Paultricounty
Well-known member
I had both of these with me today, along with a Nikon 8x32 SE. I figured I’d give a short subjective observation of the differences of the two beautiful roofs.
The EDG is heavier and feels heavier, it is completely encased in this thick heavy rubber. The rubber armor on the EDG has a military feel, extremely solid.The MHG almost feels toy-ish in comparison, but doesn’t feel cheap. I kind of feel the same way when comparing the SF to the NL. The MHG is slimmer in all dimensions and feels slim in the hands. The armor is more like a synthetic leather, and instead of all encased around the binocular, it’s more like an inlay in the magnesium body. The EDG mechanicals all feel more robust and everything is metal and feels like it will last a lifetime , whereas the MHG feels more delicate with plastic focuser and eyecups.
I’m not gonna get into the diopter configurations , they were both set over a year ago and haven’t changed, both work adequately without drift and both are precise.
The focuser in the MHG is very good, smooth in both directions with no slip or rough spots, it is a little light. The EDG focuser is probably the best in the business, and second to none. It is extremely smooth with excellent feed back feel , a true joy to use.
Both exhibit a very sharp and high quality image. The MHG is slightly brighter, has a noticeably larger FOV 435@1000 vs 405@1000. Everything in the EDG appears sharper, it has more color saturation, the colors and the image pops a bit more. But they are closer than they are different , if that makes sense.
CA is barely noticeable in the center in either one. A touch more CA in MHG in the center in very difficult lighting conditions, it creeps into the edges earlier than the EDG as well.
EDG has a flat field and is sharp almost to the very edge, not quite as flat as the Swaro EL. Panning characteristics are better than the EL. Didn’t notice any panning issues in the MHG.
MHG advertises a flat field, but it’s not flat all the way to the edge, not even close. It falls off in the last 20% of the edge. Its a subtle fall off and not objectionable at all, but if your expecting a flat field you will be disappointed. It’s very noticeable when it’s compared side-by-side with the EDG. We could say the EDG has a larger sweet spot when factoring in the MHG fall off, but it still feels larger.
I had compared these two models previously in 10x42 , and there was much more separating the two, in the 8x I feel they are much closer. If someone was trying these out for a few minutes in the parking lot of the vendor, and dismissing the build quality difference , it really would be a hard choice considering the EDG is twice the price, a little less today if bought from Japan. It does take some time with both to really appreciate the difference, I’ve had both for quite some time, so I do notice the difference , and if I had to choose just one, I’d go with the EDG.
Paul
The EDG is heavier and feels heavier, it is completely encased in this thick heavy rubber. The rubber armor on the EDG has a military feel, extremely solid.The MHG almost feels toy-ish in comparison, but doesn’t feel cheap. I kind of feel the same way when comparing the SF to the NL. The MHG is slimmer in all dimensions and feels slim in the hands. The armor is more like a synthetic leather, and instead of all encased around the binocular, it’s more like an inlay in the magnesium body. The EDG mechanicals all feel more robust and everything is metal and feels like it will last a lifetime , whereas the MHG feels more delicate with plastic focuser and eyecups.
I’m not gonna get into the diopter configurations , they were both set over a year ago and haven’t changed, both work adequately without drift and both are precise.
The focuser in the MHG is very good, smooth in both directions with no slip or rough spots, it is a little light. The EDG focuser is probably the best in the business, and second to none. It is extremely smooth with excellent feed back feel , a true joy to use.
Both exhibit a very sharp and high quality image. The MHG is slightly brighter, has a noticeably larger FOV 435@1000 vs 405@1000. Everything in the EDG appears sharper, it has more color saturation, the colors and the image pops a bit more. But they are closer than they are different , if that makes sense.
CA is barely noticeable in the center in either one. A touch more CA in MHG in the center in very difficult lighting conditions, it creeps into the edges earlier than the EDG as well.
EDG has a flat field and is sharp almost to the very edge, not quite as flat as the Swaro EL. Panning characteristics are better than the EL. Didn’t notice any panning issues in the MHG.
MHG advertises a flat field, but it’s not flat all the way to the edge, not even close. It falls off in the last 20% of the edge. Its a subtle fall off and not objectionable at all, but if your expecting a flat field you will be disappointed. It’s very noticeable when it’s compared side-by-side with the EDG. We could say the EDG has a larger sweet spot when factoring in the MHG fall off, but it still feels larger.
I had compared these two models previously in 10x42 , and there was much more separating the two, in the 8x I feel they are much closer. If someone was trying these out for a few minutes in the parking lot of the vendor, and dismissing the build quality difference , it really would be a hard choice considering the EDG is twice the price, a little less today if bought from Japan. It does take some time with both to really appreciate the difference, I’ve had both for quite some time, so I do notice the difference , and if I had to choose just one, I’d go with the EDG.
Paul
