Brunton Icon? (1 Viewer)

Anybody notice these yet?

http://store.bruntonoutdoor.com/optics/binoculars/brunton-icon/brunton-icon-trade-8x44-brown/

Saw an advertisement in a bowhunting mag and looked it up on the net. Did a little search of the binocular forum but could not find any previous discussions.

I see several issues which I am sure which will jump out at many of you.

;-)

Yes... starting for me with price- I see these listed at Eagle Optics for $2,199 (!). Even if the view is awesomely sharp, contrasty, bright, etc., the FOV spec for the 8's (356 ft. at 1000 yds) is on the bad side of mediocre. At that price, they're going to have to do a lot better than that.

The price will have to be as stingy as the FOV for them to sell.

And what is an Unconditional Halo Warranty? Does it have something to do with never having to worry about various types of flare?
Bob

Frank:
Good to see you back, I checked out this model also, and it does offer a narrow FOV for
the competition it is competing with. I am wondering about construction, as it has a simple
R. side diopter correction, rather than the through the focuser, simpler is better in my mind.
SK, "NANO" coated prisms, wow, what does that mean, silver or dielectric ?

These do not seem to be similar to other clones on the market, so now the question does
come down to mfr. and where they are made ? The Halo warranty I found on one site means
quickly replace with another, don't bother with fix.
They are priced in the uber level, and they are shipping in July, and maybe this leaves some time
for some thought. !!

Jerry

FrankD said:

Anybody notice these yet?

http://store.bruntonoutdoor.com/optics/binoculars/brunton-icon/brunton-icon-trade-8x44-brown/

Saw an advertisement in a bowhunting mag and looked it up on the net. Did a little search of the binocular forum but could not find any previous discussions.

I see several issues which I am sure which will jump out at many of you.

Click to expand...

Sounds a lot like the Brunton Epoch a more than OK binocular (I owned two at one time) which also suffered from unrealistic pricing. The Halo warranty (in my one shot experience) was amazing, resulting in the instant Fed Ex overnight replacement of my Epoch 10 x 25 binocular when the focus became sticky. Performance was excellent for both bins but 10 x 25 was too hard to hold steady and the 8x (I think it was 8.5x) had an annoyingly narrow field of view.

Did the prices subsequently drop on the Epochs now that the Icons have debuted? I seem to remember them being "up there" but don't remember the exact amounts. I have seen them now listed under $1000.

FrankD said:

Did the prices subsequently drop on the Epochs now that the Icons have debuted? I seem to remember them being "up there" but don't remember the exact amounts. I have seen them now listed under $1000.

Click to expand...

I wonder if they are playing the high discount game. An unrealistic MSRP followed by an eye grabbing discount.

FrankD said:

Anybody notice these yet?

http://store.bruntonoutdoor.com/optics/binoculars/brunton-icon/brunton-icon-trade-8x44-brown/

Saw an advertisement in a bowhunting mag and looked it up on the net. Did a little search of the binocular forum but could not find any previous discussions.

I see several issues which I am sure which will jump out at many of you.

;-)

Click to expand...

Holy Cow! This is just too coincidental. The Navy Seals finally get their man, and Frank D. suddenly appears back on BF? How long is your furlough, Frank?

While you were off in parts unknown, we broached this subject a while ago. Besides what has already been mentioned, my comment was that the "H" design seems to be "this year's model".

The Swaro SLC-HD, the Leupold Northfolk, the Nikon EDG II, and some other brands seem to be adopting this slim, single rear bridge design. Not sure how sturdy this design is in general or specifically for the aforementioned models, but for the big handed, who need more "real estate" (to coin Ed's term), this is a welcomed change.

Not sure why the Icons are priced so high. Brunton is HQ in Riverton, Wyoming, but I seriously doubt if their bins are made in the USA or they would be plastering that fact all over their ads.

According to this site, Brunton had been owned by a Swedish company, which in 2006 was bought by Fiskars Corporation, which I looked up and found was a Finnish company, by golly.

http://www.thebinocularsite.com/brunton/

So if they are made in Northern Europe, that could explain the high price.

As far as the FOV, the 8.5x43 Epochs, which I thought were pretty expensive back in the day when $1,395 sounded very expensive, have a 7* FOV. While not tunnelesque, thanks to the 8.5x, it's still not as generous as say the 8x42 Meopta, which can be had for less $.

Brunton seems to follow Minox's earlier model of being conservative with the FOV while still charging an arm and leg. Minox found out that didn't work, so now they increased the FOV in their top models, make them in Germany, and charge an arm and two legs (got to leave you with one arm to hold the bins).

Anyway, the Swaro SLCs are still a far better value than the Bruntons. And the Meopta even better yet, if they got the yellow out like Pepsodent.

Which reminds me, we had a semantic argument while you were away, about what you meant when you said the newer Meopta B1s were more color neutral than the older models (which had a yellow bias), but they were not as neutral as the 8x32 model (which is clearly aimed at birders from Meopta's Webpage on them).

Then our resident contrarian chimed in and said that you did not say the new Meoptas were at all yellow, but more color neutral. Yeah, more color neutral than the yellow biased ones. It went on like that without resolution.

This all started when a certain Miss Lulubelle from the Lone Star State inquired if the Meoptas differed from Cabela's 10x42 Euros and if so, how they differed.

I found a thread about this issue on another forum with a post by a rep from Meopta who wrote that the coatings betwn the two were different (though he didn't go into further detail). Forget the exact wording, I'll have to look it up, but his emphasis sounded like he was saying the Meopta had better coatings.

So then Miss Lulubelle called someone at Meopta or was it Cabela's? and was told that the the latest issues were indeed the same binoculars (one with warts, one without), and that they now had dielectric coatings.

So that's where we left it. Perhaps you can clarify the color bias/neutrality.

How color neutral are the new Meopta B1s?

How yellow biased were the originals?

You can use this color chart so we are all on the same page:

http://beaufortsjeweler.com/images/diamond_color_chart.gif

Brock

"You'll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with ........".
Gosh, Brock, that must go back to the Swingin' Sixties, or earlier. I think it was the first TV ad (commercial) I ever saw. So, if your teeth have a yellow bias, do you ask your dentist for dielectric coatings?

Geez Brock....you said a mouthful.

;-)

I loved how this turned into a Meopta discussion.

It is more than coincidental at this point. I say this in reference to the fact that you used a color comparison chart that I became very familiar with recently. I think you get the hint.

Anyhow.... I would have rated the original Meopta 8x42 as somewhere around a "P" in terms of color bias...especially under certain conditions. The newer version that I tinkered with was more of an "M" or an "N". The 8x32 model that I had in hand was more of a "J" or a "K" in my humble opinion.

...and, no, I had nothing to do with Obama...uhh, I mean Osama.

;-)

NDhunter said:

SK, "NANO" coated prisms, wow, what does that mean, silver or dielectric ?


Jerry

Click to expand...

The SK they are referring to is SK Prism Glass - which is supposed to be a step up, or rather the absolute highest grade available, from BAK4

He did, rather deftly, turn the Brunton post into to a Meopta post didn't he?!!! BTW, it was Richard at Meopta that I spoke with and I am still awaiting the new product............so back to the Brunton post!

Richard Gilligan? He is a great guy. I spoke to him several times on the phone. I have to admit that he does an excellent job of serving Meopta in terms of customer service. I have never been disappointed with him in any way, shape or form.

Yes, it him. Seemed very personable. Did try to call him recently to see if there was any more info on the possible new bin, but he was out of pocket.

Out of pocket?

Sorry, must be a Texas expression!!! Meant unavailable, out of office type thing.

lulubelle said:

Sorry, must be a Texas expression!!! Meant unavailable, out of office type thing.

Click to expand...

Miss Lulubelle,

Does it follow in Texan that if your bin is out of warranty and you send it in to be fixed, you will have some "out of office" expenses?

Well, I see you are no longer "plum wore out" since your life list went up by four. Glad you are feeling better after that bad bout of hoof and mouth! You had me more worried than a "Long-tailed Cat in a Room Full of Rocking Chairs." (a Texan expression)

I added another bird to my mental life list (don't have enough to write down at this point - a rose-breasted grosbeak, which I discovered in of all places my own backyard.

Please post a mini-review of the 10x42 Meopta "D" after it arrives. I used "D" partly to ID it as dielectric and partly in honor of Frank "D," our resident Meopta expert.

Please bookmark this page and use the same color chart as Frank did so you can tell us if the color bias is P colored, or M or N, or J or K.

I'm not sure if the revised version Frank mentioned had dielectric coatings. I'm also hoping that the new ones don't have a 10 percent difference in light transmission in right barrel like the sample tested by allbinos (read first paragraph at the bottom):

http://www.allbinos.com/149-binoculars_review-Meopta_Meostar_B1_10x42.html

Also, as a note to the Conan the Contrarian, Frank DID mean YELLOW! 8-P

For anyone who is interested in learning how to speak Texan, here's a primer:

http://onemansblog.com/2007/05/03/how-to-speak-texan/

Brock

As always Brock, your colorful speech is quite entertaining.

;-)

Don't know about the resident Meopta expert part. There are one or two folks here who are definitely more knowledgable than I in that area. I haven't even tried their mid-priced bin yet..not to mention that sweet new scope they are debuting.

FrankD said:

As always Brock, your colorful speech is quite entertaining.

;-)

Don't know about the resident Meopta expert part. There are one or two folks here who are definitely more knowledgable than I in that area. I haven't even tried their mid-priced bin yet..not to mention that sweet new scope they are debuting.

Click to expand...

Frank,

That may be true, however, you've owned almost every model in the B1 series (with more than one sample in some cases), and you've carefully compared them in posts here on other forums and provided much useful information about this series in the days when you were a member of the Binocular of the Month Club.

Your 8x32 Meopta review has also been quoted on various forums. So you are certainly at least one of our resident Meopta experts.

The new Meopta scope should be interesting. As I recall, the rumor mill was saying that at some point, Meopta made spotting scopes for Swarovski. If that was true, there are going to be high expectations for this scope, which will no doubt be priced very competitively with Swaro's.

I look forward to your review of the Meopta spotting scope!

Brock