yukon254,
While I never said all "cheap" binoculars are close to Big Three Alpha in quality, I have seen several instances where Asian binoculars were definitely better than SOME alphas. A couple of instances included a 2003 mule deer hunt in the Missouri Breaks where I was a sort-of back-up guide to an outfitter friend who was guiding an Eastern friend.of mine named Pete, who'd just purchased an alpha 10x42. I happened to have brought along a Japanese 10x42, which I already knew was a little better than the alpha--because I'd been running tests with it for several months, including "blind" tests with other people. While we were glassing late one day, Pete was getting frustrated because he wasn't seeing all the same deer the outfitter and I were (can't recall exactly what binocular what the outfitter used, but it was good). I finally handed Pete my Japanese glass, which cost about half as much as his alpha, and he then COULD see more deer through it.
The other example took place in Alaska in 2009. I was bear hunting with a young guide who'd just spent around $1200 on a new 10x42 of another alpha brand, while I had the first Chinese-made binocular I was really impressed with. After a couple of days the young guide was too, again because I was out-spotting him, and then handing him my binocular. In fact, at the end of the hunt I gave him my "cheap" binocular (which cost less than half of his, and he then used it for sheep guiding that fall.
Now, there are more relevant details. First, even alpha binocular manufacturers make different "grades," and both the alphas in these examples were then the "lowest" grade from each manufacturer. Plus, within the next year each alpha manufacturer brought out a new and improved version of the same binoculars that was out-performed by Asian glass. They then were probably at least as good, or even better than the Asian binoculars.
But the major point, which I thought was made in the article pretty plainly, was that ALL binoculars have continued to improve rapidly over the past 30 years, basically since phase-correction coating was introduced in roof-prism binoculars, finally making them the optical equal of Porro-prisms. Some of the Asian binoculars have matched or surpassed certain alpha binoculars made at the same time--and the alpha com-panies responded by improving their products.
But anybody who firmly believes ALL binoculars of any alpha brand are far superior to ANY binoculars made by "lesser" companies has been mistaken for several decades. In fact, some Nikons and Japanese Bausch & Lombs made in the early 1990's were basically alphas--though they cost just about as much too. And some European brands not usually considered in the "alpha" group are also just as good, or very close, to some alphas, including Kalhles, Meopta, Minox and Steiner--and Meopta binoculars in particular have the reputation of being as tough as any hunting binoculars available.
I Can understand why many guides buy alpha glass. It's one way to be sure they're getting top optical quality. But it isn't the only way, and hasn't been for a while now.
