Hi all,
I will be volunteering with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in San Francisco in about a month and want a good new pair of binoculars for the all-day biweekly shifts.
I have narrowed it down to the Minolta 8x42 D WP XL. They are roof-prism binoculars and the D adds phase-shift coatings to the lenses and prisms.
Now that I am trying to find the best place to get them I am finding them also as Konica Minolta 8x42 D WP XL. Adding the word Konica to the front seems to knock quite a bit off the price (about $75 USD). I see that Konica and Minolta merged in '03, but are these the same binoculars as the highly rated version or a knock-off Chinese version? In other words, has the quality of this model dropped of since they were introduced in 2003?
Has anyone but them recently and been disappointed? Anyone have them and love them?
I'd like to spend around $200USD or less, and these seem to list at over $300 and sell for as low as $159USD. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
-Chuck
I will be volunteering with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory in San Francisco in about a month and want a good new pair of binoculars for the all-day biweekly shifts.
I have narrowed it down to the Minolta 8x42 D WP XL. They are roof-prism binoculars and the D adds phase-shift coatings to the lenses and prisms.
Now that I am trying to find the best place to get them I am finding them also as Konica Minolta 8x42 D WP XL. Adding the word Konica to the front seems to knock quite a bit off the price (about $75 USD). I see that Konica and Minolta merged in '03, but are these the same binoculars as the highly rated version or a knock-off Chinese version? In other words, has the quality of this model dropped of since they were introduced in 2003?
Has anyone but them recently and been disappointed? Anyone have them and love them?
I'd like to spend around $200USD or less, and these seem to list at over $300 and sell for as low as $159USD. Any help would be appreciated greatly.
-Chuck