Post by doubs43 on Feb 11, 2008 21:29:37 GMT -5
I recently found myself without a cheap pair of binoculars in the car after my Simmons 10x25 "freebies" went home with my son at Christmas time. I'd gotten them as a free gift with another purchase several years ago. The Simmons were small and fit perfectly in the glove box. I missed them!
It would have been easy to replace them with the Carl Zeiss Jena 8x30W "Jenoptem" glasses that I'd purchased new in England over 20 years ago. That is until I considered that even if you can find a pair today they'll bring $400 or more! Nope..... not gonna chance it. That means finding another pair of decent glasses and not breaking the bank.
Research kept bringing me back to glowing reports of genuine military surplus glasses issued by the Russians that might still be found on the market. The Russian-made glasses are based on WW2 German issue glasses made by Carl Zeiss. I finally ordered a pair for $69.95 plus shipping.
So....... what did I get? The first thing seen upon opening the package was a medium brown plastic hard case. Looking similar to the old plastic called "Bakelite", it lacks the swirls usually seen in Bakelite. A closer look and I'm confident that this is seriously tough stuff designed to withstand hard military service. It comes with a sturdy leather strap to sling over the shoulder for carrying. The case lid closes by a pull-down piece that latches over a stud.
Inside of the case were the 8x30 binoculars with a double eye-piece cover that slides up and down the leather neck strap. Also included are two orange eye-piece filters and an extra screw-on hard plastic eyecup. There's a folded cloth in the bottom on which the eye-piece cover rests when being carried. Glued to the inside of the lid are two rubber pads that secure the large end of the binoculars when closed. It's all tight and secure.
Grease! The Russians like grease! Lets just say it took a little while for me to clean the binoculars of grease in places that shouldn't have had grease..... including a thin film on the glass surfaces.
The finish is in no respects comparable to commercial Carl Zeiss glasses. It's a flat black finish that looks to be tough and durable..... exactly what you'd expect for military use. The leather around the barrels has some kind of sealing finish and looks to be just as tough as the metal finish.
Once cleaned and placed to the eyes things really cleared up. Each eyepiece is adjusted for the individual eye. Adjusted once for infinity and the settings noted, it's a piece of cake to return to the proper places. That's important to know because the eyepieces need to be screwed all the way down for storage in the case. There is not a center wheel for focus which should make these glasses less prone to bad seals and fogging.
The Carl Zeiss Jena 8x30W glasses I have are first class. The optics are multi-coated and the view is crystal clear. Almost astonishingly, so are the Russian military glasses!!! They may not be expensive but the quality of the optics is amazing and they even appear to be multi-coated. The serial number is "NK0280080". Russian military serial numbers use the first two digits to show year of manufacture so these appear to have been made in 2002; they're probably new/never issued.
Four pictures follow and if anyone can identify the maker from the logo, I'd appreciate knowing who it is. I have Princelle's books and this logo isn't shown there.
Walker
It would have been easy to replace them with the Carl Zeiss Jena 8x30W "Jenoptem" glasses that I'd purchased new in England over 20 years ago. That is until I considered that even if you can find a pair today they'll bring $400 or more! Nope..... not gonna chance it. That means finding another pair of decent glasses and not breaking the bank.
Research kept bringing me back to glowing reports of genuine military surplus glasses issued by the Russians that might still be found on the market. The Russian-made glasses are based on WW2 German issue glasses made by Carl Zeiss. I finally ordered a pair for $69.95 plus shipping.
So....... what did I get? The first thing seen upon opening the package was a medium brown plastic hard case. Looking similar to the old plastic called "Bakelite", it lacks the swirls usually seen in Bakelite. A closer look and I'm confident that this is seriously tough stuff designed to withstand hard military service. It comes with a sturdy leather strap to sling over the shoulder for carrying. The case lid closes by a pull-down piece that latches over a stud.
Inside of the case were the 8x30 binoculars with a double eye-piece cover that slides up and down the leather neck strap. Also included are two orange eye-piece filters and an extra screw-on hard plastic eyecup. There's a folded cloth in the bottom on which the eye-piece cover rests when being carried. Glued to the inside of the lid are two rubber pads that secure the large end of the binoculars when closed. It's all tight and secure.
Grease! The Russians like grease! Lets just say it took a little while for me to clean the binoculars of grease in places that shouldn't have had grease..... including a thin film on the glass surfaces.
The finish is in no respects comparable to commercial Carl Zeiss glasses. It's a flat black finish that looks to be tough and durable..... exactly what you'd expect for military use. The leather around the barrels has some kind of sealing finish and looks to be just as tough as the metal finish.
Once cleaned and placed to the eyes things really cleared up. Each eyepiece is adjusted for the individual eye. Adjusted once for infinity and the settings noted, it's a piece of cake to return to the proper places. That's important to know because the eyepieces need to be screwed all the way down for storage in the case. There is not a center wheel for focus which should make these glasses less prone to bad seals and fogging.
The Carl Zeiss Jena 8x30W glasses I have are first class. The optics are multi-coated and the view is crystal clear. Almost astonishingly, so are the Russian military glasses!!! They may not be expensive but the quality of the optics is amazing and they even appear to be multi-coated. The serial number is "NK0280080". Russian military serial numbers use the first two digits to show year of manufacture so these appear to have been made in 2002; they're probably new/never issued.
Four pictures follow and if anyone can identify the maker from the logo, I'd appreciate knowing who it is. I have Princelle's books and this logo isn't shown there.
Walker