Tract Toric Binos with Schott Glass

[pjohnson8168]

Anybody using a pair of these yet, I have a buddy who is very interested in them but curious to know how they compare to Euro's, Conquest, Razor HD's both in build and image quality. Also, any thoughts on they compare specifically as it relates to depth of field?

Thanks

 

[Newtosavage]

Zeiss Conquests have been using Schott glass for a while now. If they are as good as the Conquests, then they should be like a Zeiss without the marketing price tag which would be very good for the hunting market. Birders on the other hand, will happily pay extra for the Zeiss badge.

 

[zeroforhire]

I don't think the conquests use the ht schott glass. Just picked up the torics. They are fantastic for the price.

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[Matt Cashell]

The raw glass spec is not a reliable indicator of optical performance. It all plays a role in the system though.

 

[Kraze]

I don't think the conquests use the ht schott glass. Just picked up the torics. They are fantastic for the price.

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Any other binos you might compare them to? I know the original Toric binoculars were very well reviewed, so I can only imagine they got better after the switch to Schott glass.

 

[Steve C]

I’m going to offer an opinion here which some may not like. My original Tract Toric compares well with anything, yes anything, costing up to twice as much. In order to get significant improvement the Toric would need serious upgrades past the addition of a couple of pieces of Schott glass. I sometimes wonder if people think that Schott maintains a race of magical Pixies somewhere high in the Alps that produce a wondrous pixie dust that gets used in optical glass. This is not to denigrate Schott. They have long made high grade, quality level glass, and will likely continue to do so. People have gotten to the point where they expect far more improvement in incremental optical upgrades than will exist. Schott HT glass is a market speak term. Each barrel contains upward of a dozen different glass elements. Each performs a specific function, each piece having different specifications. The glass elements are most likely not all from the same place. They are purchased from wherever the maker can get the glass they need with the proper specifications to put in its respective place in the binocular.

It is generally stated that there needs to be a 4-5% increase in light transmission for the human eye to begin to notice. The original Toric is right at 90%. That means a binocular with 94-95 % total transmission. The only less than 12-15x binoculars that come to mind that do that are the Zeiss Victory HT (which does use Schott HT), and the Maven B2. This is apples to oranges as the HT and the B2 are Abbe-Koenig prism glass, which is good for the 4-5% transmission bump over the far more typical Schmidt-Pechan. The highest transmission of the Schmidt-Pechan family is the Zeiss Victory SF, which through some major tweaking of the SP prism got to 93%. The point here is that these are a hell of a lot more expensive than the Toric, and illustrates what Tract would have had to spend to get there. Change one thing significantly, and you change a whole lot of things.

I think Tract looked at where they could best put a couple of pieces of Schott glass that would qualify for inclusion in the Tract binocular. Terms like HT, HD, ED, etc are market speak terms. Optical specifications are numbers that likely do not include any of those terms. What matters is getting the right specifications for each piece of glass in the optical train. Many glass makers nowadays can get the specs right. Schott certainly can. Don’t loose sight of the fact that Schott is global and has facilities all over the world. Just because the Schott glass in the new Toric can be called HT (however that is defined) it does not mean it has the same Abbe number s that used in the Victory HT. It just means it has an Abbe number in the proper range to meet specification.

Just don’t get your hopes up too high for the performance boost of the new Toric with Schott HT glass. Tract claimed the original Toric is the best binocular that can be bought for under $600. I am not inclined to dispute that assertion. The new Toric will likely not let the side down, just how much is another matter. It will likely be able to out perform the original Toric in an optical lab. How well it will do that glassing that ridge over yonder is another matter.

 

[Xlr8n]

Agree with Steve's take on Schott glass. Will it improve the optical performance number of the Tract Torics? Probably. Will the average consumer be able to pick it out from the original in an unlabeled side by side test of the two?

On a side note, I'd be very interested in trying the Torics out, but with no retail outlet and with no demo program I'm not likely to spend that money on recommendations alone. The folks at Tract need to get binoculars in the hands of consumers. Perhaps a test pair to pass between members of select enthusiasts forums would be a good place to start.
If companies like Tract want to use a business model that cuts out the middleman, they also need find a way to replace the store demo part of that equation. Maven figured out a way to do this with their own demo program.

 

[zeroforhire]

I'm pretty sure they have a 30 day return policy. While that isn't quite as good as mavens demo program, it could at least let you look through them before deciding to keep them or not.

Agree with Steve's take on Schott glass. Will it improve the optical performance number of the Tract Torics? Probably. Will the average consumer be able to pick it out from the original in an unlabeled side by side test of the two?

On a side note, I'd be very interested in trying the Torics out, but with no retail outlet and with no demo program I'm not likely to spend that money on recommendations alone. The folks at Tract need to get binoculars in the hands of consumers. Perhaps a test pair to pass between members of select enthusiasts forums would be a good place to start.
If companies like Tract want to use a business model that cuts out the middleman, they also need find a way to replace the store demo part of that equation. Maven figured out a way to do this with their own demo program.

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[Wrench]

I bought a set on black Friday. I will have a pair of nikon edg 2's for sale. The toric is everything my edg, meopta hd and swarobrights are and don't have anything cheap feeling about them.

 

[kipper09]

I won’t lie. These interest me. I have the meostars and am thinking about trying these for the weight savings alone. They get pretty glowing reviews.


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[zeroforhire]

The schott ht torics are phenomenal. The only non alpha binos that I want to compare them against is the Nikon hg 8x42.

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[kipper09]

The schott ht torics are phenomenal. The only non alpha binos that I want to compare them against is the Nikon hg 8x42.

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Any experience with the meoptas? How did they compare?


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[Wrench]

I don't have the hg but I do have the edg which is as good or better....and they are right in the hunt.

 

[zeroforhire]

I've just compared them to meopros. They are sharper and seem to have better color rendition.

Any experience with the meoptas? How did they compare?


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[Wrench]

I have the meopta hd's and it's a coin toss....but the tracts are lighter for sure.

 

[pjohnson8168]

For those of you who have used them, how is the depth of field..? I have used Conquest HD's and Maven B2's and found the depth of field to be lacking in my experience.

 

[Steve C]

Depth of field typically is a phenomena that decreases with magnification increase. I have long since given up any sort of surprise at different reactions of different people to the same binocular. There are some things that will affect depth of field, but usually they are things like one barrel or the other being slightly out of specification vs the other side. One side may have better resolution, or be slightly misaligned vs the other side. If so there is usually something else in the view that is not right beside focus depth.

 

[Matt G.]

All this talk lately has gotten me curious. Curious is how you would rate them between Nikon MHG, Meopta Meostars HD, Zeiss Conquests, Swaro SLC, Leica Trinovid, or the Vortex Razor...

 

[Xlr8n]

I just about pulled the trigger during the Black Friday sale where they had the new 8x42 Schott's at 30% off. $478. Quite a deal.

 

[Wrench]

All this talk lately has gotten me curious. Curious is how you would rate them between Nikon MHG, Meopta Meostars HD, Zeiss Conquests, Swaro SLC, Leica Trinovid, or the Vortex Razor...

As good as any and all mentioned...I have most of those.