhappy with them optically, you must remember that the Shasta Ridge line is Alpens 5th tier of binoculars. They make much better stuff but at a higher cost. If it is a mechanical issue, you will probably never find better customer service than Alpen offers. Unless it is Vortex and then in the $400-600 dollar range consider the Vipers.

hawken 12 said:

Why exactly are you unhappy with them? If you are unhappy with them optically, you must remember that the Shasta Ridge line is Alpens 5th tier of binoculars. They make much better stuff but at a higher cost. If it is a mechanical issue, you will probably never find better customer service than Alpen offers.

Click to expand...

“Unhappy” may be overstating, I understand that their value is commensurate with the price. Specifically, I have been on walks where the other birders were seeing things that I wasn’t seeing (color, for example), which made me realize that I probably needed to spend about double on new binoculars. Agreed about customer service. I lost both the case and lense caps (carelessly); I called them to see about replacements, and they sent replacements to me promptly at no cost.

I would debate the cost versus performance assumption you made there. It has been my experience that performance isn't entirely dependent on price. Also, as you move up the price scale the optical benefits are incremental (small) as opposed to exponential (large).

For $20 less than your Shasta Ridge I would be willing to bet that you get better optical performance with the Sightron Blue Sky 8x32 or 8x42.

Just my opinion of course but I sort of have a knack for finding high optical performance models that don't cost as much as you would think.