Steve C
Well-known member
Review series: New Binocular Brands
About this series: Over the last year or so several new companies have begun selling new brand name binoculars and other sports optics. Circumstances have led me to the opportunity to review several of them. The first review I did was for the new Maven B2. I have since acquired the Maven B1 and B3. These will be brought into the series at the appropriate point. I have already done the B2, but have as yet posted nothing on the B1. The first full review of this new series is the German Precision Optics (GPO) Passion HD in 8x42.
I do these reviews because I enjoy doing them. I am not affiliated with any of the companies and have no expectations of either being paid for the review, or otherwise being given anything. The folks at GPO are reading the review for the first time, right here, just like everybody else. I’m going to post here in the new GPO section. Other reviews will be posted in the General section. When those are done, I will do a comparison based on side by side observations. It is my intent to compare based on strengths and weaknesses. I have no intention of a shoot-out scenario with a grand winner and a big loser. Each brand and model will get its own stand alone review. I got the GPO first, so it is up. So let’s dive in.
GPO Passion HD 8x42: I got this glass for review by following the simple expedient of calling Mike Jensen and asking for one. Troubadour posted about the formation of the GPO brand, and that got my interest. This is one of the very first few binoculars that GPO received for early examination purposes. While the binocular itself is unchanged from the first that will be sold, it came with some rather generic objective covers, and no box. Just a hard zip style clam shell case, with a strap for both the case and the binocular, and lens covers. I was going to do a bit of an unboxing section, but since everything that might be included with the delivered sales models weren’t here, I didn’t. There is a minimum of exterior markings on this unit. On the left barrel there is a metal strip bearing the inscription GPO German-Precision-Optics. The focus wheel has only Passion HD and 8x42. There is the raptor head and wing logo on the right side of the single high hinge, another small German-Precision-Optics and a serial number on the right hand ring, just above the armor.
Out of the box the first thing I noticed was that this has excellent fit and finish, frankly just what should be expected from an instrument costing nearly $1,000. They are a solid instrument with a nice substantial feel. The second thing is that the eye cup assemblies have received a lot of thought. They don’t unscrew (at least not with what force I am willing to apply to somebody else's binocular), but from what I can tell they are not a generic off somebody’s shelf assembly. They simply have a unique sort of feel. There is three stops, all the way down, midway up, and fully extended. They move easily and smoothly and you can both hear and feel the detent as it thunks into place. They will stay where they are put. You will have to move the position, they show no tendency to move of their own accord.
The armor has two parts. The outer third, where your hands make contact while holding is a finely dimpled pebble grain finish that has a sandblasted feel to it. The rest is smooth, somewhat slick with a hard rubber feel. It seems a nice balance between grippy enough to hold and not so smooth as to feel too slippery.
Focus action: The focus action is an area that has received a lot of attention. This is as nice a focus mechanism as there is on any binocular, regardless of cost. The center focus wheel is pulled upward to expose the click stop diopter adjustment grid. It is a standard right eye adjustment. Snap it down and you have a soft, smooth counter clockwise to infinity movement. Focus direction is a no win situation. Either direction is wrong for somebody. This unit has a 6 foot close focus.
At the close focus point it needs one full turn to go to 50 feet. From there there are just slight bumps needed to get further away, There is about one quarter turn from 50’ to infinity. There is one quarter turn travel past infinity. Total focus travel is one and a half turns. Focus at infinity gives a close focus of about 75’.
The focus tension is equal in either direction. There is no slack in the wheel movement. If you like the buttery smooth focus, then this will suit you in that regard. However the downside is that there will be some tendency for the focus position to move when going in and back out of the case. I prefer a bit less silky movement.
PERFORMANCE:
FOV: OK folks here we go. Here we go because everybody just knows more fov is better right? I admit that if I had my druthers, I’d like to see 420’. When I first looked at the view through the focused HD, I thought, “this has to be understated, no way is this only 375 feet”. Literally the first review parameter I checked was the fov. Well guess what that is what it is. I even double checked my measurements and repeated the measurement several times. Well, 375 it is. It still looks wider. I would nearly bet somebody the price of a new GPO HD (I said nearly OK
) that the first thought will not be, “Ugh, this is too restrictive of a fov”. It simply is not. I seems wider in side by side comparison to a Promaster Infinity Elite ELX 8x42 I have which is both listed and measures as 7.5* or 393 feet. You can kneel to the spec sheet. That is fine. But it is your loss.
There are a lot of factors that go into the ultimate user satisfaction with the image. Whatever was done with this binocular worked. There is certainly a perceived “wider than it is” fov going on here.
Worth noting is the appearance of the widening of the fov as the eye cups are retracted. Since I measured the fov at full extension, which is where I leave them, I checked the fov at the intermediate and down stops. Whatever the reason, there is no change. The same measurement at all stops. But it sure looks like the field goes wider.
Image performance: The image is crisp and clean. Sharpness is top notch. Whatever the resolution spec is, it is certainly as good as anything else and better than a lot of others. Not an issue here. Looking backward at a bright, white, lighted surface there seems to be a very slight yellowish tint. In usage the color presentation seems quite neutral. Contrast is excellent. Greens are green, reds red, blues blue, blacks are black and whites are white. Edges of color boundaries are very sharply defined. Textures of things like feather detail and bark patterns leave little to be desired. Overall we have a very relaxed image, easy on the eyes. Easy in the vein you forget there is a binocular involved in the view. A characteristic of any good binocular.
There is little to no distortion across the field. Horizontal borders of horizontal corral boards stay horizontal in the view, all the way across the field, not bending at all as they either enter or leave either the top or bottom of the field. While there is some edge distortion it does not bend vertical lines at the edge. A vertical mirror of the horizontal performance. While there is no particular attempt for a flat field, the more or less conventional edge is well done, certainly not distracting. There is a little curvature, as would be expected without field flatteners.
Eye cups and eye relief: The eye cups are pretty standard 41 mm across the uppermost portion. They are 12 mm high, There is 2 mm between the ocular lens surface and the fully retracted eye cup. There is 14 mm of distance between the fully extended upper eye cup and the ocular lens. Listed eye relief is 19.5 mm. I measured it at 17 mm. IPD is from 57-75 mm on this unit. While the extension of the eye cup matches the eye relief as I measured it, there is less extension than needed if the actual listed figure is correct. With either reading glasses or sunglasses I can get a full fov. But I am not an obligate eye glass wearer, so I can’t make a better recommendation.
Glare and CA Suppression: I have noted before that I am not particularly sensitive to CA. I can force it to appear, and I tend to judge its control levels on the basis on how hard it is to get it to appear. In this instance it is somewhat easier to get it to show up, but it always is at very low levels. I would suggest that it will not be an issue unless a particular viewer is really CA sensitive. I have as yet been unable to get it to show any sort of glare in the image, even with exaggerated eye placements. It has been a dreary wet, and dark gray few days, so I have yet to get a really bright day to look harder. However after I wrote the last sentence, the snow stopped falling and the clouds broke away. Even in the snow, looking under the bright sun, there was no glare. Some glare has been noted for the 10x42. So I suppose the difference may be related to the exit pupil diameter.
Warranty and Service: GPO has trademarked the name “Spectacular Lifetime Warranty”. In description it is very Vortex or Leupold in application. Everyone is entitled to their market speak, and I’m fine with that. The idea is that GPO is going to take care of its customers. The proof is how well it works.
GPO USA has a repair facility of their own in Virginia. Binoculars in need of service will be sent there. They will be repaired unless severe damage warrants replacement. These are a built to be a take apart and repair precision instrument. The throw away merchandise idea seems not to apply here.
Summary: What we have with this binocular is another very good example of what can now be done at the $1,000 price range. There is ample image quality, contrast, and sharpness to satisfy almost anyone. There is a solid build and rugged feel, while also presenting a pretty refined instrument.
I am not going to make the claim these are an Alpha Killer. They are not, nor I am sure does GPO intend them to be a competitor at the $2,000++ level. That market niche is likely less than ten percent and it is not big enough to go after and the $1,000-1,200 range is where this glass is intended to compete. And compete it will. It is also close enough the the top tier that there will be some level of perceived competition there, intended or otherwise. The degree to which these will compete in direct comparison to a top tier is higher than many will ever be willing to admit.
I always do a review with one question foremost in mind. Is this good enough to either buy myself or to recommend to somebody else? The answer is yes it is.
About this series: Over the last year or so several new companies have begun selling new brand name binoculars and other sports optics. Circumstances have led me to the opportunity to review several of them. The first review I did was for the new Maven B2. I have since acquired the Maven B1 and B3. These will be brought into the series at the appropriate point. I have already done the B2, but have as yet posted nothing on the B1. The first full review of this new series is the German Precision Optics (GPO) Passion HD in 8x42.
I do these reviews because I enjoy doing them. I am not affiliated with any of the companies and have no expectations of either being paid for the review, or otherwise being given anything. The folks at GPO are reading the review for the first time, right here, just like everybody else. I’m going to post here in the new GPO section. Other reviews will be posted in the General section. When those are done, I will do a comparison based on side by side observations. It is my intent to compare based on strengths and weaknesses. I have no intention of a shoot-out scenario with a grand winner and a big loser. Each brand and model will get its own stand alone review. I got the GPO first, so it is up. So let’s dive in.
GPO Passion HD 8x42: I got this glass for review by following the simple expedient of calling Mike Jensen and asking for one. Troubadour posted about the formation of the GPO brand, and that got my interest. This is one of the very first few binoculars that GPO received for early examination purposes. While the binocular itself is unchanged from the first that will be sold, it came with some rather generic objective covers, and no box. Just a hard zip style clam shell case, with a strap for both the case and the binocular, and lens covers. I was going to do a bit of an unboxing section, but since everything that might be included with the delivered sales models weren’t here, I didn’t. There is a minimum of exterior markings on this unit. On the left barrel there is a metal strip bearing the inscription GPO German-Precision-Optics. The focus wheel has only Passion HD and 8x42. There is the raptor head and wing logo on the right side of the single high hinge, another small German-Precision-Optics and a serial number on the right hand ring, just above the armor.
Out of the box the first thing I noticed was that this has excellent fit and finish, frankly just what should be expected from an instrument costing nearly $1,000. They are a solid instrument with a nice substantial feel. The second thing is that the eye cup assemblies have received a lot of thought. They don’t unscrew (at least not with what force I am willing to apply to somebody else's binocular), but from what I can tell they are not a generic off somebody’s shelf assembly. They simply have a unique sort of feel. There is three stops, all the way down, midway up, and fully extended. They move easily and smoothly and you can both hear and feel the detent as it thunks into place. They will stay where they are put. You will have to move the position, they show no tendency to move of their own accord.
The armor has two parts. The outer third, where your hands make contact while holding is a finely dimpled pebble grain finish that has a sandblasted feel to it. The rest is smooth, somewhat slick with a hard rubber feel. It seems a nice balance between grippy enough to hold and not so smooth as to feel too slippery.
Focus action: The focus action is an area that has received a lot of attention. This is as nice a focus mechanism as there is on any binocular, regardless of cost. The center focus wheel is pulled upward to expose the click stop diopter adjustment grid. It is a standard right eye adjustment. Snap it down and you have a soft, smooth counter clockwise to infinity movement. Focus direction is a no win situation. Either direction is wrong for somebody. This unit has a 6 foot close focus.
At the close focus point it needs one full turn to go to 50 feet. From there there are just slight bumps needed to get further away, There is about one quarter turn from 50’ to infinity. There is one quarter turn travel past infinity. Total focus travel is one and a half turns. Focus at infinity gives a close focus of about 75’.
The focus tension is equal in either direction. There is no slack in the wheel movement. If you like the buttery smooth focus, then this will suit you in that regard. However the downside is that there will be some tendency for the focus position to move when going in and back out of the case. I prefer a bit less silky movement.
PERFORMANCE:
FOV: OK folks here we go. Here we go because everybody just knows more fov is better right? I admit that if I had my druthers, I’d like to see 420’. When I first looked at the view through the focused HD, I thought, “this has to be understated, no way is this only 375 feet”. Literally the first review parameter I checked was the fov. Well guess what that is what it is. I even double checked my measurements and repeated the measurement several times. Well, 375 it is. It still looks wider. I would nearly bet somebody the price of a new GPO HD (I said nearly OK
) that the first thought will not be, “Ugh, this is too restrictive of a fov”. It simply is not. I seems wider in side by side comparison to a Promaster Infinity Elite ELX 8x42 I have which is both listed and measures as 7.5* or 393 feet. You can kneel to the spec sheet. That is fine. But it is your loss.There are a lot of factors that go into the ultimate user satisfaction with the image. Whatever was done with this binocular worked. There is certainly a perceived “wider than it is” fov going on here.
Worth noting is the appearance of the widening of the fov as the eye cups are retracted. Since I measured the fov at full extension, which is where I leave them, I checked the fov at the intermediate and down stops. Whatever the reason, there is no change. The same measurement at all stops. But it sure looks like the field goes wider.
Image performance: The image is crisp and clean. Sharpness is top notch. Whatever the resolution spec is, it is certainly as good as anything else and better than a lot of others. Not an issue here. Looking backward at a bright, white, lighted surface there seems to be a very slight yellowish tint. In usage the color presentation seems quite neutral. Contrast is excellent. Greens are green, reds red, blues blue, blacks are black and whites are white. Edges of color boundaries are very sharply defined. Textures of things like feather detail and bark patterns leave little to be desired. Overall we have a very relaxed image, easy on the eyes. Easy in the vein you forget there is a binocular involved in the view. A characteristic of any good binocular.
There is little to no distortion across the field. Horizontal borders of horizontal corral boards stay horizontal in the view, all the way across the field, not bending at all as they either enter or leave either the top or bottom of the field. While there is some edge distortion it does not bend vertical lines at the edge. A vertical mirror of the horizontal performance. While there is no particular attempt for a flat field, the more or less conventional edge is well done, certainly not distracting. There is a little curvature, as would be expected without field flatteners.
Eye cups and eye relief: The eye cups are pretty standard 41 mm across the uppermost portion. They are 12 mm high, There is 2 mm between the ocular lens surface and the fully retracted eye cup. There is 14 mm of distance between the fully extended upper eye cup and the ocular lens. Listed eye relief is 19.5 mm. I measured it at 17 mm. IPD is from 57-75 mm on this unit. While the extension of the eye cup matches the eye relief as I measured it, there is less extension than needed if the actual listed figure is correct. With either reading glasses or sunglasses I can get a full fov. But I am not an obligate eye glass wearer, so I can’t make a better recommendation.
Glare and CA Suppression: I have noted before that I am not particularly sensitive to CA. I can force it to appear, and I tend to judge its control levels on the basis on how hard it is to get it to appear. In this instance it is somewhat easier to get it to show up, but it always is at very low levels. I would suggest that it will not be an issue unless a particular viewer is really CA sensitive. I have as yet been unable to get it to show any sort of glare in the image, even with exaggerated eye placements. It has been a dreary wet, and dark gray few days, so I have yet to get a really bright day to look harder. However after I wrote the last sentence, the snow stopped falling and the clouds broke away. Even in the snow, looking under the bright sun, there was no glare. Some glare has been noted for the 10x42. So I suppose the difference may be related to the exit pupil diameter.
Warranty and Service: GPO has trademarked the name “Spectacular Lifetime Warranty”. In description it is very Vortex or Leupold in application. Everyone is entitled to their market speak, and I’m fine with that. The idea is that GPO is going to take care of its customers. The proof is how well it works.
GPO USA has a repair facility of their own in Virginia. Binoculars in need of service will be sent there. They will be repaired unless severe damage warrants replacement. These are a built to be a take apart and repair precision instrument. The throw away merchandise idea seems not to apply here.
Summary: What we have with this binocular is another very good example of what can now be done at the $1,000 price range. There is ample image quality, contrast, and sharpness to satisfy almost anyone. There is a solid build and rugged feel, while also presenting a pretty refined instrument.
I am not going to make the claim these are an Alpha Killer. They are not, nor I am sure does GPO intend them to be a competitor at the $2,000++ level. That market niche is likely less than ten percent and it is not big enough to go after and the $1,000-1,200 range is where this glass is intended to compete. And compete it will. It is also close enough the the top tier that there will be some level of perceived competition there, intended or otherwise. The degree to which these will compete in direct comparison to a top tier is higher than many will ever be willing to admit.
I always do a review with one question foremost in mind. Is this good enough to either buy myself or to recommend to somebody else? The answer is yes it is.
