Rare Swarovski Habicht 8X30 DF W O GA (1 Viewer)

[Giorgio]

My house is surrounded by 3 neighbours houses, situated at like 50 meters from my garden edges.
Almost every morning and evening, im opening my roof window and scouting the nearby places, checking for birds, deepsky, planets, moon, etc...
I surprised many times my neighbours, seeing me with binocs, closing their curtains, thinking i am spying them lol.
I have to admit that seeing a person with binoculars watching to your direction from a certain distance must be disturbing a bit.

 

[brocknroller]

Chinese people are not interested in the taste of binoculars; we are interested in the taste of chicken and pork.B Maybe it’s about the culture, when you use binoculars in China; response from most people around will think you are peeping others' privacy.:-C

According to this article and others I've read, at least some of China's nouveau riche are into "conspicuous consumption" while others are "sophisticated shoppers".

A Leica Silverline with its silver and famous "red dot" would have more appeal to the former than the Swaro Habicht, which looks old fashioned and rather pedestrian, and not that much different than a General Hi-T 8x30 Mil bin (which has better ER, btw):

http://holgermerlitz.de/ares8x30.html

Here's an article on China's luxury market:

http://www.jingdaily.com/en/luxury/chinas-luxury-market-increasingly-split-between-conspicuous-consumers-and-sophisticated-shoppers/

Brock

 

[Nixterdemus]

"I have to admit that seeing a person with binoculars watching to your direction from a certain distance must be disturbing a bit."

My mother doesn't drive & I took her to the dentist. Wasn't to take long, so I stay outside next to my car watching birds w/binoculars. The area is mixed commercial/residential in a town around 30K.

Wasn't long until the receptionist was stepping outside to see what the man in the parking lot w/binoculars was doing.

Possibly someone thought glassing was my cover for a nefarious plot of hideous intent & diabolical design.

 

[NDhunter]

Jerry,

wd40 said the Swaro DFs are not mil spec so I'm not sure they weigh more than the old 8x30 GAs. Could be just the difference of weight with the rubber armoring.

According to Swarovski, the rubber armoring adds 3.9 oz the 10x40 model (24 oz. vs. 27.9 oz.).

For the smaller 8x30 DF, probably no more than 3 oz. extra for the GA. So 22 oz. instead of 19. The 8x32 SE is 22 oz. They are not heavy. And for me at least, porros are easier to hold than roofs.

But let's see what xu says, he probably has that spec.

Optically, I doubt if either Swaro 8x30 roof blows away the Habicht. I haven't tried the CLs, but I have compared the 8x30 SLCneu to the 8x32 SE and 8x30 EII, and the porros were sharper. I could resolve more detail both mounted and handheld (couldn't mount the SLCneu but rested it on a bean bag hassock).

If the DF optics are on par with the 8x30 W, and we have no reason to believe otherwise, and being made in 2010, they have the latest AR coatings, so I would not be at all surprised if the 8x30 W DF outperformed the roofs. At worst, it should match the CL and beat the SLC.

Sorry to see you have gone over to the other side.

Brock

Brock (Hagar):

I don't think I have gone over to any side. I have not tried any of the Swaro.
porros, and I suppose I should not have made a review from the arm chair.

I do think you know I like both porros and roofs, and since AllBinos is referenced
so often, you should read about how they like the Nikon 10x42 SE. At the time of review they ranked 4th overall, and were an Editors choice. Since then the new Swaros. were tested, and they entered the top few places.
Read how they compared the Swarovski 10x40 Habicht, 25th overall. They described the design as 40 years old, and not up to the newer competition.

I suppose I am thinking along those lines with the 8x30 Habicht, and so without
any direct reviews or comparisons, it is hard to say how they compare with some other 8x30's.

I like your new Avatar, I have always liked Hagar, and so I suppose that will
rub over onto you !

Jerry

 

[brocknroller]

Brock (Hagar):

I don't think I have gone over to any side. I have not tried any of the Swaro.
porros, and I suppose I should not have made a review from the arm chair.

I do think you know I like both porros and roofs, and since AllBinos is referenced
so often, you should read about how they like the Nikon 10x42 SE. At the time of review they ranked 4th overall, and were an Editors choice. Since then the new Swaros. were tested, and they entered the top few places.
Read how they compared the Swarovski 10x40 Habicht, 25th overall. They described the design as 40 years old, and not up to the newer competition.

I suppose I am thinking along those lines with the 8x30 Habicht, and so without
any direct reviews or comparisons, it is hard to say how they compare with some other 8x30's.

I like your new Avatar, I have always liked Hagar, and so I suppose that will
rub over onto you !

Jerry

Jerry,

So you're a swing batter who plays for both teams?

From all accounts, the 8x30 W Habicht seems to be the "pick of the litter". The 7x42's have too narrow a field of view, and the 10x40s, well, allbinos pointed out its flaws, but notice what they said at the end of the review:

"This text won’t be impartial at all because I must admit I am simply in love with the look of these binoculars, the way they lie in your hand, the way they smell… It is the classic look epitomized – just beautiful."

Kenny Jones would appreciate the "smell".

I hoped to have tried the 8x30 W by now, but this hip is taking longer to rehab than I thought. I was about 75% back last Tuesday, and then I stepped over a barrier about 3 ft. high, came down on my right leg and twisted as I brought my left leg over, and ZING! The pain came back. Ice. Heat. Ice. Heat. Too bad, because up until today, the weather had been unusually mild (almost 60* F!), so a ride down to Lewistown would have been doable. Last year, we had almost a foot of snow on the ground at this time.

As the reformed shock jock once said:

"The view through a good porro is hard to beat."

Maybe mooreorless will drive down to Lewistown with me sometime, and we'll compare his 8x30 SLCneu to the 8x30 W Habicht side by side while sitting in armless chairs.

Being an authorized dealer, perhaps Proud Papa can import one of those 8x30 W DFs from Shanghai. I think hunters would go for them. I would too for general use.

Well, off to bed. Lucky Eddie and I have some pillaging and plundering to do tomorrow.

Haggard the Oakie

 

[proudpapa56]

I am intrigued

by this thread and will in fact contact SONA (in "Road Island" as Joe Biden's staff spelled it this week) Monday morning to ask what avenue I might be able to take to find a pair. If in fact a pair can be tracked down, I don't know if they would go in the shop showcase or on the fireplace mantle at home. I'm not going to hold my breath though and certainly wouldn't bet on being able to find two pair.

 

[proudpapa56]

By the way,

Brock, sorry to hear you keep getting dinged. Between my knees and ankles (old sports injuries) and now age (56) I know how long and nagging and painful these things are. And you just can't sit down for months on end. Hope to see you sometime this spring.

 

[brocknroller]

Brock, sorry to hear you keep getting dinged. Between my knees and ankles (old sports injuries) and now age (56) I know how long and nagging and painful these things are. And you just can't sit down for months on end. Hope to see you sometime this spring.

Thanks, proudpapa. If I had been 25-year-old athlete, I'd probably be back on the field by now, but as you said, when you get older, it takes longer to heal.

I also have a bad knee, although not old sports injury but rather an old girlfriend injury.

For some reason, she decided to jump into my arms. I had no idea what she was doing when she started running at me (she had a hot temper, Italian girl, so it could have been some real or imagined wrong I did), so I pulled my right leg up to block her but she swung around to jump up into my arms and the front of her knee hit the side of mine. I was walking with a crutch for a month.

The odd thing is that last night I had a dream about her. I haven't seen her in 25 years.

On the bright side, the knee injury occurred just before Christmas, and I was surprised at how nice people were to a "gimp" around the holidays. They'd hold the door for me and let me go to the front of the line. If you ever get behind in your Christmas shopping, go into the stores with a crutch and you'll be done in no time - just watch out for that woman with the pepper spray.

Hope to meet you in the spring, and I also hope to look at the Swaro 8x30 W DF on your mantle!

Brock

 

[proudpapa56]

Out of the loop

I talked to Swarovski Optik North America this morning and if it's not on their special order list then there's no access to certain models here in the U.S. at all.
I sent an email inquiry to Swarovski Optik Saudi Arabia, we'll see what happens.

 

[steve@37n84w]

I talked to Swarovski Optik North America this morning and if it's not on their special order list then there's no access to certain models here in the U.S. at all.
I sent an email inquiry to Swarovski Optik Saudi Arabia, we'll see what happens.

I still think the green rubber armored version looks "homely" compared to leather version, but if I could find an IF version I would buy it instantly. I've been trying to get a 6x30 FMTR SX for a few months with no success so a rugged IF 8x30 Habicht would work instead, and be much lighter.

Still loving the view in my 8x30 Habicht and if I could duplicate this view in an even more rugged IF version would love to do so. If you could come across some of these it would make some of us here very happy

Discussions like this make me wonder how many minimum units must be contracted for before a manufacturer agrees to a special run production. Anyone have any idea????

Steve

 

[Giorgio]

Proudpapa, as long as you are not a director of an OPEC country's company, you cannot have the right to own this pair of Binoculars.

 

[steve@37n84w]

Proudpapa, as long as you are not a director of an OPEC country's company, you cannot have the right to own this pair of Binoculars.

Yeah, they do tend to have a little more disposable income than the rest of us. I remember a few months ago when some members of the Dubai royal family were robbed of the cash they had brought to London to cover their expenses for the weekend trip. If I remember correctly the number was over 3 million dollars.

Steve

 

[RJM]

FWIW, someone here has been selling a stash of rubber armored Swaro 8x30 W for ~JPY50,000.

 

[brocknroller]

Can't read the ad, but perhaps these are the mil spec version with reticle, maybe surplus?

If they are the same Saudi hunter version as xu40's, then they are a hell of a buy for $621. That's almost half of what he paid in Shanghai.

Brock

 

[steve@37n84w]

FWIW, someone here has been selling a stash of rubber armored Swaro 8x30 W for ~JPY50,000.

Great find, but comparing the serial/model numbers of the OP's version with these makes me suspect like Brock this version might have the military style recticle. I'm really curious about the last three letters STP,could this stand for Swarotop, or were Swarotop coatings being used in 2000? I ask this because if I remember Swarovski's method of dating correctly the OP's version was manufactured in 2010 and the above version in 2000.

If the above 2000 version has the Swarotop coatings sans the recticle it would be a great deal.Wish I could speak Japanese, I'd probably already have a pair on the way.

Steve

 

[henry link]

I think one crucial thing to find out about these military versions is whether they contain laser filters, as most binoculars actually used by militaries have for the last 20 years. Those are ruinous for light transmission and color fidelity in the visual range and are sometimes not removable.

 

[steve@37n84w]

I think one crucial thing to find out about these military versions is whether they contain laser filters, as most binoculars actually used by militaries have for the last 20 years. Those are ruinous for light transmission and color fidelity in the visual range and are sometimes not removable.

Good point Henry. Would be nice if one of our members who is fluent in Japanese could offer a little help as I'm sure the linked website lists the specifics.

Steve

 

[David Swain]

Translation through Chrome browser indicates these are Swarodur/Swarotop; no mention of military reticle. Cut/paste of the specs:

■ reliable waterproof binoculars in the traditional style.
■ It offers ultra-wide field of view and image brightness, contrast, state-of-the-art optical technology rich.
■ very sturdy structure corresponds to any harsh conditions.
■ Swarodur multilayer coating and high-quality Swarotop with Swarovski's unique and superior light condensing optical transparency, high bright image.
■ through the wide-angle eyepiece lens 6, ensuring a broad perspective.
■ What is the company's small size series Porro prism method for three-dimensional image demarcate relatively rich
central focus wheel for rapid focusing ■.
■ proximity observations excellent work achieved by adjusting the settings (10 feet) unlimited, 3 meters.
■ Swarovski Habicht models, which is one of the Porro prism binoculars are waterproof, dustproof airtight, waterproof (13 feet).
■ Nitrogen filling to prevent fogging.
■ very light, light alloy housing very robust
rubber coating for shock absorption and noise reduction ■. Comfortable even in cold weather. ● 8-fold magnification objective lens diameter ● (mm) 30 ● diameter exit pupil (mm) 3.8 ● Eye Relief (mm) 13 Field of view ● (m/1000 M) 136 shortest projection distance ● (m) 3 diopter correction ● (DPT) + -5 seventy-two from (mm) ● 56 pupillary distance (DIN fifty-eight thousand three hundred eighty-eight) ● 16 Twilight factor (in) ● Length about 4.49 (in) width of about 6.9 ● (in) height approximately 2.09 ● ● Weight about (oz) nineteen ▼! Nationwide uniform free shipping! ▲

David

 

[steve@37n84w]

Translation through Chrome browser indicates these are Swarodur/Swarotop; no mention of military reticle. Cut/paste of the specs:

■ reliable waterproof binoculars in the traditional style.
■ It offers ultra-wide field of view and image brightness, contrast, state-of-the-art optical technology rich.
■ very sturdy structure corresponds to any harsh conditions.
■ Swarodur multilayer coating and high-quality Swarotop with Swarovski's unique and superior light condensing optical transparency, high bright image.
■ through the wide-angle eyepiece lens 6, ensuring a broad perspective.
■ What is the company's small size series Porro prism method for three-dimensional image demarcate relatively rich
central focus wheel for rapid focusing ■.
■ proximity observations excellent work achieved by adjusting the settings (10 feet) unlimited, 3 meters.
■ Swarovski Habicht models, which is one of the Porro prism binoculars are waterproof, dustproof airtight, waterproof (13 feet).
■ Nitrogen filling to prevent fogging.
■ very light, light alloy housing very robust
rubber coating for shock absorption and noise reduction ■. Comfortable even in cold weather. ● 8-fold magnification objective lens diameter ● (mm) 30 ● diameter exit pupil (mm) 3.8 ● Eye Relief (mm) 13 Field of view ● (m/1000 M) 136 shortest projection distance ● (m) 3 diopter correction ● (DPT) + -5 seventy-two from (mm) ● 56 pupillary distance (DIN fifty-eight thousand three hundred eighty-eight) ● 16 Twilight factor (in) ● Length about 4.49 (in) width of about 6.9 ● (in) height approximately 2.09 ● ● Weight about (oz) nineteen ▼! Nationwide uniform free shipping! ▲

David

David

Thanks for the translation but it just point out the seller just used the normal specs for a current 8x30 W GA. From the serial number on the bino the date of manufacture would be 2000 and that was before swaradur coatings. The other obvious clue is the center focus spec for an obvious IF binocular. Another seller that doesn't know/care enough to be accurate in describing a binocular they're trying to sell--kind of reminds of a lot of the listings on ebay

Another spec I wonder about is the waterproof to 13', I know the Habicht Porros are rated as waterproof but didn't realize the rating was that high.

Steve

 

[RJM]

FWIW, this recycle shop popped up on the bino auctions last month with a cache of old-ish Swaro models (several of each type) last month. At first they offered them for silly buy-it-now prices but got no takers. Then they dropped a few to 1000yen starting bids without reserve I guess to find out their worth. Now the starting prices reflect those sales. Several sold in the last few weeks but the strange thing is there is no feedback for any of them.

The shop is out in the Tokyo burbs and under different circumstances I'd take a train out to look at them. But I am trying to wind down our life here in Japan in prep for an eventual move so no more toys for me! Pretty astute collectors in Japan though and any true bargains don't last long on auction so I suspect the "value is out" with these.