The BEST birding binoc EVER

Started by fct-150, 08/14/2015 05:56AM
Posted 08/14/2015 05:56AM | Edited 08/14/2015 07:33AM Opening Post
Believe it or not I do like birding; though most of Veradale's birds are crows, robins, mourning doves, and a FAIR amount of owls. Today Jill and I walked into ATWB where we took a big leap into the binocular swimming pool with Herb as the lifeguard and my wife, Jill, as the "push-him-in". My original intents were to compare the amazingly sharp and slightly dense Alpen Rainiers against the Zeiss Conquest HD of same power/aperture configuration.
Of corse there were the Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 close by, but, you know?!

So Herb presents the marvelously baffled Rainier 8x42s and I am wowed! Seriously, these are the ZEISSIEST not-Zeiss binocs I've ever held and looked through. Jill and I were treated to a sunny day at the showroom so LOTS of male black birds and flowers to test color and contrast. The reds in the feathers, the distance gap between the flowers and the H-20 bridge a mile away was phenomenally 3d. Both Alpen and Zeiss were sooo close, I couldn't decipher. It is at this point Jill asks for more power.

Herb smiles and grabs for the 10x Alpen Rainiers. He then winks at me, guiding my eyes towards the Zeiss Victory SF 10x42. But, well... STAYING on track with our anniversary plan; I was very thrown how sensitive the higher power Rainiers were. Color free, yes. Perfect, but they had lost that better-than-real-time resolution. It is hard to describe, but is a property of the quality of the roof prisms. Jill couldn't focus them easily (keeping in mind I've been with optics since age 9). Jill says what's on her mind at this point, "do you have anything else in this power?"

Now Herb has "the Smile", along with Paula, and hands her the price-dreaded Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 and says, "See the difference." Oh crud! Jill wasn't putting them down. She wasn't talking. She was squeaking over the clarity and comfort that was the blue-and-white legend. It is now BOTH Herb and Paula, after having some telescope stories, both recite, "Andy, you don't need that TV-85." But, BUT?! Then Jill hands them to me...
W
Oh, these are 10 power Zeiss?! They feel like 8x30s! EVERYTHING was 3 dimensional! From the Goto refractor in the showroom to the hazy Cascades, every object at that specific distance was seen in unprecedented clarity, with no purple hues, focused to the edge, snap-to focus like an FS-102, and a front windshield view...the Ethos equivalent in binocular perception!

Dangit Herb!!

So earlier today we celebrated part of our 10 year anniversary watching Paula box-up our own personal flagship pair of Zeiss binoculars. The rest of the day we spent hiking North and West beach (Deception Pass) watching not only eagles, gulls, and robins, but ships, yachts, seals, f-16s, even tent spiders through the finest birding (and soon suburban astronomy) binoculars Jill and I will ever own.

Just a few thoughts:

8) FS-152SV sitting in the office
grin Japanes super lucky zen observatory garden
:S Meade ETX-90 finder scope position
shocked Hino Optical Mizar 120SL observatory model
:C SR-4mm eyepiece with a 3x barlow in a 60mm refractor
8O Zeiss Victory 7x42 SFs
wink Having over 135 vintage oculars to play with
smile My life surrounded by wonderful friends and impeccable optics
Posted 08/14/2015 08:38AM #1
You didn't try the Swarovski for comparison?