Hawke nature trek

They get very good reviews in the bird watching magazines, but, call me cynical, Hawke are major advertisers in those magazines. I went to look at a pair (different spec but same range) as a gift for a relative, I compared them to several similarly priced binos and would say that they fell in the middle of the range. I bought Opticron ones in the end. Before I gave them to my relative, I took them out on the marsh and was very impressed.

I don't want to sound like a bino snob but, If you do buy low end binos, never be tempted to look through a pair of Swarovskis!

If you are thinking of buying low end, and for stalking purposes, I would suggest dropping down to 7x or 8x as the image is likely to be clearer.

My advice, do a few hours overtime or a couple of days work on the side and then buy secondhand Swarovski or older Zeiss (I have no experience of modern Zeiss) either off here, ebay or a shop like McLeods. You will be enjoying the quality many many years after you have forgotten about the hole in your wallet.

Failing that, go to one of the big optics shops (CleySpy, In Focus, LCE etc) and compare the lower end products, take them outside, focus on a telephone wire or TV aerial etc then switch to another wire at a different distance, look at leaves on trees, car number plates etc and really get a feel for the definition and ease of use. Look closely at the Opticron range.

Bare in mind that low end binos will have virtually no resale value whereas top end ones, bought secondhand at a sensible price, may even increase in value.

A lot of lads on here recomend Minox but I have no knowledge of them. I have never really seen the point in spending £300-£400 on new mid range binos when for £100-£200 more you can have the best, albeit secondhand.

Sorry for the long boring waffle but, you may have guessed, I'm quite into my binos!

JC
 
I use these at work. We have about 16 pairs and they are OK. We had one pair that would not focus that were replaced and we broke one pair along the hinge. I agree with most of the above although I have sent Swarovski back with faults as well. Their customer service seems very good however. The Opticron are ok but not as clear as some of the more expensive ones. Hope this helps.
 
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