brocknroller
porromaniac
Back in the day when Celestron, Swift, and Vixen ED porros were made in Japan, they were not cheap. I had the 9.5x44, 8.5x44, 8x44, and 10x50 models; they made a 6.5x44 and a 10x44 too.
The ED porros sold for btwn $400-$500. That's when good quality non-ED porros we're selling for about $100 to $150. So they seemed pricey to me, but little did I expect how extreme binocular prices would go in both directions, from the $2K+ ED alphas down to the $279 Bushnell Legend Ultra HDs.
We also keep hearing that porros are less expensive to make, but look at the prices of roofs coming out of China. Yeah, still higher than the cheapest porros, but only by about $100-$150. However, the roofs are WP and most of the porros are not, so for many, it's worth paying extra $ for the roof.
Anyway, that's why I thought $279 was too cheap for an ED porro. If it's made in China, it could be, but according to Steve's post above, the Promaster Infinity Porros do not have ED glass.
In a way I'm glad, because that would have seemed too cheap to me for an ED glass porro, and I would have suspected they cut corners somewhere else such as fuzzy edges, mediocre mechanics, and/or cheapo accessories. Unless I read rave reviews, I probably would have lost interest.
As a general rule, I see less CA in birding porros than I do birding roofs too (though the reason why is still not clear), but I like the ED glass anyway for the enhanced color saturation, contrast, and image sharpness.
Brock
The ED porros sold for btwn $400-$500. That's when good quality non-ED porros we're selling for about $100 to $150. So they seemed pricey to me, but little did I expect how extreme binocular prices would go in both directions, from the $2K+ ED alphas down to the $279 Bushnell Legend Ultra HDs.
We also keep hearing that porros are less expensive to make, but look at the prices of roofs coming out of China. Yeah, still higher than the cheapest porros, but only by about $100-$150. However, the roofs are WP and most of the porros are not, so for many, it's worth paying extra $ for the roof.
Anyway, that's why I thought $279 was too cheap for an ED porro. If it's made in China, it could be, but according to Steve's post above, the Promaster Infinity Porros do not have ED glass.
In a way I'm glad, because that would have seemed too cheap to me for an ED glass porro, and I would have suspected they cut corners somewhere else such as fuzzy edges, mediocre mechanics, and/or cheapo accessories. Unless I read rave reviews, I probably would have lost interest.
As a general rule, I see less CA in birding porros than I do birding roofs too (though the reason why is still not clear), but I like the ED glass anyway for the enhanced color saturation, contrast, and image sharpness.
Brock
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