Tract Toric 8x42 Experience (1 Viewer)

[Dennis Mau]

?! Is dennis selling his Canon :king: already ??! :eek!: ..... Surely we're not even halfway through the pump cycle yet?! :-O Perhaps dennis is getting a bit more hairy chested in his old age, now that the lightweight 8x32 SV (former best binocular in the world is gonski and his remaining bins range from 3/4 kilo ~ 1kg+ ! Maybe dennis has been hanging around with HunTers for too long? Perhaps he is getting the onset of macula degeneration too, since reduced AFov is seemingly no longer triggering the sell button ..... ? :cat:

As etudiant says, dennis certainly churns through the bins with remarkable inconsistency .... he certainly is a different sort of cat ! :cat: I will take the Toric at face value from his reports, good all rounder, good glare control, and great value. I am more interested in the 10x, than the narrow AFov 8x (since according to other knowledgeable threads of his that's key to the Wow! :smoke: ..... There doesn't seem to be the same initial take up of the 10x --- can anyone provide more feedback of their experience with the 10x ? :brains: :t:


Chosun :gh:

No, Chosun. I still have my Canon 10x42 IS-L and Swarovski 10x50 SV in addition to the Trac Toric 8x42. I honestly didn't think I would like the Toric 8x42 either because of it's average FOV but I was wrong. It is a great binocular and the best value I have ever seen. I would say it is the best value on the market right now.

 

[ceasar]

Just curious.

I haven't seen anything about where Tract's binoculars are manufactured and what firm manufactures them. I didn't see anything about it on their website.

Are they made in Japan or in China or possibly elsewhere, like in the Philippines?

Bob

 

[SuperDuty]

At the bottom of the product specs on their website, it says Country Of Origin- Japan.

Just curious.

I haven't seen anything about where Tract's binoculars are manufactured and what firm manufactures them. I didn't see anything about it on their website.

Are they made in Japan or in China or possibly elsewhere, like in the Philippines?

Bob

 

[SuperDuty]

Dennis obviously enjoys jerking chains and getting under skin as part of his posting experience, but having owned and seen some of the same models he has also seen, he is usually pretty darned close in his assessments of those binoculars, IMO.

Dennis renders a unique service to this forum, he has owned and opined on pretty much every favorite glass featured here on BF.
Combining his reviews from the initial enthusiasm to the eventual dismissal when he select a new glass provides a large and unusually consistent series of model pros and cons for less diligent (or less pecunious) binocular shoppers.
Imho, such a sequence of critical user opinions is even more useful than the somewhat more quantitative appraisals we get from for instance Allbinos.
It would be a really useful BF add-on service if Dennis would post his summary of his ownership experiences.

 

[Dennis Mau]

Thanks. I don't mean to jerk chains.

 

[cycleguy]

Dennis obviously enjoys jerking chains and getting under skin as part of his posting experience, but having owned and seen some of the same models he has also seen, he is usually pretty darned close in his assessments of those binoculars, IMO.

Would that be the early assessment or the later assessment? They seem to change.

CG

 

[Theo98]

If I wrote a book would there be many takers?

I'd read your book, Dennis, but only if you promise to sign it! B

Ted

 

[Steve C]

Dennis,

I have gotten after you pretty hard here a time or two. So I mean no disrespect here nor do I wish to begin another argument. You have changed you tone a lot and I applaud you for that.

However you sort of remind me of our crazy weatherman we had on our local TV channel when I was a kid. He had a unique sort of comedian like approach to his forecasts. He would begin each session with a statement like ..."It's gonna rain tomorrow", and then end the session...with something like..."its gonna be sunny tomorrow". So what ever tomorrow brought he was right. You have had a love it then throw it under the bus relationship with every single binocular you have ever had. That is one of the things that is so frustrating about you. As eutdiant pointed out you have experience with lots of binoculars, which is useful if you have a consistent approach (other than love/hate) because you do see lots of binoculars. As for Super Duty's comments about you generally being right, well if you are like our old local weatherman, he was always right sine he predicted more than one outcome all the time.

However, you seem to be on a different track with the Toric. That was the first thing you have posted among your thousands of entries that qualified as a real, honest review. It is seemingly the first time you have taken a substantial initial position and backed it up with reasonable analysis. Now the real challenge is...how long before you trash the Toric? At that point which Dennis do we believe? Will the real Dennis please stand up?

I happen to find myself in agreement with JGR on this and other forums about lots of things optical. So based on his assessment of the Toric, here and on other forums, and your stance, yes your stance, I am going to get my hands on a Toric. That won't be real soon as there are other essential places for the $$ right now.

So right now I agree with you in that you don't seem to be into jerking chains. :t:

 

[BruceH]

Hi Peter,

I don't have the LT% in front of me now, but I will get it and post it here as soon as I can. I will also inquire if our development department has put the information into a chart to track the transmission curve, and if so, will post that as well.

Thanks!

Trevor
Tract Optics
www.TractOptics.com

Trever ..... Any luck in obtaining the light transmission figures?

PhilR, interesting your comments on the 10x42. I liked the 8x so much I ordered the 10x as well. I found it excellent, BUT not nearly as impressive as the 8x. Not sure why but that's the way my eyes saw it with my samples.
........

JG .... Did you end up keeping or returning the 10X42 Toric? If you returned it, would you mind sharing the reasons.

Did you get a chance to compare the 10X to the 8X? If so, what was similar between the two and equally important, what were the differences?

Thanks.

Now, if the Toric only came with a backpack .... :king::

You can borrow mine when I'm not using it :t::t:

Thanks!!!

 

[Dennis Mau]

Dennis,

I have gotten after you pretty hard here a time or two. So I mean no disrespect here nor do I wish to begin another argument. You have changed you tone a lot and I applaud you for that.

However you sort of remind me of our crazy weatherman we had on our local TV channel when I was a kid. He had a unique sort of comedian like approach to his forecasts. He would begin each session with a statement like ..."It's gonna rain tomorrow", and then end the session...with something like..."its gonna be sunny tomorrow". So what ever tomorrow brought he was right. You have had a love it then throw it under the bus relationship with every single binocular you have ever had. That is one of the things that is so frustrating about you. As eutdiant pointed out you have experience with lots of binoculars, which is useful if you have a consistent approach (other than love/hate) because you do see lots of binoculars. As for Super Duty's comments about you generally being right, well if you are like our old local weatherman, he was always right sine he predicted more than one outcome all the time.

However, you seem to be on a different track with the Toric. That was the first thing you have posted among your thousands of entries that qualified as a real, honest review. It is seemingly the first time you have taken a substantial initial position and backed it up with reasonable analysis. Now the real challenge is...how long before you trash the Toric? At that point which Dennis do we believe? Will the real Dennis please stand up?

I happen to find myself in agreement with JGR on this and other forums about lots of things optical. So based on his assessment of the Toric, here and on other forums, and your stance, yes your stance, I am going to get my hands on a Toric. That won't be real soon as there are other essential places for the $$ right now.

So right now I agree with you in that you don't seem to be into jerking chains. :t:

Gjraider was 100% correct in his review of the Toric and everything he said is right on. I am happy and pleased to find a mid-priced binocular of this quality. These guys really designed this binocular superbly. My hat goes off to them.

 

[SuperDuty]

It was twitching towards the 10X, but after reading the thread more carefully it seems that the 8X is the star of the show. After using the SV, HT, and FL the last few months, I'm sure I would be kidding myself to try the Toric. I've no doubt it's a fine binocular, but I'm so damned particular even those didn't totally satisfy.:eek!: :-O

Is you finger twitching over the the buy button for the 8X or the 10X Toric? If the twitch does not go away, you might want to go with a Canon image stabilized model. :-O

 

[ceasar]

At the bottom of the product specs on their website, it says Country Of Origin- Japan.

(The above quoted post is a response to a question I asked in post #142 above about where Tract binoculars were manufactured.)


That would make sense. The two Principals in the company, Messrs. Allen and LaCorte, have many years combined experience working for Nikon, a Japanese company.

https://www.tractoptics.com/about

Bob

 

[etudiant]

(The above quoted post is a response to a question I asked in post #142 above about where Tract binoculars were manufactured.)


That would make sense. The two Principals in the company, Messrs. Allen and LaCorte, have many years combined experience working for Nikon, a Japanese company.

https://www.tractoptics.com/about

Bob

The 'Country of Origin ' rules do not provide unambiguous answers in these days of cheap global trade flows.
Afaik, the country with the largest contribution to the product cost is considered the country of origin. However, much goes into that cost, from the design of the optics and the product to the parts acquisition to the packaging and the support. Nikon management is certainly well versed in those aspects.
My guess here would be designed and key components sourced in Japan, assembled someplace cheaper.

 

[jgraider]

The 'Country of Origin ' rules do not provide unambiguous answers in these days of cheap global trade flows.
Afaik, the country with the largest contribution to the product cost is considered the country of origin. However, much goes into that cost, from the design of the optics and the product to the parts acquisition to the packaging and the support. Nikon management is certainly well versed in those aspects.
My guess here would be designed and key components sourced in Japan, assembled someplace cheaper.

Then you would be strictly guessing. Tract has made the statement several times, on this and several other forums when this exact question arises, that the Toric's are made by Kamakura, Japan. They are very open about it. Also, they can offer these premium bins at fantastic prices because they do not use retailers. They are a direct to consumer product. They're very open and honest about that too.

 

[etudiant]

Then you would be strictly guessing. Tract has made the statement several times, on this and several other forums when this exact question arises, that the Toric's are made by Kamakura, Japan. They are very open about it. Also, they can offer these premium bins at fantastic prices because they do not use retailers. They are a direct to consumer product. They're very open and honest about that too.

Tract may be a counterpart to Space X.
That firm hugely underpriced their competition, the Boeing Lockheed United Space Alliance, by dispensing with much of the overhead that these long established firms carry. A senior ULA official suggested at a conference that those expenses made the ULA launchers more than twice as costly as those from Space X.
If the same situation applies in retail, Kamakura may approve of the Tract initiative, to avoid having the mid tier market get eaten by Chinese producers.
Not sure though how this differs from Maven, which also uses Kamakura iirc.

 

[NDhunter]

Tract may be a counterpart to Space X.
That firm hugely underpriced their competition, the Boeing Lockheed United Space Alliance, by dispensing with much of the overhead that these long established firms carry. A senior ULA official suggested at a conference that those expenses made the ULA launchers more than twice as costly as those from Space X.
If the same situation applies in retail, Kamakura may approve of the Tract initiative, to avoid having the mid tier market get eaten by Chinese producers.
Not sure though how this differs from Maven, which also uses Kamakura iirc.

Like you I have been watching the advent of the companies offering
quality in the mid-range and of Japanese mfr. I like it, and it is time
some companies have some offerings other than the top names.

I have not tried either Maven or Tract optics, but I may in the future,
they both have things to offer.
Maven seems to be going the strictly custom order type optics, and they
are also offering AK prisms in some models, and now that I have checked
they are also entering the big eyes, 56 mm size.

Tract seems to be going for the best selling range, 42 mm, and is going
for more volume sales.

Tract, former Nikon people, and the Maven guys are from Brunton.
Tract is also selling on Amazon, and one observation I have, is in the
popular size of 8x42, the Tract Toric, reg. $654. is now sale priced at $554, vs. the Maven B1 at $900.00, both Japanese made, with the same FOV.

I suppose the marketplace will help decide how these both do in the
coming months and years.

Good luck to both.

Jerry

 

[bigjim]

One question I would like to ask, is there a plan to introduce 8x32 Toric model in the near future?

 

[Tract_Optics]

.
My guess here would be designed and key components sourced in Japan, assembled someplace cheaper.

No sir, manufacture and assembly is happening in Kamakura. Some raw materials come in from being sourced, as japan simply doesn't have them, but manufacture and assembly through packaging is done there.

 

[Tract_Optics]

Just as a reminder guys, the $100 off a Toric optic only goes through tomorrow, Sept 27th.

Code: ELKCAMP2016

Trevor
Tract Optics

 

[Tract_Optics]

One question I would like to ask, is there a plan to introduce 8x32 Toric model in the near future?

Lots of irons in the fire

As long as sales continue we will increase the product offering


Trevor
Tract Optics