Ratal
Well-known member
Right. First let us get the bad out of the way.
The objective covers are okay for protecting in transit. They have internal plugs so yeah, they work. In the field with any wind you will curse their name and salt their fields.
Eyepiece rain guard. Works. For transportation. In the field they are too tight to remove quickly and worse, too flexible to remove at all in a hurry. You will curse their name and salt their fields.
Travel pouch. Nice magnetic closure flap over the zip. But. And this is a huge but - the pouch is so soft it won't protect the bin from anything bar scratches. Totally crushable and an absolute no from me.
Now - that's the bad. Let us get to the good. First off the view.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!
I have a cherry Opticron MM4 50ed with SDL V2 zoom. At 13x mag, pointing at the same tree in good sunlight, the Hawke APO made me pause. I went back to the scope, re-checked , and as luck had it, a buzzard was alighting. So scope to the buzzard. Looked terrific. Went back to the APO and again I was blown away. The 13x mag was outclassed in every aspect. Contrast, colours, it wasn't even a contest. I then got out my Hawke 85ED. Bang to rights. Outgunned.
*Let me be clear - the Opticron is a complete cherry. I have had it on the beach and even seasoned Swaro users who I bird with have remarked that the image is stellar. It isn't a dud. The APO from Hawke are just outlandishly good. Blown away time.
So I took them down to the shore and for the first time in years, I just sat and drank in the day. I didn't think about the bin in my hand at all. The silky smooth focus wheel, the view, just had the bins melt away and leave me to watch the sea. After a couple of hours, I was joined by a Swaro die hard I bird with (Scope, 115 with bino adapter, the whole nine yards.) So I handed him them for a look.
*!@!#!@ mate! What are they?
And that's the view. The triplet objectives absolutely nail a zero CA scene. Gulls, crows, Cormorants, all in stark relief and zero CA. Try as hard as I could I just couldn't get the dreaded purple fringe to appear. Power lines in the distance are black lines. Fences, trees against the grey skies... I just could not get it to appear. It is intoxicating. The colours are absolutely what you see with the naked eye - there are no false enhanced colours, no popping reds or greens, just a crisp, vibrant, bright staggeringly sharp view. And after 2 weeks? I phoned the company who lent them me, thanked them profusely and paid them the money. I will not ever sell this bino. Ever. It is an absolute keeper and even as madly in love with my Sightron Blue Sky 8x32 as I am, I have a new bin that I will cherish for a very very long time. And it isnt the Swaro NL I was saving for.
Focus wheel. Silk. No play no give. Equal pressure both ways. Excellent. Focus is anti clockwise to infinity.
Centre hinge. Set and forget. It isnt going anywhere unless you make it.
Diopter. Right eye, twist to set. Set and forget. You couldn't budge this by accident. No way. Set and forget. I thrashed it around the Cairngorms for 2 weeks and it never budged once.
Freezer test was stellar. Overnight 9 hours in the home freezer. Took them out and all was very smooth still. Very smooth.
And here we get to the eye cups. They are smooth, twist out, three settings and they are big. If you have a big face with deep set eyes? You are going to love these. They are like a well worn pair of slippers. You just slide into them and sigh with contentment. Pete wears glasses and he got a full view no worries, no kidney bean no trouble. It is a set and forget bin.
My final thoughts? Hawke nailed that triplet objective. Absolutely nailed it. The image produced is a phenomenal testament to how far optics have come. You truly have to try these to understand the leaps and bounds of lower tier bins - and this is from me, a person who was putting away money for the NL 10x.
Instead, I am now a proud owner of Hawke APO, and here I will stay. Yes the Swaro are better in the field of view stakes, but I saved 1700 £ and got 90% of the performance and lost nothing in the centre resolution wise - and I humbly had to admit that the rest of what the NL delivered wasn't a price I was going to pay having looked through the Hawkes.
So, here they are. My thoughts on thrashing the Hawke APO. It truly has to be experienced - and if you are in the market for a 500 £ bin you truly owe it yourself to get hands on and get out and about with a pair. You wont regret it.
The objective covers are okay for protecting in transit. They have internal plugs so yeah, they work. In the field with any wind you will curse their name and salt their fields.
Eyepiece rain guard. Works. For transportation. In the field they are too tight to remove quickly and worse, too flexible to remove at all in a hurry. You will curse their name and salt their fields.
Travel pouch. Nice magnetic closure flap over the zip. But. And this is a huge but - the pouch is so soft it won't protect the bin from anything bar scratches. Totally crushable and an absolute no from me.
Now - that's the bad. Let us get to the good. First off the view.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!
I have a cherry Opticron MM4 50ed with SDL V2 zoom. At 13x mag, pointing at the same tree in good sunlight, the Hawke APO made me pause. I went back to the scope, re-checked , and as luck had it, a buzzard was alighting. So scope to the buzzard. Looked terrific. Went back to the APO and again I was blown away. The 13x mag was outclassed in every aspect. Contrast, colours, it wasn't even a contest. I then got out my Hawke 85ED. Bang to rights. Outgunned.
*Let me be clear - the Opticron is a complete cherry. I have had it on the beach and even seasoned Swaro users who I bird with have remarked that the image is stellar. It isn't a dud. The APO from Hawke are just outlandishly good. Blown away time.
So I took them down to the shore and for the first time in years, I just sat and drank in the day. I didn't think about the bin in my hand at all. The silky smooth focus wheel, the view, just had the bins melt away and leave me to watch the sea. After a couple of hours, I was joined by a Swaro die hard I bird with (Scope, 115 with bino adapter, the whole nine yards.) So I handed him them for a look.
*!@!#!@ mate! What are they?
And that's the view. The triplet objectives absolutely nail a zero CA scene. Gulls, crows, Cormorants, all in stark relief and zero CA. Try as hard as I could I just couldn't get the dreaded purple fringe to appear. Power lines in the distance are black lines. Fences, trees against the grey skies... I just could not get it to appear. It is intoxicating. The colours are absolutely what you see with the naked eye - there are no false enhanced colours, no popping reds or greens, just a crisp, vibrant, bright staggeringly sharp view. And after 2 weeks? I phoned the company who lent them me, thanked them profusely and paid them the money. I will not ever sell this bino. Ever. It is an absolute keeper and even as madly in love with my Sightron Blue Sky 8x32 as I am, I have a new bin that I will cherish for a very very long time. And it isnt the Swaro NL I was saving for.
Focus wheel. Silk. No play no give. Equal pressure both ways. Excellent. Focus is anti clockwise to infinity.
Centre hinge. Set and forget. It isnt going anywhere unless you make it.
Diopter. Right eye, twist to set. Set and forget. You couldn't budge this by accident. No way. Set and forget. I thrashed it around the Cairngorms for 2 weeks and it never budged once.
Freezer test was stellar. Overnight 9 hours in the home freezer. Took them out and all was very smooth still. Very smooth.
And here we get to the eye cups. They are smooth, twist out, three settings and they are big. If you have a big face with deep set eyes? You are going to love these. They are like a well worn pair of slippers. You just slide into them and sigh with contentment. Pete wears glasses and he got a full view no worries, no kidney bean no trouble. It is a set and forget bin.
My final thoughts? Hawke nailed that triplet objective. Absolutely nailed it. The image produced is a phenomenal testament to how far optics have come. You truly have to try these to understand the leaps and bounds of lower tier bins - and this is from me, a person who was putting away money for the NL 10x.
Instead, I am now a proud owner of Hawke APO, and here I will stay. Yes the Swaro are better in the field of view stakes, but I saved 1700 £ and got 90% of the performance and lost nothing in the centre resolution wise - and I humbly had to admit that the rest of what the NL delivered wasn't a price I was going to pay having looked through the Hawkes.
So, here they are. My thoughts on thrashing the Hawke APO. It truly has to be experienced - and if you are in the market for a 500 £ bin you truly owe it yourself to get hands on and get out and about with a pair. You wont regret it.