If I had to guess I would say that the ED's might be made in China and the HDs in Japan, looking at the prices, although even the EDs have magnesium bodies and aluminium eyecup tubes so maybe both ranges are made in Japan.
Lee
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A New Binocular Brand is Launched (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Troubador
- Start date
If I had to guess I would say that the ED's might be made in China and the HDs in Japan, looking at the prices, although even the EDs have magnesium bodies and aluminium eyecup tubes so maybe both ranges are made in Japan.
Lee
james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
Another rebrander.....maybe a bunch of us should get together, buy a batch of Kamakura's, slap a ''BF'' logo on it and watch the cash roll in. And call ourselves an Optics Company.....lol.
I'm loosing faith in German manufacturing in general with this sort of thing going on https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/09/...-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well and a very lose definition of what 'made in Germany' actually means.
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Pinewood
New York correspondent
Hello,
I think that is a great idea. I am looking for an 8x30/32 Porro with all the bells including decent eye relief and adjustable eye cups. I read that Opticron has a near perfect model, the Opticron 8x32 SR.GA, except for the eye relief but with 8.3º FOV, and fold down eye cups.. If the FOV were reduced the eye relief should increase. I would still like 8º, like the Zeiss FL 8x32. If the Zeiss, a roof prism can manage 8º and 16mm eye relief, I would imagine that a Porro can be built to the same specifications.
I have old 8x30 Porro binoculars that almost work: the eye relief is poor but the dioptre adjustment brings infinity to focus, now that my eyes have changed. Of course, modern coatings would do a lot for those designs.
Obviously, I cannot afford a custom binocular but do you think that I could find partners to enter the business. We would have to find a Germanic name with at least one umlaut, perhaps the Übersalzburg Alpine.
Happy bird watching,
Arthur :hi:
If we got, say, 100 members together, we could probably place our own order with Kamakura, and get whatever we want. A sort of "buyers' club". But we would have to agree on the configuration, specs, etc., and getting 100 forum members to agree on anything would be one tough task! 
dalat
...
:t:
As the Made in Germany is not any more what it used to be, I could take care of locating engineering and quality control in Switzerland. Actually I don't live far from Heerbrugg, if that doesn't quality me...
According to information from our good friend Pete Gamby on this very forum: "An order for just 500 would get you a new rubber armour. 5000 gets you a new optical system and an all expenses paid invitation to the factory!"
We would need 5,000 members to 'get whatever we want'.
Could we do it? No, we wouldn't be able to agree the specs and would argue about the size of the sweet spot or eye relief for weeks :-O
Might be fun trying though, perhaps we could piggy back on Opticron's relationship and get them to do a Bird Forum Model, with a subscriber's tally of 2,500 and Opticron taking a risk on being able to sell the remaining 2,500.
Hmmmmm :smoke:
Lee
marinemaster
Well-known member
marinemaster
Well-known member
That is why Vortex is so arrogant and never replies to any inquires.
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marinemaster
Well-known member
One think is that binoculars by nature are portable like a cell phone, anything portable is subject to drops, spills, bounced around etc. Thats why I don't buy from this type companies because their warranty is a great unknown, ill stick with Nikon, Zeiss, Swaro and Leupold.
The-Wanderer
Well-known member
"Could we do it? No, we wouldn't be able to agree the specs and would argue about the size of the sweet spot or eye relief for weeks "
No, we wouldn't - I would exercise my veto!
No, we wouldn't - I would exercise my veto!
One used to be able to make an educated (or hafassed, if you will) guess about that when Eagle Optics was still selling Nikons from the numbers of reviews each binocular received. I recall that the Nikon Binocular with the most reviews at the time Nikon dropped Eagle Optics as a vendor was the Monarch 8x36. It had forty five 5 star reviews. As I recall, it sold for around $400.00.
My guess why Nikon dropped Eagle Optics as a vendor, and it is only a guess, is that Nikon did so because Eagle Optics was selling low priced binoculars under its own name which competed with Nikon's low priced binoculars; and low priced binoculars comprise a big part of the binoculars that Nikon sells.
Bob
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The number of Amazon reviews is a rough guide
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...eld-keywords=nikon+8x42&rh=i:aps,k:nikon+8x42
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...eld-keywords=nikon+8x42&rh=i:aps,k:nikon+8x42
Warranties are written in stone for all the world to see, it's the customer service part of the equation that can be suspect (I'm sure that's what you meant anyway). Leupold wrote the book on customer service. Swaro figured it out by watching Leupold, then Vortex did the same. Like I said in the other forum, time will tell how well these new guys are received.
oldfortyfive
Well-known member
My experience with them has been the exact opposite. They are great to deal with. Are you sure they are actually getting your inquires? Try calling them directly.
Vespobuteo
Well-known member
"They are exceptionally lightweight and compact, making them feel nearly invisible around the user’s neck."
Worlds first invisible bins?
:-O
But 940g is quite good for a 50mm, and 8.5x is a nice option.
Kamakura siblings?
Is there any mention of where they are made?
Worlds first invisible bins?
:-O
But 940g is quite good for a 50mm, and 8.5x is a nice option.
Kamakura siblings?
Is there any mention of where they are made?
Hej VB
Never put invisible bins down on a rock before you go around the back for a 'comfort break'. You will never find them when you come back.
The 50mm units look interesting don't they? An 8.5 and a 12.5 plus a classic 50.
No indication of where they are made though.
Lee
marinemaster
Well-known member
I stopped chasing Vortex long time ago but to this day I don't forget that I never heard back from them and yes I checked the spam folder. Anyway it does not matter at this point, their line up has zero binoculars that interest me.
Hm, good eye relief, wide field of view, compact eyepiece - choose any two...
That being said - the Bushnell 8x42 NatureView Porro cheapie bins seem to fit the bill as they claim 8.2 deg true field, 16mm ER and twist up eyecups at 100 dollars or so.
There remains the question if they are good enough for your taste... if you try them, let us know.
Joachim