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

Hawke Frontier ED 8x43! (2 Viewers)

2nd Gen Hawke Frontier ED?

Just got a pair of the 8x43's, as good as the reviews say, mine have a click stopped dioptre & no sign of the famous halo. Could there have been a revision of the original in response to customer feedback as with the Zen Rays??

John.
 
Just got a pair of the 8x43's, as good as the reviews say, mine have a click stopped dioptre & no sign of the famous halo. Could there have been a revision of the original in response to customer feedback as with the Zen Rays??

Look slike they've made a revision ... the original didn't have the click stop.

Nice to see they made some changes.
 
I would agree. There was very little separating any of the open-bridge EDs. It would appear, based on your comments and those of a few others who have recently checked out the Frontier ED, that they have made some upgrades.
 
Got my third pair of Frontier EDs today and was surprised to find that one of the changes is the omission of the half case. They say that the packaging process caused the case to mark the bodies so they have decided to leave them out from now on.
 
Look slike they've made a revision ... the original didn't have the click stop.

Nice to see they made some changes.

Do they have any outlet for info on their products when they do stuff like revisions? I went to their website and theres no "news" type section to notify customers of upcoming products or product updates.
 
Got my third pair of Frontier EDs today and was surprised to find that one of the changes is the omission of the half case. They say that the packaging process caused the case to mark the bodies so they have decided to leave them out from now on.

Do they still have the slow, spongey focus?

Matt
 
It appears to me to be how "spongy" is percieved and defined. In this case the definition may be defined by the user on the basis of the slow rate and the seeming delay that causes in getting from one side of the focus to another. That has always been a complaint of sorts I have had with the ZEN and Promaster, but in those binoculars I have had, the focus rate and tension apparrently required to keep the focus wheel in motion has always been constant, and seems about what it should be. Certainly not what I would call spongy, but we all see/feel things differently. ;)
 
Focus action is fine on mine too. A lot has been made of the slow focus but unless you constantly go from extreme close distance to medium / long distance it's not a problem. The depth of field is very good so I don't find the need to re-focus much in most situations. In fact the slow focus does seem to help attain sharp focus better than other fast focusing bins i've used in the past.

John.
 
Thanks to all the reviews and information on here I have just got the Black ED 8x43s brand new for £235 ! My first proper pair of bins and much better than the 20 year old opticrons I'd been struggling with... thanks to everyone for helping me narrow my search, cheers, Pitvar
 
Glad to hear that you are happy with the new bins. The Hawke and its subsequent siblings (Promaster, Zen Ray, Atlas Optics) are truly superb performers. The fact that they are as inexpensive as they are truly is something.
 
I tried the Hawke EDs a few month ago and thought they were excellent apart from the focusing, which I too found to be stiff, slow and spongy. It completely put me off the bins. However, I tried another pair a few days ago and couldn't find anything to complain about at all with the focusing. I don't know if they were bedded in, if there is sample variation or if I just wasn't 'tuned into them' the first time. I was very impressed indeed with the latest sample and my only complaint now is that they are slightly on the large side.

Ron
 
Thanks to all the reviews and information on here I have just got the Black ED 8x43s brand new for £235 ! My first proper pair of bins and much better than the 20 year old opticrons I'd been struggling with... thanks to everyone for helping me narrow my search, cheers, Pitvar

Hopefully I'm not in breach of any forum protocol but, dare I ask, where?
 
Hopefully I'm not in breach of any forum protocol but, dare I ask, where?

Sorry Scooby2 - only just saw this - will pm you as it probably is against etiquette!

Edit - just checked same supplier gone from £249 or make me an offer to £299 or make me an offer - guess we've been hit by an exchange rate move again in the UK ?!?
 
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