Seeking recommendations/input… (1 Viewer)

[w.travis]

Have you any familiarity with the Hawke Frontier APO 10x42? They seem similarly specced to the Tract. How does the Schott HT glass of the Tract compare to the APO of the Hawke? Other similarities/differences?

I do not have any hands on experience with Hawke. Where is Hawke Frontier APO made? Tract Toric is made in Japan. Might be something to consider.

If I had to guess I'd say Tract Toric will perform better as it is in the same class as say Zeiss Conquest HD.

Amazon sells both the Toric and Frontier. Could you buy them BOTH on Amazon, do a comparison, then return the one you don't want?

 

[tx2ad]

I do not have any hands on experience with Hawke. Where is Hawke Frontier APO made? Tract Toric is made in Japan. Might be something to consider.

If I had to guess I'd say Tract Toric will perform better as it is in the same class as say Zeiss Conquest HD.

Thanks.

I had seen this: Review: Hawke Frontier APO 10×42 Binocular - Ireland's Wildlife

Amazon sells both the Toric and Frontier. Could you buy them BOTH on Amazon, do a comparison, then return the one you don't want?

Yeah, sellers on Amazon offer them. Not sold directly from Amazon so have to abide by the individual seller's policy. I'm not a huge fan of buying and returning just as a way to trial a product.

There was a great shop outside of Denver (Front Range Birding) that I went to on vacation that had a wonderful array to sample; they have bird feeders on the back deck and a very nice view to test out back to back. There's nothing like that here in Dallas. The Wild Birds Unlimited have low end limited selection. Scheels / Bass Pro / Cabelas has some ok choices, but seem to focus mainly on 10x42/56.

If there were a service where pay some fee and get to do an in-home test of a bunch of binoculars back to back - I would love that. I wish that the Zeiss Demo service that is live in the UK were available here in the US - I would give several pair a trial.

B&H has the Canon 10x42 L IS available as used: Canon 10x42 L IS WP - Used
Another used 10x42 that interests me are these Nikon MHG: Nikon Monarch HG 10x42 - Used

They also had the NL 12x42 as used for ~ $2900, but someone scooped them up while I was debating myself...