BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="John M Robinson" data-source="post: 1727620" data-attributes="member: 61814">I think Alexis hit the nail right on the head. I own and use a bunch of bins but my two favorites are my 8x42 Ultravid and 8x32 Nikon SE. That said I am a bino nut, maybe not to the level of most here, but I try as many high end ones as I can find, in stores, outside, taken home for a weekend, borrowed from friends, ect. I have tried all of the latest Zeiss, Swaro, Nikon and Leica, and find things about each that I like, but for my eyes (this is very individualistic), I have never been "wowed" by the Zeiss FLs, they are great but always come in 3rd or 4th place against the other alphas. Then one day out at a birdwatching refuge I came across a group of bird watchers and noticed this one lady was holding a 7x42 Zeiss Classic. I asked if I could look through them. I know that technically the newer Zeiss FLs are brighter, have better coatings on lenses and prisms, are more streamlined and lighter with better water proofing, but one look through those gave me that "wow" that I had been missing. And it's not just a seven power thing as I tried a 7x42 Ultravid against my 8x42 BRs and didn't really notice that much difference. I can't say that I would trade my Ultravids for them, but I think you would be very happy with them, and $800.00 is in the ballpark, I have seen mint 7x42 Classics go as low as $750.00, but that was last year.Johnedit: I just saw the $700.00 price. Now I want to buy them!</blockquote>

Verification