"AP" Binocular

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:21 pm

Anyone getting one?
http://www.buytelescopes.com/search.asp ... omical&s=4

I wonder if we can get an identical one from a local or HK dealers.

ivanong · Post by **ivanong** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:41 am

It's made in China:

http://www.united-optics.com/products/a ... tr-s-8.htm

I ordered a 15x70, should come today. I'll let you know how the optics are. I guess a plus is A-P checks out each one before shipping- that helps. I've gotten "good" binos before and have found them to be out of collimation.

Ivan

ivanong · Post by **ivanong** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:12 am

Well Ok, here are my first impressions. The 15x70 binos came shipped in an aluminium case with instructions, keys and a tripod adapter. Overall build and quality is visually very good. Definately does not feel or look like cheap stuff. The binos are protected by a rubberized exterior that is military camo green-decently attractive. This feels like a TPE like EVA. I found the odor of the rubber less than pleasant, but then I have fussy olfactory glands. Focusing is via seperate eye pieces, there is NO traditional central focusing knob with right eye diopter compensation. The individual eyepieces are relatively stiff but smooth. I suppose they will become more easy to turn with time. Optically the view is bright. This is the first thing folks will remark. I aimed it at a distant large tree and panned around. I noticed that only the center 60% or so of the field is sharp (I'll qualify that later). The outer 40% is distorted. This is not flat field like the Canon IS binos-but then note the price difference. Back to the sharpness: as mentioned, at focus, image is sharp and bright, but there is no strong focus snap. This means if you are susceptible to eye-induced headaches and dizziness, you need to carefully focus this bino if you intend to do extended viewing, otherwise you will end up with eye-strain induced discomfort. Panning the binos around creates a feeling of pin cushioning, due to the hazy outer field. There are rubber eye guards that fold up. Like most Singaproreans, I wear glasses and I found that with the eye guards folded, it is VERY comfortable with my glasses. The right rubber guard kept popping off the eye piece when I folded it back out.

The supplied tripod adapter is cast metal and feels solid. However, it is just about (or just under) adequate to hold binos this size. These binos are lighter than you think for the size, but the adapter does not screw securely enough to prevent vibrations when focusing- I would say it is adequate at best.

It's cloudy here in North Carolina so I don't have stars to judge optical performance on. If you all are interested, I will post more later when I have a chance.

Ivan

Post by **VinSnr** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 9:20 am

ivanong wrote:It's made in China:

http://www.united-optics.com/products/a ... tr-s-8.htm

I ordered a 15x70, should come today. I'll let you know how the optics are. I guess a plus is A-P checks out each one before shipping- that helps. I've gotten "good" binos before and have found them to be out of collimation.

Ivan

Gosh, can't believe that these China binos suddenly became nearly US$400 premium stuff when the AP name is on it.

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 10:38 am

It's cloudy here in North Carolina so I don't have stars to judge optical performance on. If you all are interested, I will post more later when I have a chance.

Thanks Ivan! yes, i'm interested to hear what you say on its night performance too.

Gosh, can't believe that these China binos suddenly became nearly US$400 premium stuff when the AP name is on it.

Yes, I think they are overpriced (AP price is similar to other vendors too), I could probably find a used 70mm Fujinon FMT for only S$100 extra than this bino. But maybe they perform better than the Fuji?

Arief

rlow · Post by **rlow** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:03 pm

From Ivan's first impressions, I get the feeling that this bino does have some limitations and optically it does not performed as claimed on the website: "...Flat field and distortion free... equally sharp from centre to edge...." (But I recalled that RC did posted that it is not sharp to the edge.) Otherwise I may have considered their 28x110MS in future.

It certainly does not seem to warrant a usd$400 price tag, in my opinion. But I too would also be interested to hear Ivan's review of its night-sky performance.

Post by **VinSnr** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:34 pm

rlow wrote:From Ivan's first impressions, I get the feeling that this bino does have some limitations and optically it does not performed as claimed on the website: "...Flat field and distortion free... equally sharp from centre to edge...." (But I recalled that RC did posted that it is not sharp to the edge.) Otherwise I may have considered their 28x110MS in future. It certainly does not seem to warrant a usd$400 price tag, in my opinion. But I too would also be interested to hear Ivan's review of its night-sky performance.

Ivan already said the outer 40% is distorted.

I used to own a few Oberwerks (i still have one), they are from china and it is clear that they are not sharp to the edges. But then for most usages, they are ok for the price which is like just USD100++. I owned the 15x70 Oberwerk and it's great for the price!

For USD$400, I would expect Fujinon kind of quality and not a China-Oberwerk like quality with a AP name on it

ariefm71 · Post by **ariefm71** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:45 pm

From Roland Christen himself:

"As far as comparing to Fujinons, this was posted to the AP user group a couple of days ago by one of our customers:

I ordered the 15x70 binoculars on line Wed evening. They were shipped
Thursday, arrived today (Friday)and I used them tonight. Is this a
record?(insert little smile thing here) They are much more comfortable
between my nose than my 16x70 Fujinons. They appear to give sharper
star images with a wider and more comfortable field of view as well.
Overall a definite improvement over my old Fujis and at a better price.
Too bad it got cloudy before it really got dark. Great work and thanks Roland."

Post by **VinSnr** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:07 pm

ariefm71 wrote:From Roland Christen himself:

"As far as comparing to Fujinons, this was posted to the AP user group a couple of days ago by one of our customers:

I ordered the 15x70 binoculars on line Wed evening. They were shipped
Thursday, arrived today (Friday)and I used them tonight. Is this a
record?(insert little smile thing here) They are much more comfortable
between my nose than my 16x70 Fujinons. They appear to give sharper
star images with a wider and more comfortable field of view as well.
Overall a definite improvement over my old Fujis and at a better price.
Too bad it got cloudy before it really got dark. Great work and thanks Roland."

maybe get one direct from China and try....perhaps LiuMing can help here?

ivanong · Post by **ivanong** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:48 pm

Well, I've boxed it up and am returning it for a refund. For nearly $400 US, it is really not quite there in my opinion. I'll either save up for a binoviewer for my scopes or a Canon IS. You'all will have to read about night performance elsewhere!

Ivan