What bin have you found the reviews total BS for? (1 Viewer)

[CliveP]

I had good luck with the 8x21 Olympus, but a light
film formed and the contrast faded when I left them in the car at 95F outside
(parking lot...probably 125F inside).
I'm guessing it was some condensed outgassing from the grease.

I got another pair....It's excellent, but I don't leave it out.

The 7x18 Carsons were interesting.....very sharp at best but
hard to get both sides perfect. I cycled the focser full-length 30 times
and that cleared up most of the issue....there was a bit of drag.

Was looking at the Carson yesterday. I had taken the rubber cover off the focus and filed a bit off the metal center post to be able to get my eyes nearer to the eyelenses without the focus wheel pressing into my forehead and this helped.

The Visionary doesn't have this problem because although it also has little eye relief the focus wheel is offset enough to let your eyes get close enough to get the full view with the rubber eyecups folded down.

So I looked at the Carson again and this time sanded down the open end of the rubber cover by a mm or two and now the whole thing is really much better and I can also use it now with the eyecups folded as with the visionary. When you can get your eyes right up to the oculars then the edge softness is very much reduced. The resolution and clarity from that little bin is really very impressive. I may yet buy another of different size but it's definitely a design fault that the eye lenses are not offset more from the end of the focus wheel and it looks to be the same with all three sizes that they do in that model. The focus mechanism is very primitive and a bit sloppy but mine really are very sharp.

If they fix that simple thing (or add some eye relief) and make the focus to a higher tolerance then that series will be fantastic. Equally all the Visionary had to do was use decent glass oculars such as whatever the Carson uses.

Now how do I transplant the Carson oculars to the Visionary?.....hmmmm

 

[jremmons]

Swarovski CL 8x30 - I thought these had pretty poor optics overall, much worse than anything in the price range (Z Conquest, V Razor, etc.)

 

[chill6x6]

Swarovski CL 8x30 - I thought these had pretty poor optics overall, much worse than anything in the price range (Z Conquest, V Razor, etc.)

That binocular seems to have review ratings all over the place, from poor to superlative. I've almost bought it several times. The variance in reviews has kept me from doing so.

 

[OPTIC_NUT]

Interesting mechanical notes on the Carsons. I suspected that.
Such awesome glass, when you get them set just so.

In restoring binoculars from the 19930s to 2014, on theme that comes back
again and again is models with excellent glass and sloppy mechanics.
I think it's actually harder to produce tightly-aligned, repeatable focuser parts
and to spend the extra time on assembly that making the lenses just so.

If you get into fixing and even upgrading the mechanics, there is a great source
of value in your work. So many binoculars have turned great after I trimmed and tightened
the arms and drive. To this day, it is sometimes the only difference between good and great.
Of course, it is very expensive to mass-manufacture perfection in binoculars.

 

[Jinty85]

Vanguard Endeavour ED II. Not worth the money

 

[Foss]

Interesting mechanical notes on the Carsons. I suspected that.
Such awesome glass, when you get them set just so.

In restoring binoculars from the 19930s to 2014, on theme that comes back
again and again is models with excellent glass and sloppy mechanics.
I think it's actually harder to produce tightly-aligned, repeatable focuser parts
and to spend the extra time on assembly that making the lenses just so.

If you get into fixing and even upgrading the mechanics, there is a great source
of value in your work. So many binoculars have turned great after I trimmed and tightened
the arms and drive. To this day, it is sometimes the only difference between good and great.
Of course, it is very expensive to mass-manufacture perfection in binoculars.

Great perspective on mechanics v optics.
Whenever I buy a bino without physically inspecting it first, I try to keep in mind that there's some risk involved...even if it's just the time, effort, and minor expense in returning it.

 

[SuperDuty]

According to some they rival the SV, some people believe in UFOs and wear tin foil hats.:eek!::-O

Vanguard Endeavour ED II. Not worth the money

 

[Jinty85]

According to some they rival the SV, some people believe in UFOs and wear tin foil hats.:eek!::-O

If they rival the SV I'm a goat

 

[SuperDuty]

:king:

If they rival the SV I'm a goat

 

[OPTIC_NUT]

Great perspective on mechanics v optics.
Whenever I buy a bino without physically inspecting it first, I try to keep in mind that there's some risk involved...even if it's just the time, effort, and minor expense in returning it.

Checking the key mechanics of roof binocs is harder,
but the Carson R-P fiddling shows a way: working the focuser
around, back and forth, checking wheter the diopter calibration holds
(usually not the diopter's fault, but the hidden carriage being floppy)..

A key piece on roofs is the discs where the focuser connects to the
two pushrods into the barrels. Two cases turned out to be fixable.
One wasn't...a previously used pair of expensive Meoptas.
Made two spectacular pinch-focused monoculars, though.
3-foot near focus range too! 8-P

It's surprising how often a flaky focuser can turn around and make a
top performer... I think the last minutes in the factory suffer the
most cost pressure.

 

[birdrousta]

If they rival the SV I'm a goat

http://www.allbinos.com/allbinos_ranking-binoculars_ranking-10x42.html

I hadn't looked at the list for a bit, but remembered that allbinos really liked the ED ii.

turns out, they like them and rank them higher than a lot of truly great glass.

the full review is here

http://www.allbinos.com/279-binoculars_review-Vanguard_Endeavor_ED_II_10x42.html

I've only used the ED bins, not the ED ii, so I will be restrained in my view of those rankings and review. I hope folks who've used the ed ii and one or more of the also-rans from the Nikon se, swaro el and leica ultravid lines will share with us the story of their upgrade from inferior optics....

 

[OPTIC_NUT]

So the Endeavor-II ED is 154 against a highest of 154.
Of course, the numerals give the impression of objective measurement
when they are really subjective experiences. They look pretty impressive
to me. I wouldn't dare take any of the top 10 outside, ever.

I used to listen to arguments over the best motorcycles or luxury
sports cars or airplanes when I was a kid. Same thing.

 

[CliveP]

I notice they score the Kowa XD 8x32 Prominar higher than the 8x33 Genesis?

... so it obviously then follows that my Kowa SV 8x32 is the best8-P

I just knew it

http://www.allbinos.com/allbinos_ranking-binoculars_ranking-8x32.html

 

[chill6x6]

http://www.allbinos.com/allbinos_ranking-binoculars_ranking-10x42.html

I hadn't looked at the list for a bit, but remembered that allbinos really liked the ED ii.

turns out, they like them and rank them higher than a lot of truly great glass.

the full review is here

http://www.allbinos.com/279-binoculars_review-Vanguard_Endeavor_ED_II_10x42.html

I've only used the ED bins, not the ED ii, so I will be restrained in my view of those rankings and review. I hope folks who've used the ed ii and one or more of the also-rans from the Nikon se, swaro el and leica ultravid lines will share with us the story of their upgrade from inferior optics....

I STILL have the 8X42 ED II.... I thought it was ever so slightly better optically than the Viper HD 8X42. Edge to edge clarity is remarkable for a $400 binocular IMO. YMMV.

 

[CliveP]

I couldn't get the rubber off the eyepieces to see if I could do anything about the lack of sharpness with the Visionary 8x22 U or discover if they have plastic eye lenses as the rubber eyecups seem to be very well superglued on.

So I have asked Visionary if they know why these HD bins have bad sharpness.
If they are faulty it would be good if they replaced them as they would be very useful but........ lets see what they say, if they reply.

I am unsure if this is just a bad one or they are just a poor model so I've sought their advice and given them a chance to have their say. If I had bought them from a shop I would definitely have gone back to query them but would never have bought them in the first place. More auction junk though they are definitely new boxed etc.

 

[CliveP]

Good old Optical Hardware, purveyors of my crap Visionary 8x22 U.

They got back to me quite quickly and the upshot is they claim it is an expensive HD bak4 model and has many good reviews so mine may be faulty and go back to your dealer.

I had told them I bought it at auction.

Zero help.

To them it could be HD and expensive compared to some of the stuff they sell but my 15x70 porro are Visionary HD and they are actually quite good.

I would love to know if anyone else has ever experienced one of these and if it can actually be sharp but I guess I'll never know.

It's a great size and great low weight and I would really like to get one of these 8x22 reverse porros that worked well so I will probably be buying the Carson to try at some stage if I don't spot anything else. At least I know I can modify that if needed and if the 8x22 optics are the same quality as the 7x18 then it definitely should be good or could even be great.

 

[tenex]

What bin have you found the reviews total BS for?

Maven B3. (And by implication, lots of others as well.)

In general I'd say that any review of a binocular in isolation leaves many questions about judgment, standards etc unanswered. Comparisons are more meaningful.

So I agree completely with denco here:

So when somebody recommends a binocular ask this question. How many different binoculars have you actually used to compare it with and what price ranges were they.