Japanese binoculars?

[enigma]

Does anyone have experience with new giant binoculars made in Japan? I think these include Vixen ARK and Opticron Observation and WP Observation.

[John]

I owned a pair of Helios Stellar 15x70 observation series binoculars for a while and a pair of Swift 16x70's many years ago. Both were made in Japan and were of very good quality both mechanically and optically.

I've owned some Chinese instruments of similar type and although they were fine for their cost (less than a third of their Japanese counterparts) they could not match the build quality of the Japanese units IMHO.

[fmeireso]

The Helios Stellar was well made but is highly bypassed by todays Chinese optics. My 15x70 BA8 series was better as my Helios Stellar 20x80 i used to have in every way.

At the time the Helios Stellas came out indeed the Chinese could not match but that time has passed.

I guess the Japanese quality is only remarkable in high end series like the Fujinons,Kowas ,Miyauchi and so.That the Chinese have not yet achieved

I've read not so raving reviews about the Vixen arks too, a bit too my surprise.

[enigma]

I wonder how the Helios Apollo HR 22x85 would compare to the Vixen ARK 30x80.

[fmeireso]

Much better.

The Helios Apollo are very good binoculars. At first they have 84 mm true aperture (most binoculars don't achieve the aperture specs)and they have very good illumination of the exit pupil. Together with excellent the coatings they give very bright and contrasty views.

You can read all about it on the cloudy nights binocular forum. Among the 70 binoculars Edz tested the BA8 22x85 is among the top ten together with the BA8 15x70.

The BA8 series are sold under different brands, one of them is the Helios Apollo.

I own both the 15x70 and 22x85.Truly great binoculars.

Consider also the 20 or 28x110...!

[Solar B]

I considered the Vixen Arks a while back,but it is my understanding that their optics are not Japanese,there have been numerous pairs

up for sale on E-bay,probably an indication of their quality.

Brian