HI...I am a binocular collector or as my wife would say Bino junkie. I like to buy and compare binoculars. When I heard about Eagle optics changing where they get their Rangers made I decided to compare for myself their claim that the new SRT's are a upgrade from the old Rangers.The new Srt come from china , the old rangers from Japan. Powers I chose were the 6 x32's. My friend had purchased a new 6x32 Srt so I purchased a new old stock 6x32 Platnium Ranger because they were on sale for only $159. last week. To my surprise the old rangers blew the new Srt's out of the water.The binoculars looked about the same, but the image quality and brightness in the Platniums were so much better my friend sent the Srt's back and ordered the old rangers which were $100 cheaper. This is not the first time I have noticed this in a major brand selling for much less,does anyone out there have the same opinion....Thanks
There is so much individual variation in binos (especially roofs at this price level) I sincerely doubt that we should conclude that the SRTs are a step down from the Platinum Rangers, or that the difference has to do with where they are manufactured. I bought an EO 8x32 Platinum Ranger a few years ago to carry along while cycling, but I never found them very satisfactory. They had a lot of little problems (didn't focus as close as spec, miscollimation to a greater degree than average, poor contrast, poor sharpness--didn't snap into focus), so I sent them back to EO after a year of wondering if what I had was typical of the breed or substandard. They sent me a replacement pair (of same model) which are MUCH better in all respects--certainly nowhere near as nice as any of my premium 8x32 roofs, but reasonably satisfying to use nevertheless.
--AP
[QUOTE=gcole]This is not the first time I have noticed this in a major brand selling for much less,does anyone out there have the same opinion....Thanks[/QUOTE]
They don't come up with new models costing less to offer us better binoculars. They come up with them to sell more of them and make more money. We tend to forget that the primary purpose of optics manufacturing companies is not optical excellence, but financial excellence.