absolut_beethoven
Well-known member
I couldn't resist getting this virtually brand new Zeiss Victory FL 8x32 at an excellent price from Amazon knowing that returns are easy. Plus I have until January 31st to decide whether to keep them or not.
Here's a short preview to whet your appetite for those who would like to know exactly how much more you get for twice the amount of money. The Euro HD is $800 and one can buy the Zeiss FL for around $1600 or less these days depending on your keeping track of eBay, Amazon Warehouse deals, Eagle Optics etc.
Physical differences aren't that great as the Zeiss sans straps caps etc weighs in on my wife's food scale at 556g and the Euro at 601g. They're comparable in size except for the Zeiss larger diameter barrels. Interestingly, although the Zeiss has much larger eye cups, the eyepiece ∅ measures approximately 19mm versus the Euro with its much smaller eye cups but has eyepieces 2mm larger at ∅ 21mm.
Full review to follow later but here are a few quick observations.
Both binos subtly change white to a slightly more ivory/cream color, with the nod going to the Zeiss. The Euro is marginally more cream colored. Easily seen by me, but trust me when I tell you that the differences are really small. See the pic of the 6000k LED lit whiteboard that I posted below - the Zeiss is on the left. As seen in this pic, for some reason when looking through the objectives the Euro appears to have a much larger exit pupil than any other bino I've seen. Obviously not possible as both have the same magnification and objectives. Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable members will let us know why.
On the star test, tiny medium bright stars appear as very sharp pin pricks through the Euros, so I was really surprised to see that even without using my Zeiss 3X booster I could easily see that the Zeiss made those pin pricks even smaller and sharper. On the weekend I'll use the booster on the USAF chart to see how much difference in resolution my eyes will see.
I've read so much about the Zeiss lack of CA so I was really curious to see if it would pass muster with me because I've always seen that distortion more easily than most people. From my short time with them so far I can tell you that it has virtually zero CA in the sweet spot, and only marginally more right at the edge. IMHO I would rate the CA at the edge as less than what most binos have in the center. Definitely the least CA of any bino that I've seen. Most impressive indeed!!
More to follow soon.
Here's a short preview to whet your appetite for those who would like to know exactly how much more you get for twice the amount of money. The Euro HD is $800 and one can buy the Zeiss FL for around $1600 or less these days depending on your keeping track of eBay, Amazon Warehouse deals, Eagle Optics etc.
Physical differences aren't that great as the Zeiss sans straps caps etc weighs in on my wife's food scale at 556g and the Euro at 601g. They're comparable in size except for the Zeiss larger diameter barrels. Interestingly, although the Zeiss has much larger eye cups, the eyepiece ∅ measures approximately 19mm versus the Euro with its much smaller eye cups but has eyepieces 2mm larger at ∅ 21mm.
Full review to follow later but here are a few quick observations.
Both binos subtly change white to a slightly more ivory/cream color, with the nod going to the Zeiss. The Euro is marginally more cream colored. Easily seen by me, but trust me when I tell you that the differences are really small. See the pic of the 6000k LED lit whiteboard that I posted below - the Zeiss is on the left. As seen in this pic, for some reason when looking through the objectives the Euro appears to have a much larger exit pupil than any other bino I've seen. Obviously not possible as both have the same magnification and objectives. Hopefully one of our more knowledgeable members will let us know why.
On the star test, tiny medium bright stars appear as very sharp pin pricks through the Euros, so I was really surprised to see that even without using my Zeiss 3X booster I could easily see that the Zeiss made those pin pricks even smaller and sharper. On the weekend I'll use the booster on the USAF chart to see how much difference in resolution my eyes will see.
I've read so much about the Zeiss lack of CA so I was really curious to see if it would pass muster with me because I've always seen that distortion more easily than most people. From my short time with them so far I can tell you that it has virtually zero CA in the sweet spot, and only marginally more right at the edge. IMHO I would rate the CA at the edge as less than what most binos have in the center. Definitely the least CA of any bino that I've seen. Most impressive indeed!!
More to follow soon.