I was thinking about the lifespan of binoculars and would like to throw this topic out there for discussion. By lifespan I mean how long is it before the increase in optical performance of new models is significant enough that a replacement is due?
To put it another way if I buy a pair of Alpha class binoculars today how long before their optical and build quality are available at a $200 price point and the new Alpha's are stunningly better? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years?
Has this lifespan gotten shorter in recent years?
I think there is a great deal of difficulty in answering this objectively since it is a highly subjective topic.
How do you define better? Light transmission values? Field of view? Build Quality?
In the case of the latter, does it matter if a binocular is designed to last 50 or 100 years?
Just some things that popped into my head after reading your post.
Better optically. If I take a pair of good $400 binoculars today how far back would I have to go to find the point where the optical quality they provide would only have been available in the Alphas? That same pattern will repeat into the future but I wonder if the cycle time has been reduced.