Unbranded Swift-like Futaba Kogaku Kogyo / Tamron Bino Query (1 Viewer)

[Hubert_Hubert]

So - hello all! - I bought these interesting binos on Cash Converters for £10 recently because they looked sort of 'Swift-y'. I've been buying charity shop Swift Audubon's in the last few months - three pairs have come my way which seems a minor miracle - and I have been enjoying their optics and getting them refurbished a bit.

Now these aren't Swifts but they seem to be made by two of the Japanese companies that put some versions of the Audubon's together.

I looked up the codes and discovered that:

"J-B26 is Futaba Kogaku Kogyo who was responsible for the optics.
J-E45 is Tamron Co. who was responsible for the metalwork"

I know basically nothing about binoculars so I've been wondering if anyone here could tell me a little more about these? I'm kind of intrigued as to why these obviously pretty high quality binos should be unbranded. They're very nice to look through - they have that same slightly gasp-inducing 3D light and clarity that I now associate with Audubon's.

Thanks in advance for any information!
HH

Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Tapatalk

 

[jring]

Hi,

first of all, welcome to Birdforum!

You did your homework and decoded the J-codes - that is the first step. I found an offer for a Swift Saratoga 8x40 801 Mk1 from 1967 with that combination on ebay past offers - albeit w/o images.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Binocula...=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Here's an image of that model - I'd say you got an unbranded version of that... also says 393ft/1000yd of field.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/binoculars/3107064747/in/photostream/

Joachim

 

[Hubert_Hubert]

Ah, that's very interesting - the 393ft does seem like the clincher. It's still interesting to me that these would be exported from Japan and sold unbranded - rather, say, than under a different brand. You'd also think that Swift might not be too pleased for an identical Bino to their Saratoga being on the market that was made by the companies that made the Saratoga itself. Odd!

 

[jring]

Hi,

your supplier being able to sell the same model to different customers is usually part of the deal if you sell OEM equipment. See the current Kowa YF, Leupold Yosemite, Opticron Savanah series or Nikon Monarch 7, Kite Lynx HD, Maven B3 in 8x30.

Enjoy your bins and cheers,

Joachim