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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pete_gamby" data-source="post: 3443934" data-attributes="member: 76050">David - just a small correction that the VHD is not a Kamakura model.Although it is sometimes easy to see the origins of an OEM model in the branded Kamakura products, the finished article almost certainly will have cosmetic and optical differences. A case in point would be the KK SP-83ED. That was the platform for the original Opticron ES 80 ED, a Kite or Bynolyt model the name(s) of which I forget and the Pentax PF-80ED scopes. In our case we are now on the third generation of improvements to the already modified version of the scope. For Kite and Technolyt, they are now on a tailored version of the EDV-81 (as are Zeiss with the Gavia).Other "brands" such as GO Foto's own Magnipro line can have a lighter touch on the factory version with perhaps just a logo and one of the two or three factory-standard rubber coverings.Another development in the life of a platform can be that the design gets licensed and/or copied, hence undergoing some improvements and/or cost reductions. That is the case with the JRB (John Riutta Binocular) platform which was the 'original' Leupold Yosemite and which is now in various guises eminating from more than one factory.Being Japanese, the Kamakura family is very honourable and so there has always been "geographic loyalty" to their various OEM customers and/or distributors - freedom of trade in the EU and the internet have naturally softened those geographical boundaries and we find Kite in the UK, Opticron in the Netherlands and Sweden and so on.Personally, I'm not surprised that predominantly 'birdy' brands haven't taken on the AKS platform (the Maven B2) - does any birder go into an optics store in the UK and ask for a big, heavy binocular? <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> Even the EDL4/ED Pro/Bonelli is IMO pushing things at 800g+!HTHCheers, Pete</blockquote>

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