Hi Dennis. Thanks for the review of the Brunton Epochs. I am always
interested in hearing about what's good and what ain't, especially among
the high-end optics. It sounds like the Epochs were brought out
specifically to compete with the Swarovski ELs. I say this because the
characteristics of the two are so very similar, from construction to
technical specs, and the price is about the same. I checked the internet
and it appears that the Bruntons are marginally smaller and marginally
lighter than the ELs. The big advantage they have over Swarovski appears
to be the variable focusing system. It sounds much more rapid than
Swarovski's conventional focusing screw. And the close focus is better
(3 feet for Brunton vs 8 feet for Swarovski). The advantage of the
Swarovski appears to be the field of view (330 ft at 1,000 yds vs 290 ft
for the Bruntons).

I was just wondering if anyone out there has had a chance to compare
these two models in the field and could share their impressions with
Tweeters.

Regards,
Daniel Bastaja
dan at calivita.com

-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Dennis Paulson
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2003 12:39 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Brunton binoculars

Hello, tweets.

Just wanted to share my enthusiasm for the Brunton Epoch binoculars,
as I acquired a pair of them just before I left for Arizona a few
weeks ago. They are really great, as good as the review in the Feb
2003 Birding magazine. They are probably no better in optics or light
gathering or durability or some other important features than their
competitors (but still superb), but two features make them unique,
both of them winners.

(1) Close focus. They focus to 3 feet or a little less, a fabulous
opportunity to view butterflies and dragonflies and flowers and other
things at high magnification. You don't focus on your feet, you focus
on your knees! There is parallax, so you have to view with only one
eye at that distance, but beyond about 5 feet the parallax effect
goes away.

(2) Fast focus. They focus quite rapidly from infinity to 3 feet and
back because of a special variable focus system.

(3) I should add that they look cool, always important to the birder,
right?

I should add on top of that that they are also expensive, and only
because of my long frustration at not being able to focus as close as
I would like was I willing to shell out big bucks for brawny bins,
but this model was the obvious choice once I had decided I would take
the plunge - to be able to focus that closely was only a dream before
these glasses appeared. Their list price is $1500, but you can get
them for $1400 from some dealers, I believe. They also have
considerably less expensive Eternas that focus to 5 feet and are said
to be quite good, too.

Their web site is www.brunton.com.

I'm neither an employee nor a stockholder, for my last addition.

Dennis
--
Dennis Paulson, Director phone 253-879-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 253-879-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
1500 N. Warner, #1088
Tacoma, WA 98416-1088
http://www.ups.edu/biology/museum/museum.html