Stuart--

Thanks for the information. I tried to call Steven Ingraham, editor of
Better View Desired, and was told he was unavailable as he's currently
moving his family to Maine from New Mexico and is running like crazy
tying up loose ends. They're leaving tomorrow.. sigh-h-h
I then called Steve Nelson (614) 882-7006 and got no answer..his ad does
say "evenings". I'll call him tonight and ask about the history of these
binoculars.
I also called a guy I know in San Diego who saw a batch of these at the
LA Great Western gun sshow last fall. The ones he saw were older,
military and had a rangefinder built in to one tube. I suspect that
should be a question anyone interested in buying the Deltrintems should
ask, if they don't want to be looking through a rangefinder grid when
they're birding.
If in fact these are what they were reviewed to be and fall into the
category of the birders you know who have them, they certainly are a
great deal. I guess I'd want to know from Steve Nelson what the
guarantee is, and if they're returnable within a couple of weeks if I
don't like them for some reason.
I'll know more when I connect with Nelson-Halik Optical--hopefully tonight.
Let's hope this batch of Deltrintems are "the old stock" you talked about.

Tom

Tom Foote footet at elwha.evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College 866-6000 x6118
Olympia, WA 98505






On Wed, 8 Mar 1995, Stuart MacKay wrote:

> Tom Foote wrote:
>
> > There seems to be an unusually good deal on binoculars in the
> > recent issue of Better View Desired that came in the mail
> > yesterday. The short version is they are E. German Zeiss
> > formerly sold under the name Aus Jena and currently marketed
> > as Docter.
>
> [Lots of stuff about binoculars munched]
>
>
> Carl Zeiss went out of business shortly after East Germany was unified with
> West Germany. My understanding is that the binoculars and cameras (Praktica)
> were then manufactured in Japan, for short time before production ceased. I
> think this had a lot to do with the brand name 'disappearing' and also quite a
> bit to do with the 'cheaper ingredients' that they were being manufactured
> with - plastic lenses being the main one.
>
> The 8x30 Deltrinems are EXCELLENT birding binoculars. Most birders/banders I
> know have them and go out of their way to get hold of the original Zeiss stock
> - getting fewer in number :'-(
>
> I don't have direct experience with the 'newer' versions other than they are
> said to be inferior to the originals - opinions vary. So I would check out the
> review - make sure it is referring to the new version and not original
> Deltrinems.
>
> BTW: Take all this with a large chunk of salt (potassium chloride, of
> course). Most of it is recalled from memory and may not be 100% accurate.
>
> Stuart MacKay
>