Jason Venture 4000 7x25 (1 Viewer)

This model was made to be a Bushnell Custom clone (or a me-too),
with premium UVC coatings and BAK4 prisms, field-flattening in the
eyepiece, and deep irising.

I took delivery on an interesting pair yesterday, and did a nicotine cleaning,
a light WD40 grease cut on the objectives, and went through 10 Q-Tip swabs
with 91% IPA to clean up. The prisms?....later, just a few dits on them.

Cleaning notes:
1) You really must have an optical spanner for the clever mechanics.
2) Collimation is in part tweeked with aluminum shims on the threading of
the objectives...it can cross-threaded yet feel comfortable...be careful
and get the seating dead-level on the solid metal deck.
3) The UVC coating is has a death grip on any grease residue. I took a
chance on a little WD-40 as a getter and removing that. Finally won.
4) The threading is lovely but only after you clean the grit of prior flubs off.
After that, it comes apart beautifully like the old French binocs did.
The front and back covers are clamped under the parts and a little
elastic. I like that.
5) Tremendous fine-ribbed iris up front: does wonderful things for contrast.
6) Looks like a lot of prism faces can be got at as-mounted..will see later.

Usage notes:
1) fine threaded screw-thread eyecups: awesome
2) smooth solid focuser, though the diopter adjestment is a bit fast
3) very sharp resolution
4) contrast is very good: I'm hoping a little prism work will bring it to
excellent... the thing still reeks of nicotine. That kind of hazing is hard
to see by eye. Good enough for now That I'll get to it later.
5) Somehow I got the expectation that this would be extra-wide-view.
It's just 'wide': 8 degrees
Oh well..my 'scout' binocs are still the
stubby Taylor 7x35s with 525 ft @1000 yds.
6) Very solid build, all-metal, way past normal Jason kit.
Pocket binoculars, though heavy: very dense.

7) The view is clear and flat enough that there is this
eery "through a window", or "hovering in the air" effect
like I've seen in some cleaned WW-2 6x30s. Very comfortable,
but spooky. You just pick them up and .... there you are in the scene.
Not sure I understand it technically. Anyone have a similar experience
with a Custom?

Markings, since the web is low on information for this model:

Binoculars, Model: Jason Venture 4000 7x25, Model 106 , No: 1351
Other: "Compact 8-deg" , "UVC Optics"

I started looking and the "Buy Now" kept rising on EBay. Up to $48 I think.
Took 2 days off and came back to a Dutch auction: the "Buy Now"
kept dropping until I had to bite at $28. I might have a 'poor man's Custom'
...not sure until the prisms go through nicotine withdrawal.

There have been two Jason Venture 7x25's on ebay. One a reverse porro and the other a wide field roof. Which one did you get, I take it the reverse porro (the roof was a 10* field), but if you said, sorry...I missed it . I about bit on the little reverse porro a couple of times, but my interests at the time were elsewhere.

I have a Jason Venture 4000 7x35 with a 12* field which will be included in my bird worthy vintage porros stuff. Great binocular. It does have many more similarities than differences to the older Bushnell Custom 7x35's.

I got the reverse porro. I was tempted by the wide-roof, but I'm obsessed with
contrast.

I missed out on a bid for the Venture 4000 7x35s recently.
Snipers took the price violently up with seconds to go. It has a reputation for sure.

ON,

Nice snag. I was watching these (maybe a different unit) for a bit on the bay. I have a fondness for 7x vintage (regardless of objective size) so these came up on my radar.

I am eager to hear of your further findings once you have a greater chance to play with them and/or clean the prisms.

I've had the Venture for a while, I was the only bid it got in three times it cycled through the eBay listings. I was going to hit the "buy it now" button on another one, this one with an 8.5* field, but the seller removed it for "an error in the listing". It has not showed back up.

Anyway I'd be interested in seeing further observations. That looked like a pretty neat little glass.

Short history of the company...

http://www.opticsreviewer.com/jason-binoculars.html


Anders

That's a fascinating history. Their introduction of the rapid focuser and its
ingestion into the Bushnell food chain should not be the proudest moments,
but they had solid extremely solid binoculars. Their Model 143 is an example of a
very ordinary 7x35 with surprising performance from full coatings, a solid focuser,
and a deep iris.


OK, cleaning session #2:


So, the Ventures:
---The threads were getting sticky so I stripped and replaced the
grease there with "Outers Choke tube & Gun Grease", very promising stuff
for rings that is not quite thick enough for focusers but better than curing
goo.

---The focuser has a very severe cotter-pin-of-doom on the front (the objectives
are moved), but swinging the focuser 'spectacles' around makes a puzzle you can
solve and remove the cover plates. You can bent-swab clean 95% of the prisms
without removing the prisms. Nice! But...
One side had the hatch glued down by some confused demon-spawn trying to
water-proof (?). I only got 40% of the dits on that side. Patience, a rainy day,
and 10 years for the vinyl hobby glue to ease up a bit might cure this problem
later. The Irises are threaded guide tubes, too, by the way. A soft rattling
said Mr. Bungles hadn't remembered that. Screwing that in solid did improve
things a bit.

--And, on to the eyepiece side: Similar puzzle, a little more odd. I cleaned by moving
the plates to help the swabs. The prism clips were arched so the swabs got in
fairly well. Did some more grease replacement, rethreaded and removed some
galling bits.

--------------

And the view? Well, one side perfect and like diving through spring water. The other
with a little less contrast, but if I don't look at the torture test subject (includes
a torchiere), the view is awesome overall. I just need to
be patient and think on ways to open the glued hatch...but for now, relax and don't
dent metal in haste.

Still like these a lot. Very bright and clear. They will do a 12-font at 20 ft
on the torture range, and that clearly beats the 7x25 Jason "Graphite"s.
Most of the 8x roof units wash out before they get to that line, due to glare.
These are 7 power,of course. They are strongly resistant to lights untill you get
a few degrees out of the view.

Scouting duty...I don't know. Will take them out tomorrow. Hoping the flatness
and easy eye placement will help with that. 7x sweeps faster than 8x, cognitively.

Optic Nut-- Thanks for your work to describe this compact binoculars. I am trying to understand what you mean by deep irising. So far you have used it 4 times on this thread. It seems to be the deep seated eye relief inside the hard eyecup. Is this right? Does it have anything to do with a large or small diameter eyepiece?

Do you still use the word when you have a rubber fold back eyecup? If the newer rotating eyecups that are hard plastic, are set as low as possible for eye glass wearers, you might still see a depth from the eye piece glass that is not accessable. Is this deep iris as well?

Thanks,
Rob.

The main iris (when it exists) is the path-restricting tunnel or aperature
(or combined) just behind the objective lens. It usually appears to go straight back
but that's an illusion caused by the magnification of the objective. Older ones typically
went way back towards the prisms and had a flat black coating and dozens of little rings.
That would be a 'deep' iris. Some modern ones are very short, relying on all the
coatings and design to suppress glare, but having both causes extremely high contrast
even under glare (nearby off-axis light). Given super optics and coatings you can
cut down on the iris, but it's extra-great for contrast to have extra suppression.
Extra-wide angle binocs have a very limited iris because they nee to see such a
wide cone of light.

In the case of the Jason Venture 4000 7x25s, the iris has a steep conical tunnel
with many ribs and flat black coating. It even screws into a base just before
the first prism port. Very obsessive light restriction. Unusual for when it was
made but extremely haze-free. The extra UVC suppression also shuts out
atmospheric violet haze to even further improve contrast. This enables
you to see into the shade when other optics would just see the subtle
details as all-grey.

Many Selsi binoculars used obsessive irising to squeeze extra detail
out of fairly ordinary optics. Those age well.

Eye-cups don't constitute a normal iris because they aren't in the direction the
system is looking towards. They are very important, though. They prevent glare
from side-light bouncing between your skin and the optics or tunneling through
your skin.

There may be other deliberate irises, like before the eyepiece optics,
but the one behind the big lens is 'the' iris of the binoculars,
where the biggest dose of off-axis light pollution can enter.

Thnaks for pointing out my obsession with irises, Highway Dog.
It lead to an epiphany today.

Fieldwork:

I took the Venture 7x25 out to the local bird bench by the pond. Even better than
tested. I think my test range is too severe. Very comfortable and sharp. It just
didn't have the field-width for seeking/scouting, though.

On a whim I went back and grabbed a pair of
Jason 7x25 Wide Angle "Commanders" (525 ft @ 1000 yds). Model: 109
I had previous put them in the cull box because of their performance at my range
and the lack of an iris up front. The hazing was barely noticeable under real
conditions, they were almost as sharp, and sweeping the view was easy.

Everything has a price, and with short body with a 10-degree view, I think I have
to accept a little haze. It seems to be worth it. There isn't much point in irising
(other than the natural aperature of the prism) at 7x25 and 10 degrees.
My favorite scouts, the Taylor 7x35 (525 ft @ 100yd) are sharper, quieter,
and have a short ribbed iris, but that comes with the size. Comparing the two
scouts, the Jason 109 is a little cloudier, but it sweeps well and it's a full
porro (not reverse) model, and the 3D effect really helps me see terrain and distance.
I would probably pair the Jason 109s with Leupold 8x30 or Selsi 10x50 lightweights,
which currently have the best contrast in the collection (and yes, very long
ribbed irising).


So, The Jason 7x25 Venture 4000 is my favorite compact, and I found scout/seeker
binocs I already had in the Jason 109s (free!).
A warning re: eyeglasses....both models have low eye relief. Another trade-off.
You would need a longer-path x25 (those long roof ones like the
Promaster 8x25 I have) and bigger eyepieces for that.

Epilogue: The diopter adjustment is too loose and shifts in the case.
I need to acquire quality thick grease in order to work this one.
The gun/choke stuff is too light.

Meanwhile, some Nikon NASCAR 8x25s (a bit like Sportstar or Trailblazer) with
repaired eyecups of are the fave for small portables. Great with eyeglasses
and quick to place and aim. 440ft/100 yd field and sharp almost all the way.
They do their own scouting. Contrast is a little less than hoped, but I
understand that tradeoff in small extra-wides now.

I took them out today before committing them to 'on hold' status.
There is a big thaw going on and the birds were going crazy looking for
bugs before it chills again... bluejays, woodpeckers, titmice, warblers, nuthatch,
chickadees, crows checking it all out. I got quite a workout at short range in mixed
woods. These things are pretty good, despite not having huge FOV. I was able to
track the woodpeckers and warblers zipping around, with no eyestrain. Very
comfortable for short-mid tracking. The 8x30s were better for details when the bird
stayed put (2 woodpecker couples with the odd plump dark/light grey two-tone
friends following them....I could not ID those).

These are good, even in a light fog. God meaning, enough detail, and comfortable
on the eyes. The extra nice parts and design all adds up. Maybe I'll get some
Bushnell Customs sometime to check out the pieces inside, but these do look
like twins outside, and the construction is very solid. Everything is coated with that
'UVC' coating.