Optics education

[Wasatchbuck]

So I was about to pull the trigger on a pair of Meopta Meostar 10x42 HD's, but being the forever procrastinator on big purchases that I am I decided to try and educate myself on optics as much as I could. I have poured over review after review...after review. Found a very informative site http://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/glossary-binoculars.php that helps me understand all the acronyms associated with optics speak and what each of the them mean in regards to optical performance. In doing so I came across a site www.allbinos.com that has a ranking they put together based off a measured set of criteria for each bino. when I opened it up I could not believe what I was seeing. According to this site, vortex viper hd's rank higher then swaro slc hd's. Now granted they have things they measure such as how clean the inside of the bino barrels are. But really? I spent some time over on www.birdforum.net and its seems as though some over there more knowledgeable then I lend a fair amount of credence to allbinos ranking platform in regards to optical performance. I am hoping some of our optics gurus(Matt) could shed some light on this.

 

[SHTF]

Watching this one =-) Thanks for the links also.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Best Binocular Reviews has pretty basic reviews and an arbitrary (7 out of 10 in the "body stats" column - yay!) rating system.

Allbinos causes a lot of debate. On one hand they have some great scientific information on things like light transmission across the visible spectrum.

However,

Like BBR, the allbinos ranking system is also completely arbitrary.

For instance, the difference between the Swarovski SLC HD and Vortex Viper HD is 1.2 points. If you look through the review, though the SLC HD loses a full point for not having a tripod exit. Also, the SLC HD gets unfairly nailed for distortion (lost 6 points!).

I like to check allbinos for transmission numbers, but their ranking system leaves a lot to be desired.

I think the Viper HD is one of the best in its price range, but it certainly is no SLC HD, which is one of the finest binoculars at any price.

 

[Steve C]

Reviews are a guide. But realize reviews are subjective in nature. The reviewer either likes the binocular or has some issues with it. I agree with Matt on the best binocular reviews site.

As for Allbinos, that site has been torched pretty well n BF. There is a few reasons for that. They are more subjective than most, but try to lay claim to objectivity. That leaves some glaring holes. For example, the site subjectively chooses what they will evaluate. They then subjectively decide how to evaluate, subjectively assign a score, then proceed to try to give the thing an objective ranking.

Thy make no attempt to ascertain whether or not the review sample is up to standard or has some issues. They just review and score whatever they get. I have, and have had, a lot of binoculars, many have been reviewed by Allbinos. Sometimes they get it right and sometimes they are so off track I can't recognize the binocular they reviewed is the same one I am looking at.

But there is a lot of good information there, even when they are reviewing an obvious bad sample. It takes some education to get to the point where you can sort the wheat from the chaff.

Matts points about the site I also agree with. They have issues.