Swung by the ISE in Denver yesterday. Here’s a couple updates I got from the exhibitors:
Maven: I spoke with Craig Okraska, and he confirmed that they are intending to come out with a lightweight spotting scope. Spring 2019 is when they intent to bring it to market, it will be S-series glass, and he told me it would have a 56mm objective. He said it wouldn’t be as lightweight as some people would want but that they were more concerned with optics than weight (that would be in line with most of their other optics). I inquired about price point and got the impression it would be something in the $1k to $1,500 range, but I didn’t press him for the number.
Tract: I spoke with Jon Allen and they had a new set of 12.5x50 Torics on the counter, which aren’t online yet. He indicated this was the first show they had taken them to. I asked whether they were similar to the 12.5x50 GPO Passion HDs and he wasn’t familiar with those. Jon also said they were going to be releasing a 10x50 set of Torics. From our discussion it sounded like they were getting pressed by customers to come out with a set of 15x56s too, and my guess is they will at some point in the future.
Maven: I spoke with Craig Okraska, and he confirmed that they are intending to come out with a lightweight spotting scope. Spring 2019 is when they intent to bring it to market, it will be S-series glass, and he told me it would have a 56mm objective. He said it wouldn’t be as lightweight as some people would want but that they were more concerned with optics than weight (that would be in line with most of their other optics). I inquired about price point and got the impression it would be something in the $1k to $1,500 range, but I didn’t press him for the number.
Tract: I spoke with Jon Allen and they had a new set of 12.5x50 Torics on the counter, which aren’t online yet. He indicated this was the first show they had taken them to. I asked whether they were similar to the 12.5x50 GPO Passion HDs and he wasn’t familiar with those. Jon also said they were going to be releasing a 10x50 set of Torics. From our discussion it sounded like they were getting pressed by customers to come out with a set of 15x56s too, and my guess is they will at some point in the future.