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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Torn between the ~$1000 options.. (2 Viewers)

oswalakhil said:
Fov wise, it's a wee bit smaller than the MHG, rated 348 ft/1000yds to their 360(?). Not ultra wide, but wide enough for me, given the sharpness goes pretty close to the edge. I've had no issues tracking birds flitting about even in a fixed frame.

To my eyes and memory, these do brightness/contrast/color pop a little better than the MHG.. Though I wasn't able to test CA or glare on that one. The MHG fov was lovely though!
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I was set on a pair of 10x42 Conquests but looked through the 8x42’s, as well as the Trinovids, and preferred the wider FOV. I don’t have shaky hands, but there must be some movement to explain the better view with the lesser powered binoculars. I’m going to keep looking for a good deal on the Auroras. I appreciate the reply. Cheers!
 
Upland said:
I love my HGs. There is a pair of Maven B 1.2 on the classifieds here for $650. Screaming deal for a great pair of binos. Nothing I’ve tried in the 1k price range compares to the HGs though. I’ve tried them all but not the Opticrons.
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I had Zeiss SF 8x42. I despised the blue ring of doom when over water. Apart from that fatal flaw they were phenomenal.

I now have the Opticron Aurora and I've zero regrets. None. Zero. Nada. The Aurora is a stellar performer and my set is a true one and done deal.
 
ArchStanton said:
I was set on a pair of 10x42 Conquests but looked through the 8x42’s, as well as the Trinovids, and preferred the wider FOV. I don’t have shaky hands, but there must be some movement to explain the better view with the lesser powered binoculars. I’m going to keep looking for a good deal on the Auroras. I appreciate the reply. Cheers!
Click to expand...
It really comes down to what you're used to, I think! I've only ever birded with 10x42s, for the last decade. I appreciate the detail I can see, and maybe I need it to id? I tried 8x and 10x MHG in the store side by side, and didn't see a difference apart from the extra zoom, so I think I'm still a fan of that config.

I forgot to tell you about the deal, I bought a used pair of BHPhotovideo for that price! Couldn't pass up on a couple hundred in savings, this is still a lot of money for me :) fwiw, I had a budget of a $1k, and if I'd spent it all on this new, I would have zero regrets
 
oswalakhil said:
It really comes down to what you're used to, I think! I've only ever birded with 10x42s, for the last decade. I appreciate the detail I can see, and maybe I need it to id? I tried 8x and 10x MHG in the store side by side, and didn't see a difference apart from the extra zoom, so I think I'm still a fan of that config.

I forgot to tell you about the deal, I bought a used pair of BHPhotovideo for that price! Couldn't pass up on a couple hundred in savings, this is still a lot of money for me :) fwiw, I had a budget of a $1k, and if I'd spent it all on this new, I would have zero regrets
Click to expand...
You’ve got a point. Even when I was young I preferred the 7x35 Bushnell porro prisms over the 10x40’s. I’ve been using my 8x30 AF Steiners over the Steiner 12x40’s for the most part and recently purchased an inexpensive pair Opticron Savanna 6x30’s for close up viewing. I’ll check out B&H. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Auroras!
 
Nice to see someone who of course hasn't view any Alpha glass, and probably been buying 200 dollar binos forever, thinks all of a sudden, a 500.00 dollar instrument is the end of the rainbow when it comes to binos of good quality.
Saving your money if at all possible and buy a Leica Noctavid or a Zeiss, or a Swarovski in the 2K category, and then tell me your, whatever the name of the company of the binos you own, is superior and better than anything you have ever own as far as binos is concerned.
When you drive a Mercedes Maybach and then you drive a real nice Cadillac, then you will see how the difference in your binos and real Alpha Class binoculars are defined.
Happy you are totally satisfied with your Auroras, ( finally remembered the name )
Like the gentleman before me commented , Kamakura all the way. Same Japanese company that makes all the jap binos if not the majority of them buddy.
 
tonyalva said:
Nice to see someone who of course hasn't view any Alpha glass, and probably been buying 200 dollar binos forever, thinks all of a sudden, a 500.00 dollar instrument is the end of the rainbow when it comes to binos of good quality.
Saving your money if at all possible and buy a Leica Noctavid or a Zeiss, or a Swarovski in the 2K category, and then tell me your, whatever the name of the company of the binos you own, is superior and better than anything you have ever own as far as binos is concerned.
When you drive a Mercedes Maybach and then you drive a real nice Cadillac, then you will see how the difference in your binos and real Alpha Class binoculars are defined.
Happy you are totally satisfied with your Auroras, ( finally remembered the name )
Like the gentleman before me commented , Kamakura all the way. Same Japanese company that makes all the jap binos if not the majority of them buddy.
Click to expand...
I couldn’t ad anything to that, zero, nothing, nada, zilch. 😂.
 
tonyalva said:
Nice to see someone who of course hasn't view any Alpha glass, and probably been buying 200 dollar binos forever, thinks all of a sudden, a 500.00 dollar instrument is the end of the rainbow when it comes to binos of good quality.
Saving your money if at all possible and buy a Leica Noctavid or a Zeiss, or a Swarovski in the 2K category, and then tell me your, whatever the name of the company of the binos you own, is superior and better than anything you have ever own as far as binos is concerned.
When you drive a Mercedes Maybach and then you drive a real nice Cadillac, then you will see how the difference in your binos and real Alpha Class binoculars are defined.
Happy you are totally satisfied with your Auroras, ( finally remembered the name )
Like the gentleman before me commented , Kamakura all the way. Same Japanese company that makes all the jap binos if not the majority of them buddy.
Click to expand...

I had the Zeiss SF. The have a FATAL flaw in high sun and glare over water - The blue ring of doom is headache inducing and really killed it for me. Made viewing at sea in anything other than flat light, impossible.

Kamakura or not, Buddy, the Aurora are a stellar performing bin to the point where I haven't missed my Zeiss SF once.

Nada. Zero. Zilch. Buddy.

(But I do keep the Zeiss Victory 8x25 in my vest as its a beauty.)
 
Canip said:
FATAL or RATAL ? 😉
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FATAL for RATAL hahahaha I have acute sensitivity to blue light, and that ring of doom over the water in glare and haze is just murderous. No matter what I tried to rid myself of it, I just couldn't - and as it was used 90% over water? Had to go.
 
Ratal said:
FATAL for RATAL hahahaha I have acute sensitivity to blue light, and that ring of doom over the water in glare and haze is just murderous. No matter what I tried to rid myself of it, I just couldn't - and as it was used 90% over water? Had to go.
Click to expand...
I’ve found that some SF models are worse than others with the bike ring. I’ve also been with people who see it and othered don’t. Could be a few factored involved. I seen it more in the 8x42, least in the 8x32.
 
tonyalva said:
Nice to see someone who of course hasn't view any Alpha glass, and probably been buying 200 dollar binos forever, thinks all of a sudden, a 500.00 dollar instrument is the end of the rainbow when it comes to binos of good quality.
Saving your money if at all possible and buy a Leica Noctavid or a Zeiss, or a Swarovski in the 2K category, and then tell me your, whatever the name of the company of the binos you own, is superior and better than anything you have ever own as far as binos is concerned.
When you drive a Mercedes Maybach and then you drive a real nice Cadillac, then you will see how the difference in your binos and real Alpha Class binoculars are defined.
Happy you are totally satisfied with your Auroras, ( finally remembered the name )
Like the gentleman before me commented , Kamakura all the way. Same Japanese company that makes all the jap binos if not the majority of them buddy.
Click to expand...
Maybe to some, it's not about owning the very best "objectively", if that even exists, but what best suits them in their budget. These make me happy. Now that I got to use them in Point Reyes and got a decent 70-odd species in a day, with crystal clear, contrasty, and saturated looks alongside people with their Swarovski/Leicas alpha dogs, and coming out equally happy - I don't see a need to "save more and buy the best". These are tools, after all.. The true joy is it letting us do what we want to the most with ease- looking at birds.

I'm sure you're happy with your noctivids, and that's great for you. If anyone wants to keep to a certain budget, I doubt you could go wrong with this. And save some money for a trip to Ecuador:)
 
"upgrade itch" - what a great, evocative, accurate phrase.

I am wanting really good 10x50s in the 1k-1.5k range. I am for focused on reading about all the possibilities, reviews, comparisons, opinions, counter-opinions MORE than I am focused on...birdwatching! It's ridiculous but it is fun.

Maybe this does not help you much because I cannot make comparisons with the other brands you mention, Akhil O, but I purchased my 8x42 Monarch HGs less than two years ago and at the time I compared them in-store to 10x42 HGs. I wanted the 10x42s to be better but to me they were not better. The 10x42s were mostly just darker. The greater magnification was not at all balanced by the loss of light.

That said, I LOVE my 8x42 HGs. I did recently get to try out Ultravid 10x50s and 10x42s and, once again, I was not blown away by the difference between my 8x42 HGs and the Ultravids.

A long time ago an acquaintance with a lot of resources said if a person is truly committed to something, they will only get the best tools (camera equipment in that case) to pursue that thing; settling for less-optimal tools meant the person was less committed to the craft. This acquaintance had literally zero experience with or comprehension of living life with limited resources.
 
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