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Message: <blockquote data-quote="brocknroller" data-source="post: 1731766" data-attributes="member: 665">Will the resounding success of the ZR 7x36 ED2 spur the development on a 7x35 or 7x36 configuration roof by the Big Three? Nah, they are much too complacent. That's the real sad fact. Or if in the highly unlikely scenario that they did step out of the box to create something new to match their underling competitors, it could become the "marketing blunder of the century," like New Coke if not executed and marketed properly. We'll still see some innovation in existing alpha bins until they reach the Omega Point, and eventually new models in the same configurations, but we will never see the variety of models, configurations, and price points like we've seen from Vortex. After the huge financial losses in sports optics last year, we will be fortunate to see the Ultravid HD continue, let alone spin off new models (Note: hyperbole at work). But the good news for the birder with champagne taste and a Coca-Cola Classic® wallet, is that the underlings are getting better and better with each generation, thus closing the gap between the "haves" and the "have nots". And I think that's worth a Hallelujah Chorus! What I would like to see (only in my dreams, apparently) is a company that would do aftermarket upgrades to old bins. I've been told by an optics expert that you can't add MCs to a non-MC bin, because even though that only adds thousandths of an inch to the lens, it changes the shape of the lens such that you would need to do major tweaks to the entire optical system to match.As an aficionado of classic porros, I would be willing to pay through the nose to update those classic porros to contemporary standards (if my nose were full of money instead of nose hair) . I'm sure others would also be willing to pay to update classic roofs (I know that "chuckle head" Rockwell would!). But will the market be big enough and the profits margins thick enough to justify the start up of a small, niche company that upgrades classic bins? Not during the recession, but afterward? As more and more people get priced out of the alpha market, and porros degenerate into cheap bins you buy in a plastic packaging at Walmart, and if the stigma of "Made in (Red) China" does not die away fast enough for Chinese clones to fill the void, then yes, I think there could be a niche market for upgrades to classic bins. The question is who would be willing to take up the gauntlet? And would there be legal issues involved in upgrading other companies' bins? It certainly would not be the Big Three (or Four) who would take up this challenge, even though they would be in the best position to do this, and Swarovski does do it with some of their old bins. However, since the the "New Classics" would be competing against their company's new models, costing much more, the "Big Three" would lose out. So they would probably try to stop an outside company from making upgrades to their old classics. European patents last 20 years, just like in the US, however, the US has an "elastic clause" such that if claims priority to another previous application for the same technology ("parent application"), the 20 years will be counted from the date of filing of the parent application.If this applies to Germany, and they can convince the patent office that the Trinovids have the same parentage as the Ultravids (which if they have different prisms, would be more difficult to prove), then they can go back 40 years. But would upgrading classic bins be considered patent infringement? With a "dream team" of lawyers, anything is possible. We will need more "due diligence" before deciding if "New Classics" is a great idea whose time has finally come or another hair brained scheme like one of Uncle Joe's from Petticoat Junction.</blockquote>

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