Horned Lark
Member
After a lot of deliberation I decided to replace my battered old Opticron DBA 8x42 with something more up-market. I tested the following on 2 separate occasions in 2 separate stores:
Trinovid HD 8x42
Noctivid 8x42
8.5x42 EL Field Pro
Conquest 8x42
8x42 SF
My main criteria were image quality, brightness, close focus.
In the end I opted for the Trinovids. My dream bins over the years have always been Swaro ELs but I can't get on with the new harness. I was surprised to find that the SF provided an equally good view, with a significantly wider field, but those eye cups felt cheap. I just didn't like the Noctivids - didn't feel nice, too heavy, something not quite right. The Conquests were very nice but eye cups even worse than the SFs. (Sadly for the 2nd store their demo pair had one eyecup completely stuck, which didn't help to make a good impression).
So that left the Trinnies. The lightest and most compact of the 5, with image quality and brightness only marginally less good than those costing over twice as much. Pretty much a no-brainer.
My only reservation was the silly case/strap arrangement, but an email to Leica Mayfair produced the offer of swapping this for a cordura case post-purchase, so that sealed the deal.
I was thus very disappointed when I got home with my lovely new bins and took them out into the garden to enjoy some twilight viewing, to find a very disturbing amount of flare in both fields. This could be ameliorated to an extent by changing eye position, but that instead produced varying amounts of blackout. I just couldn't find an eye position that gave a clear view. Sadly this problem has persisted, though it varies under different lighting conditions, being worst at twilight. I didn't see it at all when I tried them out.
Interestingly, reading the thread by Nixterdemus (Trinovid HD 10X42 First View) I note a similar sounding problem with blackouts. Possibly due to an issue with ER? Any other ideas?
I've spoken to the store where I bought them who are going to give me a different pair to try. Failing that I may have to exchange them for a different model altogether, though will obviously then have to reconsider the various disadvantages above. Perhaps a nice used pair of EL SVs will come up...
Dom
Trinovid HD 8x42
Noctivid 8x42
8.5x42 EL Field Pro
Conquest 8x42
8x42 SF
My main criteria were image quality, brightness, close focus.
In the end I opted for the Trinovids. My dream bins over the years have always been Swaro ELs but I can't get on with the new harness. I was surprised to find that the SF provided an equally good view, with a significantly wider field, but those eye cups felt cheap. I just didn't like the Noctivids - didn't feel nice, too heavy, something not quite right. The Conquests were very nice but eye cups even worse than the SFs. (Sadly for the 2nd store their demo pair had one eyecup completely stuck, which didn't help to make a good impression).
So that left the Trinnies. The lightest and most compact of the 5, with image quality and brightness only marginally less good than those costing over twice as much. Pretty much a no-brainer.
My only reservation was the silly case/strap arrangement, but an email to Leica Mayfair produced the offer of swapping this for a cordura case post-purchase, so that sealed the deal.
I was thus very disappointed when I got home with my lovely new bins and took them out into the garden to enjoy some twilight viewing, to find a very disturbing amount of flare in both fields. This could be ameliorated to an extent by changing eye position, but that instead produced varying amounts of blackout. I just couldn't find an eye position that gave a clear view. Sadly this problem has persisted, though it varies under different lighting conditions, being worst at twilight. I didn't see it at all when I tried them out.
Interestingly, reading the thread by Nixterdemus (Trinovid HD 10X42 First View) I note a similar sounding problem with blackouts. Possibly due to an issue with ER? Any other ideas?
I've spoken to the store where I bought them who are going to give me a different pair to try. Failing that I may have to exchange them for a different model altogether, though will obviously then have to reconsider the various disadvantages above. Perhaps a nice used pair of EL SVs will come up...
Dom