Can a 30-year-old porro compete with a new alpha? Really! (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Mau]

"be your own expert" I have to agree with this! I got a huge wake-up call about why birders love the modern roofs so much on New Years Day this year, the local club always does an all-day tour on the 1st of the year.

This year, it was pouring rain for the first 2 hours and drizzle/mist for the rest of the day. I discovered something - I don't like using my optics in the rain. ANY optics. I don't mind being out in the rain, I enjoyed lots of naked-eye birding and some views with binos out my car window.

But the idea of trying to view through binos with rain cascading down over and through the binos, running down my eyes, running over the lenses, does not appeal to me. It's not that rainy here! I can wait till it stops raining. I live here, I can go tomorrow. Many people had traveled an hour or two for this tour. I'm just not that serious of a birder.

I don't enjoy birding in the rain either. That is a reason I haven't been to Monteverde Rain Forest in Costa Rica in a while. It rains about 99% of the time there, but I guess that is why they call it a 'rain' forest. I don't really enjoy birding with the rain running down my binoculars, either. There are tons of different species of birds there, though, as well as insects!

 

[Dennis Mau]

I have tried all three Habichts and I like the Habicht 7x42 GA the best, even though it has the narrowest AFOV. The Habicht 8x30 W has a 7.7 degree FOV, the Habicht 10x40 W has a 6.2 degree FOV and the Habicht 7x42 W has a 6.5 degree FOV. The Habicht 8x30 W is kind of the starter Habicht and the one most birders try first because it is the smallest and lightest and has the biggest FOV and is usually the least expensive.

the Habicht 8x30 W probably has more wow factor than the other two because of the bigger FOV. It has sensational 3D views most of the time, but in sunny situations it will show quite a bit of glare. The Habicht 10x40 W is a superb binocular if you like 10x and don't mind a smaller FOV, less DOF and more shaking than a 8x. I used the Habicht 10x40 W on a trip to Yellowstone National Park once, and it provided beautiful views of the various lakes and scenery. It has less glare than the Habicht 8x30 W, but it is not as glare resistant as my favorite, the Habicht 7x42 W.

The Habicht 7x42 W is the brightest of the three Habichts because of the big 6mm EP and if you are older and your eyes are not dilating above 6mm it is probably the best low light binocular you can buy because of it's super high transmission even higher than other two Habichts because of it's simpler 3-element Kellner eyepieces. It also has the easiest eye placement because of this larger 6mm EP, and 7x is a lot easier to hold steady than 8x or 10x. The Habicht 7x42 W also has much better DOF than the Habicht 8x30 W and Habicht 10x40 W meaning that even though it has a smaller FOV in area more objects in that FOV are always going to be in focus so you don't have to focus it as much as the Habicht 8x30 W and Habicht 10x40 W.

All the Habichts are superb optical instruments and have the inherent advantages of a porro prism binocular when compared to a roof including better stereoscopic or 3D view, higher transmission and more transparency because of the simpler optical system with no reflective surfaces that require phase coating like a roof prism binocular or even ED glass to control CA. The Habichts do have a tight focuser, but they loosen up with time, and the small eye cups on the Habicht 8x30 W can be changed for bigger diameter ones from the GA to solve black out issues.

 

[tenex]

Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages (spam) to large numbers of recipients for some purpose, or simply repeatedly sending the same message to the same group of users.

The relevant term here is unsolicited, in the sense that there has been no request or need to present the material.

"be your own expert" I have to agree with this!

But the reason it's risible in this case is that actual experts know their material and audience, and simply say the relevant thing. They don't continually and repeatedly paste reams of material from random internet sources (identified or not) for no apparent reason.

Moreover, the fundamental problem with this thread is indicated (as usual) by the word "compete" in the title. This suggests some objective standard of measurement or judgment, whereas the matter is entirely of subjective taste, which requires no analysis or argument.