I was able to have a quick look at the 8x30 this morning. Compared to the Monarch 7 I thought the field was a little flatter and the edges sharper. The glare and CA were also improved but under the light conditions at the time, not as good as the CL. One little frustration was the eye position was really critical with my glasses. The margin between blackouts and narrowing the field of view was pretty much zero it seemed. The focus was very fast, less than 1/4 turn between 5m and infinity, with good resistance and smoothness, and very much to my taste.
The killer for me was that neither the HG or CL were as sharp as the Monarch 7. Others will have different priorities.
David
Not encouraging to hear that about the eye relief / eye positioning, David.
And very surprising to hear that the M7 8x30 was the sharpest of the 3 for you!
They are arguing over stuff like this down in the "Which Sub Alpha Bino" thread.
See posts beginning with #60 through #74 -- so far.
https://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=364627&page=3
Bob
Tell me who wins! :-O
David
Just like the alpha arguments, the one who "wins" is usually the one a guy already owns.......you know what I mean?
......
The killer for me was that neither the HG or CL were as sharp as the Monarch 7. Others will have different priorities.
David
Typo,
I have at times felt the same about the center my Maven B3 8x30 when comparing to the CL 8x30, Victory Pocket 8x25, and Kowa Genesis 8.5x44. Something about it has me believin' I see a little more detail with it.
I know this likely goes against the grain...:loveme:
CG
I don't think it's at all easy to deconstruct a gut feeling into an optical characteristic. We think the Maven B3 is twin of the Kite Lynx I'm more familiar with. I couldn't separate the Lynx from the M7 when I compared them on level of detail, but nevertheless the Lynx seemed sharper. I thought that might be due to both deeper contrast, and deeper hues at the red end of the spectrum. I've always felt the Genesis was top tier for resolution and contrast but a bit anaemic on colour. It's interesting how the different parameters tinker with our perceptions.
When it came to the MHG vs. M7 comparison this week, colour and contrast may well have played a role, but I felt the primary difference was effective resolution. The M7 might have been a cherry sample as I said.
David
Ceasar. How do the eye cups on the M7 fit your eye sockets? Are they too small or do you use the brow technique? You don't get any black outs with the M7 because of too short eye cups? Thanks.I think if one had no problems using the Monarch 7 8x30 one would not have any problems with using the Monarch 8x30 HG. I have the Monarch 7 and have no problems with it but I'm not going to purchase an HG version to compare them.
I would be very surprised if the eye cups on the Monarch HG 8x30 were much different from those on the Monarch 7 8x30. They both have the same FOV. The ER of the HG 8x30 is 1.1mm longer than the M7s.
The HGs dimensions are 119mm x 126mm x 47mm to the Monarch 7s 119mm x 123mm x 48mm, and it weighs 450g to the Monarch 7s 435g.
You can compare their pictures on Allbinos. They are almost identical in appearance.
Bob
Ceasar. How do the eye cups on the M7 fit your eye sockets? Are they too small or do you use the brow technique? You don't get any black outs with the M7 because of too short eye cups? Thanks.