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Message: <blockquote data-quote="elkcub" data-source="post: 1468570" data-attributes="member: 14473">Well, I'm not of the opinion that it was ever their "best model," but we might agree to disagree.  7x35s were quite common; the 8.5x44s were an innovation at the time.  The B&L Zephyr of the late 50s that I'm familiar with had a knurled black focusing wheel that differed from the Neptune's, which is faceted—as well as its EPs.  Those were made by Tamron in the late 50s.  Do you see a Japanese makers mark?  If not it's Tamron.  Otherwise Hiyoshi Kogaku.  (I think you have a Tamron product.)The objectives of my Audubons of that era are marked Quintar (Type-0a) or Ultrar (Type-0b), apparently the difference being coated vs. fully coated.  The Type-1c made by Hiyoshi in the later 60s is also marked Ultrar.  As was typical for the Type-2 models of the 1980s, my Neptune says "U.V.  Coating.  Amber Coated Optics."  When Swift introduced the smaller body 804R in 1985, it also introduced multicoating.  My 1988 Neptune, however, did not have that feature so the image is inferior in contrast and brightness.  With the advent of full multicoating in the HR/5 there was no longer a valid comparison, and Swift apparently discontinued its stalwart Neptune without further improvement.Ed</blockquote>