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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Zeiss Victory 8x40 B T (1 Viewer)

squidge

Wha Whassssat
While testing a few binoculars I was given a few brochures on Zeiss and one of the brochures had the above range of bins. I presume its the predecessor to the FL. Where these any good or is the lack of availabilty on the net suggest they were not up to scratch. Maybe on the other hand the lack of availability is that people are keeping theirs because they are so good. Thanks Ger.
 
Hello Squidge,

I think that you may be referring to the original Victory line.
There were three common complaints about the first units of this line:
1. Glare when pointing near the sun.
2. Odd bracket placement for the strap and
3. Unpleasant feel and smell of the case.

Later units had a fix for one and two but an American reviewer gave an overly negative write up and sales languished.

Happy bird watching,
Arthur Pinewood :hi:
 
Maybe that will explain the lack of info or secondhand bins on the market. The shop that gave me the old brochure obviously doesnt sell many Zeiss bins. Thanks Ger.
 
You'll find Kimmos reviews of the Victory 8x40 (and the 10x40) on the Lintuvaruste website. I think you can distinguish the two versions by checking the strap attachment (the second version has a "normal" attachment like all other binoculars) and the ring holding the objective lenses (it's baffled in the second version and smooth in the first).

I'm still using my 10x40 a lot. Excellent mechanical quality and good optics (the 10x40 is sharper near the edges than the 10x42 FL), the only complaint I have is some CA.

Hermann
 
Thanks for the link, I finally found a couple of reviews on the net and CA seemed to be the main problem with these bins. Ger.
 
Avoid this bin like the plague, i can think of only one good thing it had and that was the slick focusser.
Had just about the worse CA i have ever seen, strap lugs which bit into your hands, body armour which was a fluff/dust magnet i kid you not, and the objectives which are almost flush with the tube ends, and useless eyecups, to call it a dog would be an understatement...
No surprise it was killed off quick.
 
No I had no intention of getting one as the bad vibes coming from the few reviews I saw plus the lack of or non existent secondhand on the market spoke volumes.

No I'm trying to decide between a Zeiss fl 8x32 and the ultravid hd 8x32. At the moment the Zeiss is in the lead but if Swaro bring out a vision 8x32 in the near future it will just add to the confusion.

I asked that question on the swaro forum but the lack of answers I suppose gave me an answer which was no swaro have no plans to bring out an 8x32 in the near future. So that leaves the Zeiss still in the lead. Thanks Ger.
 
2s were very good they felt cheap but I absolutely abused a pair hunting with them as loaners as well and they held up great. Glass did have some Ca but who cares as a hunter, glass was great and they had no more Ca than did my 7x45 night owls Good light bin wish I still had mine.
 
No I had no intention of getting one as the bad vibes coming from the few reviews I saw plus the lack of or non existent secondhand on the market spoke volumes.

There is always more than one explanation for a non existent second hand market. I know several people who use the 8x40 or the 10x40 day in and day out and have no intention of selling them.

Hermann
 
Avoid this bin like the plague, i can think of only one good thing it had and that was the slick focusser.
Had just about the worse CA i have ever seen, strap lugs which bit into your hands, body armour which was a fluff/dust magnet i kid you not, and the objectives which are almost flush with the tube ends, and useless eyecups, to call it a dog would be an understatement...

Needless to say, as someone who's still using the 10x40 I don't agree with this assessment. The strap lugs were changed pretty quickly after the introduction of that model, later versions have a different, better strap lug. Older versions were updated by Zeiss free of charge. The objective lenses aren't almost flush with the tube ends, that's just not true. The slanted eyecups work really well in my experience, better than the eyecups of the FL. The body armour on mine was a bit sticky when the bins were new, but that soon wore off. The only real problem is CA, but even that isn't quite as bad as some people claimed. IME it is just slightly worse than in the Zeiss 10x40BGAT Dialyts.

I think the reason why this model disappeared so quickly was that one negative review by a highly influential reviewer from the US. Kimmo's reviews of the Victory weren't nearly as critical as that one.

Hermann
 
Well, that reviewer is now a person employed by Zeiss. I agree that the 8x40 and 10x40 are much underrated bins with the CA performance as the only weak point under some circumstances of view. The edge performance is indeed better than with Victory FL. I like 40mm sized bins and would say 40 millimeters are enough. This gives also room for some reduction of weight and in fact the Victory I were pretty lightweigt bins. I think Zeiss followed Leica at the 32/42 millimeter road just because they had so much success with that format at that time.

Steve
 
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