HR WP vs Countryman BGA PC Oasis 8x42 (1 Viewer)

Hi

Just thought I would give an update:

I am really enjoying my HR WP binoculars been using them for the past couple of weeks including 2 trips to WWT Barnes, 2 trips to Kempton NR, a few walks in the local woods and the garden. They are very sharp and bright, the colour rendition is also very good, so you get lots of good/correct detail. The focus is slow-ish (although not a problem so far) but the DOF is amazing so today watched a Hobby hunting over Kempton Res and hardly touched the focus wheel. The only negative I can comment on is that I guess people with smaller hands might find them hard to hold/focus although I don’t have this problem I could see others might. All in all for £180 I think they are amazing!

Lee

Second update, I used the Countrymans over the previous four weeks & came to the conclusion that the HR WP's are much better optically. As Astronomia offer a 90 day approval after purchase I asked if it would be ok to change back to the HR WP's. They kindly agreed & I picked up the HR WP's today, I think that I will get used to the different handling of the porros. It is worth perservering considering how good the optics are!

John.

JohnnyH said:

Second update, I used the Countrymans over the previous four weeks & came to the conclusion that the HR WP's are much better optically. As Astronomia offer a 90 day approval after purchase I asked if it would be ok to change back to the HR WP's. They kindly agreed & I picked up the HR WP's today, I think that I will get used to the different handling of the porros. It is worth perservering considering how good the optics are!

John.

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Hi John. Do you have an update on how you are getting on with the HR WPs, now you have had a chance to get used to them? For some reason I find these bins strangely appealing, although new binoculars are the last things I need!

Ron

Hi Ron,

I used them over the weekend & I'm still at the bonding stage, it takes time to get used to a new binocular. That said, I think that the optics are superb considering the price. I've owned Leica Trins & Nikon HG's in the past & apart from the narrower fov & longer close focus (2.5m on mine), IMO these are on a par with them. Not having owned porro prism bins for a long time I'd forgotten how appealing the 3D effect is. Sharpness, brightness, & contrast is excellent, the focus as mentioned previously is slow geared but this is not really a problem in practice as the dof is so good. So all good so far, the reason that I returned the first pair was I felt the handling would not work for me. But having realised how good the optics are compared to similarly priced roofs, I'm going to persevere.

ATB,

John.

Thanks John. I will have to see if I can try a pair sometime, as they do sound like a bit of a performance bargain.

Ron

Believe "a performance bargain" is an apt description of the HRWP. The Leupold Cascade 8x42 porro is identical except for the covering cosmetics. The Minox 8x44 porro has the same chassis as the Opticron and Leupold with 2 MM greater diameter of the objective lens. The knock on these three models is that they have a narrower FOV than roofs. IMO that is an exaggerated criticism. Now as to the performance of all three compared to what some consider a top alpha, the Zeiss 8x32 FL.

One early evening I decided to compare my Zeiss FL to these considerably less expense porros. Of course the Zeiss had a wider field and was more compact. But the resolution and colors of the porros were comparable. And as the light faded, all three porros out performed the Zeiss, demonstrating that the 10-12 extra MM in the objectives lens does make a difference in low light conditions. For the money here in the USA, the Opticron is a terrific bargain with excellent optics. Leupold has apparently discontinued the Cascade Porro clone, and the Minox porro isn't selling well. John