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New Traveller (1 Viewer)

M

MacGee

Well-known member
Opticron have a new version of the Traveller out. They've changed the colouring slightly, though it still looks a bit of a dog's breakfast. The main change is that it's much lighter than the previous version. Also the new model has Oasis coatings, whereas the old had HLT. I'm assuming this is an improvement.

I'm quite interested, especially as my trusty, waterproof Yosemites became not so trusty and not at all waterproof. I have a couple of questions. How much turn is in the focus knob? And how do they dangle when round your neck; straight, toe-in or toe-out? I like quick focus and a straight dangle.

Michael
 
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I see it has the focusing knob at the 'wrong end' like the Swaro SLC 8x30. I couldn't get on with that at all when I tried the Swaro but perhaps you get used to it.

Ron
 
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Lighter is good, but to my mind it is the phase coating that is most welcome. I liked the old 6x a lot, but the contrast suffered with the higher powers. Hopefully that's fixed. I even like the odd ergonomics. Look forward to trying it.

David
 
NoSpringChicken said:
I see it has the focusing knob at the 'wrong end' like the Swaro SLC 8x30. I couldn't get on with that at all when I tried the Swaro but perhaps you get used to it.

Ron
Click to expand...
Ron, I have the Nikon 8x20 with the front focus and I never notice it. It's the one thing on the Traveller that might bother me that doesn't bother me.

Michael
 
Any news yet on these? Anyone tried a pair? The 6x32 or 8x32 might be interesting for me, for ultralight weight and the focuser knob in the right place. I love my Pentax Papilio's 6.5x21 to bits, but they're not waterproof and under the bill of a cap it's impossible to touch the focus wheel. The Travellers would allow focusing when I'm forced to wear a cap to keep the rain off my glasses. That's a feature I dearly want.

Opticron is hard to find in my neck of the woods; only one store in The Hague seems to stock them.

Best regards,

Ronald
 
KorHaan said:
Any news yet on these? Anyone tried a pair? The 6x32 or 8x32 might be interesting for me, for ultralight weight and the focuser knob in the right place.
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Ronald, I tried a pair of the old version 8x32. They seemed pretty good and the new version will be better and lighter, but unfortunately the ER, 19mm, was too short for me. The ER of both the new models is also 19mm.

Michael
 
MacGee said:
Ronald, I tried a pair of the old version 8x32. They seemed pretty good and the new version will be better and lighter, but unfortunately the ER, 19mm, was too short for me. The ER of both the new models is also 19mm.

Michael
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Wow Michael, if 19mm eye relief is too short for you, it must severely limit the number of binoculars which you can use. I would think 19mm is well on the long side of average.

I noticed the Opticron advert for these in the latest RSPB magazine this morning and had been checking out the spec earlier today. I was surprised to see this thread revived again.

Ron
 
MacGee said:
Ronald, I tried a pair of the old version 8x32. They seemed pretty good and the new version will be better and lighter, but unfortunately the ER, 19mm, was too short for me. The ER of both the new models is also 19mm.

Michael
Click to expand...

Hi Michael,

Thanks for that; 19 mm ER will be more than enough for me, and since the FOV of the 8x32's is a modest 111m/1000m, it's a welcome feature on the new Travellers. The 6x32's have a much bigger FOV. I like my 6.5x21's, so maybe a 6x isn't so bad.

Best regards,

Ronald
 
NoSpringChicken said:
I noticed the Opticron advert for these in the latest RSPB magazine this morning and had been checking out the spec earlier today. I was surprised to see this thread revived again.

Ron
Click to expand...

Hi Ron,

My eye caught the picture of the new Traveller and it made me interested in them. I kind of hoped that Chris Galvin would have had time to play around with them, so I thought why not give it a go?

Opticron is little known in the Netherlands, and these Travellers would be hard to find an try, but they look OK and are lightweight as well, which I'm beginning to appreciate since I only carry a compact now.

Best regards,

Ronald
 
Except for the placement of the focus wheel these binoculars seem very similar to the 3 binoculars in Leupold's Katmai series, especially the FOV's.

Bob
 
NoSpringChicken said:
Wow Michael, if 19mm eye relief is too short for you, it must severely limit the number of binoculars which you can use.
Click to expand...
Oh, yes. I tried lots of bins in the shop after I ruled out the Traveller and the best views came from the 24mm and 25mm models. I get on okay with my 6x30 Yosemite (20mm) and my 8x25 Olympus reverse porros (16mm) but these were eBay bargains; if I'm paying full price for a pair of bins, I want to see the whole picture. The Opticron Imagic BGA SE 7x42 look pretty good, if I can manage the weight. At 669g, they're lightweight for full-size bins, but heavy for my damaged-vertebra neck.

Michael
 
KorHaan said:
Hi Michael,

Thanks for that; 19 mm ER will be more than enough for me, and since the FOV of the 8x32's is a modest 111m/1000m, it's a welcome feature on the new Travellers. The 6x32's have a much bigger FOV.

Ronald
Click to expand...

The apparent FOV is unchanged compared to the old non-mg version, around 48-50 degres for the 6x and 8x (respectively 141m and 111m), which is very narrow.
Optically the old and new versions are nearly identical, both have phase coating, perhaps a little brighter for the new one due to the Oasis coating, that's all.

Michael, the 7x42 BGA SE is another binocular altogether, I understood that you were intererested in the size and weight of the Traveller, besides I'm not certain that the Traveller would be a step up from your Yosemite.
I looked through the old 8x32 a while ago, the view was just average in my opinion.
Apparently the best for usable ER is the Nikon 8x32 HG L .
 
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If I did the math right, for those of us in the states, the 8x is 364ft (not exactly very narrow all things considered), and it weighs only 13.4 ounces. I'm interested! I hope they make it across the pond.

Mark
 
Kammerdiner said:
If I did the math right, for those of us in the states, the 8x is 364ft (not exactly very narrow all things considered), and it weighs only 13.4 ounces. I'm interested! I hope they make it across the pond.

Mark
Click to expand...

111m is very narrow for an 8x32 but 380g is very light...so it's 50-50%
I've never heard of Opticron being sold in the USA, but there are UK dealers who dispatch abroad (warehouseexpress, acecameras, microglobe, etc...).
Regards
 
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We are doing a number of Field Events in the USA in the Fall, starting with the Midwest Birding Symposium 15-18th September in Ohio, We will also be at the Rio Grande Birding Festival in November.

Keep an eye on Our Dedicated USA Website for details of further events.

We are currently speaking to a number of retailers in the USA

Chris Galvin
Opticron
 
Chris Galvin said:
We are doing a number of Field Events in the USA in the Fall, starting with the Midwest Birding Symposium 15-18th September in Ohio, We will also be at the Rio Grande Birding Festival in November.

Keep an eye on Our Dedicated USA Website for details of further events.

We are currently speaking to a number of retailers in the USA

Chris Galvin
Opticron
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update, Chris. At $409 the 8x Traveller might compete well against the new Swaro CL--at less than half the price! It's quite a bit lighter, too. Is it maybe the lightest 8x32 ever?? FOV is darn close to the CL (364 v. 372).

The 6 and 10x look good too.

Interesting,

Mark
 
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