Was the Aurora a mistake? (1 Viewer)

[Jinty85]

The now discontinued Aurora was until recently Opticron 's top of the range model, with a price tag of £799. Opticron made some very bold claims about this binocular, especially in terms of sharpness.

I tried it on several occasions. I thought it was sharp and had excellent contrast. However, i did detect a slight yellow cast. However, it didn't ever strike me as an £800 binocular. There were binoculars that were half the Aurora's price, including some in the Opticron range, that I thought was better.

I never, ever met anyone with an Aurora. There are a few threads about it on here, but not many. I'm not sure how well the Aurora sold. Perhaps some Opticron person can comment as they seem very active on the forum, which is excellent for the customer. I guess my question is, was the Aurora, particularly it's price point, a mistake?

 

[Torview]

I used to think so until I spent a day with an 8x42 a few years ago, its a grower and you have to spend time with a pair.

Its not just all about the view, they are extremely well made, and are more akin to carrying a 32mm around.

Honestly if they focussed clockwise to infinity I'd have a pair.

 

[typo]

In the Opticron blurb it states that the Aurora was "the definitive example of putting our maxim smaller, lighter, brighter, sharper into practice." I think it did that pretty much sums it up perfectly, though perhaps the coatings were a little dated by the time it was discontinued. It felt more like an x32 as Torview said and I thought a delight to use.

What really impressed me was the effective resolution which appeared better than several samples of presteige models I've tried.. They claimed better than 4 arcsecond resolution which is usefully better than the 5.7 arcsecond DIN ISO standard used by everyone else including the big names. I think that's great, but I guess only a few would be able to discern that kind of difference in practice. I know the better blue transmission of the latest offerings might appear brighter or even perceptually sharper in certain light so I guess it was due for an upgrade or replacement. It will be interesting to see what happens next.

David

 

[pete_gamby]

Was the Aurora a mistake? No. It was very deliberate

As David mentioned, it was conceived as a "halo" product in delivering a 42mm objective with the best resolution we could acheive in a very compact, lightweight body. It sold in tens per month, never hundreds but that met our expectations over its seven year lifetime - there are a few thousand pairs out there somewhere!

HTH

Cheers, Pete

 

[Steve C]

Looks to me like they carried the concept successfully forward with he new DBA HD. Not many faults with the new one. To be clear I have never had an Aurora to my eyes. There is no yellow cast to the DBA HD.

 

[Jinty85]

I find this all very interesting. I tried it a few times and really liked it. I agree with almost all the posts so far. My issue was the price point. It never convinced me that it was an £800 binocular. I always preferred the DBA S Coat. I've yet to try the new DBA.

I wonder if Pete could confirm how many Auroras were made over its lifespan and how many are (roughly) still available for sale?

 

[Chris Galvin]

The Aurora is discontinued and out of stock at Opticron, and I do not know of any that are still for sale with any of my UK/EU dealers

 

[Jinty85]

The Aurora is discontinued and out of stock at Opticron, and I do not know of any that are still for sale with any of my UK/EU dealers

There's one available at Merchant City Cameras in Glasgow.

Chris do you know how many were made?

 

[pete_gamby]

Like I said above - "there are a few thousand pairs out there somewhere!".

Cheers, Pete

 

[Jinty85]

Which binocular models in the current line up are actually still being produced ?

 

[FrankD]

I would think all of them.

From the last four years that I have been monitoring them just about every model in the current lineup was either introduced in that time frame or has had an upgrade of some kind.

 

[Jinty85]

Interesting. I'm always intrigued by the BGA Classic 7x36. I see there have been a few threads about them recently. I've never seen one for sale and I've never seen any in the flesh. Not many websites carry them either. How well do these sell? Are these still being made or is there a pile of stock that's being worked through? They are cute.

 

[FrankD]

Well, you picked one that I am pretty sure is neither new or been upgraded lately. It is an interesting binocular and one of the ones I initially wanted to get my hands on when the full lineup first hit this side of the pond.

I didn't have any objections to them in either optical performance or handling. From what I remember though the focusing speed was too fast for my tastes.

 

[james holdsworth]

Knowing very little about Opticron - here in Canada I see very few - I would like to know if they are an actual manufacturer and designer of optics or do they buy stuff off-the-shelf and re-brand?

 

[cycleguy]

I had the opportunity to look thru a pair outside on two different occasions a few years back when I purchased my 7x36. I thought they were very impressive, liked them considerably and went back and forth on purchasing a pair. I don't recall a yellow tint but something neutral and to the warm side. It's been too long, but I believe the sweet spot wasn't as large as I would have liked so never did end out purchasing a pair.

CG

 

[FrankD]

James,

I cannot speak for Opticron. What I can say is that there have only been three models in their lineup that I think you may consider "rebranded" in a sense. Their little Savanna porro series is basically the same overall design as the Leupold Yosemites, Kowa YF, etc... Keep in mind though that many times it is the execution of the design, not just the design itself that can be important.

The second wasn't quite a rebrand but the specs and a few mechanical issues seemed similar....Opticron Countryman 8x32 and Leupold Mojave 8x32. Not exactly the same but similar.

The third was the Traveller and the Vixen original Foresta 32 mm models. Again, similar, but not exactly the same.

I can't remember any other Opticron binoculars or scopes being similar or the same as other companies' products. They have quite a few product lines so you would think others would have shown up in someone else's lineup if they were simply rebranding pre-existing designs.

 

[Petrus82]

I tried this model a few days ago. I've tried it before and made some claims about the sharpness. I think I understand sharpness a bit better now. Colour and contrast can sometimes lead a bigger to make comments about sharpness that don't really relate to sharpness.

I found the Aurora very sharp with excellent contrast. The sweetspot was almost 80%. A great wee binocular.