GPO 10x50 - does anyone have them, use them? (1 Viewer)

[Lewis]

I’ve read the couple-few reviews of these and other GPO HS binoculars, along with all the marketing info. Does anyone actually own and use these 10x50s? Can anyone offer their experience using them for birdwatching?

I am stuck in the idea of getting 10x50s, and sight-unseen (ha!) I am stuck in the idea of Passion HDs. Why not Vortex or such? I don’t even know.

I’d have to purchase the GPO 10x50s to just try them out. And return them if I don’t want them.

I did have the opportunity to try out Leica Ultravid 10x50s new as well as 10x42s. I was not wowed enough to get them.

Why do I think the GPOs would offer something different? Again, I don’t know.

Any-all real world experience would be so appreciated. And/oe any recs for non Swarovski non Zeiss 10x50s under 2,000.

I have Monarch HG 8x42s which I love.

Thank you

Lewis

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Hey Lewis
I think it’s fair to say that the optical quality of the Passion HDs is comparable to the Swarovski SLCs

 

[dries1]

I prefer the Leica 10X50 UV over the GPO. But the GPOs are lower in cost, so for some that matters.

 

[Lewis]

Thank you. I should have added: If you are regularly using the GPO 10x50s in the field, does the very small field of view strongly affect your experience? The eye relief is attractive as I wear glasses. The field of view for the Ultravids is greater but the eye relief much less than the GPOs.

Maybe I was not wowed by the Ultravid 10x50s because 10x50s are not as wildly different from 8x42s as I’d hoped.

 

[dries1]

Believe me the GPOs did not wow me. To tell you the truth, I have used both as I am a fan of 10X50 (I do not wear glasses), personally I think GPO does better with the 42mm format of glass. Since ER is an issue for you then it would be best to try before you buy, perhaps contact GPO and see if you can try them out, or from a online dealer that allows returns without restocking fees.

 

[Canip]

Hey Lewis
I think it’s fair to say that the optical quality of the Passion HDs is comparable to the Swarovski SLCs

I would disagree, with all due respect (and, as far as I am aware, there is no 10x50 SLC). Just my opinion.

 

[Richard D]

I would disagree, with all due respect (and, as far as I am aware, there is no 10x50 SLC). Just my opinion.

There was a 10x50 SLC but not for a number of years. The GPO Passion are good for the price but certainly a step below SLCs optically and build quality IMO.

 

[PatR]

Hi Lewis

Not the 10x50 but I do have the Geco versions (identical to GPO) of the 8x42 and the 12.5x50. However, optical and build quality must be similar irrespective of magnification and I have to say that they really are excellent bino's. The 8x42 is a particularly sweet binocular, compact, relatively light and superb for fast moving birds as the FOV is excellent. I did try the 10x50's but frankly the 8x42's suited me, and my wallet, better.

Are they optically the equal of my NL Pure's?

No they are not, but not as far behind as you would think bearing in mind the cost difference.

Is the build quality below that of the NL Pure's?

No, when I compare the mold lines of the rubber body and the density of the rubber then the GPO/Geco's are far superior to the NL's. The focus mechanisms and 'feel' are broadly similar albeit in different directions but the Geco/GPO eyecups are much better. They have pre-determined positions and once 'locked in' to the detent, do not move. They stay put when you remove the rain shield unlike the Pure's.

Build quality is such a difficuly thing to quantify, is it appearance and fit and finish or the robustness of the internals? An old Peugeot 404 I owned many years ago had shut lines that would have been visible from the moon but it never once let me down and cost nothing in repairs. My brand new 2022 Land Rover Defender was beautifully made, looked superb but spent more time in the dealership than the Sales Manager. It was rejected, money returned, and is being replaced by a Grenadier.

I like my Geco/GPO's and consider them to be superb value for money. I stress 'I like' as there are many who cannot get on with them and quote re-sale values as a major downside to purchasing GPO's. Very few things appreciate and depreciation varies between marques and models. It has never been a deciding factor for me.

I wish you well in your quest, a vendor with a good returns policy is the default purchasing option these days with so few optical retailers. It is always best to engage your MK1 eyeballs with any potential purchase but sadly it is not always possible.

 

[survivalistd]

I have the GPO and have great success with them. I did buy them second hand off another forum at a great price. I'm very impressed.

 

[Paultricounty]

I’ve read the couple-few reviews of these and other GPO HS binoculars, along with all the marketing info. Does anyone actually own and use these 10x50s? Can anyone offer their experience using them for birdwatching?

GPO passion HD are excellent , optically upper mid level , like Conquest and Nikon MHG, but built better.
I’ve tried these side by side with the 42’s and kept the 42. Didn’t see the benefit for my style of observing.

I am stuck in the idea of getting 10x50s, and sight-unseen (ha!) I am stuck in the idea of Passion HDs. Why not Vortex or such? I don’t even know.

If your stuck on 50’s (not sure why your didn’t like the UVHD+) the Vortex UHD optically are a clear step up from the GPO in almost every way, and within your budget. This is phenomenal glass under $2000.

I’d have to purchase the GPO 10x50s to just try them out. And return them if I don’t want them.

Thats usually the way it works, best to try before you buy.

I did have the opportunity to try out Leica Ultravid 10x50s new as well as 10x42s. I was not wowed enough to get them.

If you weren’t wowed enough by the UVHD‘s then you won’t be wowed by the GPO, unless your looking for a beautiful pair of binoculars and be wowed by how much you’ve saved by going the upper mid level instead of premium (alpha) level.

Why do I think the GPOs would offer something different? Again, I don’t know.

I don’t either 😄🤔.

Any-all real world experience would be so appreciated. And/oe any recs for non Swarovski non Zeiss 10x50s under 2,000.

Vortex UHD.

I have Monarch HG 8x42s which I love.

Me too, great glass , optically GPO HD level.

Thank you

Lewis

 

[Lewis]

What about Maven B.6 10x50s compared to GP0 HD 10x50s? Or the Vortex UHDs for that matter?

 

[Paultricounty]

What about Maven B.6 10x50s compared to GP0 HD 10x50s? Or the Vortex UHDs for that matter?

UHD all the way, alpha glass. B6 same level as GPO HD. Vortex warranty as good as it gets.

 

[[email protected]]

UHD all the way, alpha glass. B6 same level as GPO HD. Vortex warranty as good as it gets.

Grasshopper is right about the Vortex Razor UHD 10x50. Best glass for the money. It will eat the GPO for breakfast. AK prisms and MIJ too. I would go for one of these on eBay or Amazon.com.

Vortex Razor UHD (10x50) Binoculars - RZB-3105 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vortex Razor UHD (10x50) Binoculars - RZB-3105 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Vortex Razor UHD (10x50) Binoculars - RZB-3105 for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vortex Razor UHD (10x50) Binoculars - RZB-3105 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

https://www.amazon.com/Vortex-Optics-Razor-Binoculars-10x50/dp/B09CHDW4RK?tag=namespacebran131-20&keywords=vortex+razor+uhd+10x50+binoculars&sprefix=vortex+razor+uhd+10x50+binoculars%2Caps%2C116

 

[Lewis]

Would then the Maven B.2 9x45 be an equivalent to the Vortex 10x50 UHD (In quality of components and build, not in numbers obviously).

If anyone’s tried all of these models.

Thanks!

L

 

[[email protected]]

Would then the Maven B.2 9x45 be an equivalent to the Vortex 10x50 UHD (In quality of components and build, not in numbers obviously).

If anyone’s tried all of these models.

Thanks!

L

I have. The Maven B.2 9x45 is the best Maven I have tried in the Maven line, and I have tried a lot of them, but it is not the equal of the Vortex Razor 10x50 UHD. The Vortex has sharper edges, and it is superbly bright in low light. One of the best I have seen outside of maybe the Habicht 7x42. The only 10x50 that would be a little better than the Vortex UHD is of course the Swarovski EL 10x50 because it gives you a bigger FOV and even sharper edges, but in that case you are paying almost twice as much.

 

[Lewis]

It's such a coincidence this thread woke up a few days ago: A few days ago I two Maven demo units: The B.6 10x50 and the B.2 9x45.

I started off wanting 'good' 10x50s a couple of years ago. Ended up spending my 'good' money on Nikon 8x42 HGs.

But I've still wanted quality very good, perhaps even (go into credit card debt) 'alphas.' I wear glasses so this is a consideration.

I won't drag y'all thru the whole path to Mavens but I've really wanted to try the 9x45 AKs, imagining they'd be awesome, they'd offer a little more mag but not too much since I like to get on Farallon Island boats now and again and 9s might be better than 10s for being on the ocean.

But I still wanted to try 10x50s, too.

* * *

So I received both demo Mavens earlier this week and I went to the Berkeley Marina with more excitement than I can adequately convey here.

I am still weighing my experiences with the two models but in short I find the 9x45s basically unusable. I presumed I had a faulty model and maybe I do. But I wrote to Maven and they said some people react poorly to the AK prisms and their field flatteners. This is my first AK prism/field flattener experience so I have nothing to compare it to. But with the 9x45s I cannot achieve focus resolution with any degree of satisfaction. Sometimes I think it's the diopter adjustment, sometimes I think each barrel isn't quite in focus. Also, even when I have one bird in something akin to focus, everything else is so blurry that the whole experience is unpleasant.

The Maven rep said some people can't deal with field flatteners, it gives a small cross section of users headaches. Maybe I'm in that camp; maybe I got a bad demo model. I'll send them back and find out soon. Very let down.

* * *

Comparatively I've loved the B6 10x50s. At the marina there were W. gulls preening in shallow water and clarity and overall experience was just luscious. Feathers so distinct, water droplets rolling off of feathers, really detailed clarity on eyes and legs and bills and gapes and colors and all. I presume I will order new Maven 10x50 B6s if I hear the 9x45s I had are not defective.

* * *

The ONE positive experience I had with the 9x45s was this past Friday. I went to Lake Chabot with my HGs and both Maven models and had the same experience I'd had a days prior. Except at the end of my lake path birding walk and I was almost done for the day, I saw a great blue heron standing still across a short expanse of water. So I decided to try looking thru the Mavens when they rested on a wooden railing. Doing this, with the binoculars side by side and motionless on the railing, I noticed the 9x45 B2s showed the color of everything - the heron, the surrounding trees - more vividly; everything was a touch less vivid, less contrasty, thru the B610x50s.

Honestly this bummed me out because I want things to simple, y'know? What's good is all good, what's bad is all bad, case closed. Now of course I'm all "aaahhhhh I'm making a bad choice ahhh." Such is life.

TODAY I went back to the Berkeley waterfront with JUST the B2 9x45s. Really put them to the test. Basically wholly unpleasant. Either my eyes or my brain could not focus them to a point of comfort. I tried and tried. Not pleasant.

More later,

Lewis

 

[Elpha8888]

It's such a coincidence this thread woke up a few days ago: A few days ago I two Maven demo units: The B.6 10x50 and the B.2 9x45.

I started off wanting 'good' 10x50s a couple of years ago. Ended up spending my 'good' money on Nikon 8x42 HGs.

But I've still wanted quality very good, perhaps even (go into credit card debt) 'alphas.' I wear glasses so this is a consideration.

I won't drag y'all thru the whole path to Mavens but I've really wanted to try the 9x45 AKs, imagining they'd be awesome, they'd offer a little more mag but not too much since I like to get on Farallon Island boats now and again and 9s might be better than 10s for being on the ocean.

But I still wanted to try 10x50s, too.

* * *

So I received both demo Mavens earlier this week and I went to the Berkeley Marina with more excitement than I can adequately convey here.

I am still weighing my experiences with the two models but in short I find the 9x45s basically unusable. I presumed I had a faulty model and maybe I do. But I wrote to Maven and they said some people react poorly to the AK prisms and their field flatteners. This is my first AK prism/field flattener experience so I have nothing to compare it to. But with the 9x45s I cannot achieve focus resolution with any degree of satisfaction. Sometimes I think it's the diopter adjustment, sometimes I think each barrel isn't quite in focus. Also, even when I have one bird in something akin to focus, everything else is so blurry that the whole experience is unpleasant.

The Maven rep said some people can't deal with field flatteners, it gives a small cross section of users headaches. Maybe I'm in that camp; maybe I got a bad demo model. I'll send them back and find out soon. Very let down.

* * *

Comparatively I've loved the B6 10x50s. At the marina there were W. gulls preening in shallow water and clarity and overall experience was just luscious. Feathers so distinct, water droplets rolling off of feathers, really detailed clarity on eyes and legs and bills and gapes and colors and all. I presume I will order new Maven 10x50 B6s if I hear the 9x45s I had are not defective.

* * *

The ONE positive experience I had with the 9x45s was this past Friday. I went to Lake Chabot with my HGs and both Maven models and had the same experience I'd had a days prior. Except at the end of my lake path birding walk and I was almost done for the day, I saw a great blue heron standing still across a short expanse of water. So I decided to try looking thru the Mavens when they rested on a wooden railing. Doing this, with the binoculars side by side and motionless on the railing, I noticed the 9x45 B2s showed the color of everything - the heron, the surrounding trees - more vividly; everything was a touch less vivid, less contrasty, thru the B610x50s.

Honestly this bummed me out because I want things to simple, y'know? What's good is all good, what's bad is all bad, case closed. Now of course I'm all "aaahhhhh I'm making a bad choice ahhh." Such is life.

TODAY I went back to the Berkeley waterfront with JUST the B2 9x45s. Really put them to the test. Basically wholly unpleasant. Either my eyes or my brain could not focus them to a point of comfort. I tried and tried. Not pleasant.

More later,

Lewis

The maven b5 10x56 is what I'd like to try, glowing reports on CN.

 

[Binocollector]

@Lewis
Very interesting report. That does sound strange though. I never heard the field flatteners can "disagree with you". And I have read glowing reports about the 7x45 especially which I think is the same model just different magnification.
I can only report about my DDoptics 10x45 "Pirschler" with AK-prisms. (Rumor has it that those are made in the Chinese Kamakura plant, so if that is true than these models are at least somewhat "related" -- isn't Maven also Kamakura basically?). The Pirschler has no flat field and not even ED-glass but it was my most used bino when we went on vacation to the south of France. It simply had more reach than the 8x32 Meopta Meopro HD that I also brought.
The Pirschler has a bit of off-axis CA but not that bothersome to me. But it is razor sharp in the center (also used it for stargazing and the stars are nice and "crisp") and the focus is very fast -- the image really "pops" into focus.
The only thing I don't like about that particular model is the false pupils which prevent me from using it with my glasses on as they intrude on the view. They are not visible when the eye cups are pulled out though.
Do the Maven AK-models show false pupils? I think it depends on the relationship of magnification and aperture. On my 8x56 Kite with AK-prisms (very similar to the GPO 8x56) I see the false pupils only when tilting it and "hunting" for them. They don't disturb the view when using glasses.
I'm not sure anyone has ever confirmed this with actual info from the companies, but aren't those all Kamakura binos? Maven, GPO, DDoptics and Kite. Maybe not all models but a large portion I think. Some "Made in Japan" some in the Chinese Kamakura factory.

 

[[email protected]]

It's such a coincidence this thread woke up a few days ago: A few days ago I two Maven demo units: The B.6 10x50 and the B.2 9x45.

I started off wanting 'good' 10x50s a couple of years ago. Ended up spending my 'good' money on Nikon 8x42 HGs.

But I've still wanted quality very good, perhaps even (go into credit card debt) 'alphas.' I wear glasses so this is a consideration.

I won't drag y'all thru the whole path to Mavens but I've really wanted to try the 9x45 AKs, imagining they'd be awesome, they'd offer a little more mag but not too much since I like to get on Farallon Island boats now and again and 9s might be better than 10s for being on the ocean.

But I still wanted to try 10x50s, too.

* * *

So I received both demo Mavens earlier this week and I went to the Berkeley Marina with more excitement than I can adequately convey here.

I am still weighing my experiences with the two models but in short I find the 9x45s basically unusable. I presumed I had a faulty model and maybe I do. But I wrote to Maven and they said some people react poorly to the AK prisms and their field flatteners. This is my first AK prism/field flattener experience so I have nothing to compare it to. But with the 9x45s I cannot achieve focus resolution with any degree of satisfaction. Sometimes I think it's the diopter adjustment, sometimes I think each barrel isn't quite in focus. Also, even when I have one bird in something akin to focus, everything else is so blurry that the whole experience is unpleasant.

The Maven rep said some people can't deal with field flatteners, it gives a small cross section of users headaches. Maybe I'm in that camp; maybe I got a bad demo model. I'll send them back and find out soon. Very let down.

* * *

Comparatively I've loved the B6 10x50s. At the marina there were W. gulls preening in shallow water and clarity and overall experience was just luscious. Feathers so distinct, water droplets rolling off of feathers, really detailed clarity on eyes and legs and bills and gapes and colors and all. I presume I will order new Maven 10x50 B6s if I hear the 9x45s I had are not defective.

* * *

The ONE positive experience I had with the 9x45s was this past Friday. I went to Lake Chabot with my HGs and both Maven models and had the same experience I'd had a days prior. Except at the end of my lake path birding walk and I was almost done for the day, I saw a great blue heron standing still across a short expanse of water. So I decided to try looking thru the Mavens when they rested on a wooden railing. Doing this, with the binoculars side by side and motionless on the railing, I noticed the 9x45 B2s showed the color of everything - the heron, the surrounding trees - more vividly; everything was a touch less vivid, less contrasty, thru the B610x50s.

Honestly this bummed me out because I want things to simple, y'know? What's good is all good, what's bad is all bad, case closed. Now of course I'm all "aaahhhhh I'm making a bad choice ahhh." Such is life.

TODAY I went back to the Berkeley waterfront with JUST the B2 9x45s. Really put them to the test. Basically wholly unpleasant. Either my eyes or my brain could not focus them to a point of comfort. I tried and tried. Not pleasant.

More later,

Lewis

Before you commit on the Maven B6 10x50, try the Vortex Razor UHD 10x50 side by side with them, especially in low light. Order them both and keep the one you like the best. I guarantee you will keep the Vortex UHD. The Vortex UHD is much brighter. Vortex uses sensational glass in the UHD. I have had both of them, and the Vortex kills the Maven in low light, and it handles glare much better.

 

[[email protected]]

The maven b5 10x56 is what I'd like to try, glowing reports on CN.

At 45 oz. that would be a brick to carry birding. Maybe for astronomy.