Forge Series Binos... Wow!

[Alaska_Guy]

First off I want to state that I am not trying to advertise, I am just really blown away with the price point and quality that you get with these binos. They sell for around $500 online, but I can get them local for substantially cheaper, maybe because my dealer has no idea what to sell them for due to being so new? To keep things fair I decided to review them against $500-$600 binos with a good rep to see what I thought.

Over the weekend I noticed the burnt bronze color of the binos and they caught my eye. I decided what the heck, I will look at them (having no idea what brand or make they were). I was amazed the first time I looked through them. I thought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on my so I asked to see a pair of Vortex Viper HD binos they had on the shelf to compare them to. Immediately I could tell the forge was light years ahead in glass and the guy behind the gun counter agreed. My brother in law owns 3 different sets of the Vortex binos and we always take them every year when we hunt to do comparisons. Every year we are amazed at how bad the vortex do in the dusk/dawn. My brother in law originally bought the diamondback, then the viper, then the viper HD when they came out. We have been comparing these binos for 5 years in real world hunting situations so I kinda already knew what to expect of the vortex. For $500, the vortex HD binos in my opinion aren't great. The Viper HD binos should be priced more like $300. I am not here to bash vortex, I am simply stating how I personally feel about their bino's. I have never looked into their Razor series, but we are talking a total different price point so there really isn't a need to compare them considering there are much better options at that price point from other manufacturers. Unfortunately the store that had the forge series in stock only had vortex products to compare them against, I would have liked to do some comparisons with leupold or others manufacturers. I own a pair of cheap Nikons in this price point and the bushnell forge blows those away as well.

Update, Today:

I decided to take my swarovski CL 8x30 binos in with me today to do some comparisons against the forge 8x42 binos... I don't know how they are doing it but the forge glass is every bit as good as my swaro glass. I asked the guy behind the gun counter his thoughts and he couldn't believe they were just as good as my swarovski binos. Granted, my swaro's are a few years old, but they are still VERY good glass...

I can't believe I am saying this, but I actually prefer the forge series to my swaros as the bushnell has a locking diopter. The thumb grips/grooves on the bottom side of the binos look like they stole swaro's design. And of course since they are 42 objective I get a bigger Field of View. They are a little long, but I didn't mind it, it actually helped me steady them a bit easier.

The gun store only had a test model of 1 on their prime series binos and I will stand by what I say here, complete garbage. Hopefully it is just a bad run on those prime binos, because those aren't worth giving away.

I really would like someone else to get their hands on these that has more experience with other binos than myself. I own swaroski and I know their quality, I have looked through vortex and I know their quality... I can't testify in this $500 space weather these are a GREAT deal or not because I simply haven't looked through much else besides swaro or vortex. I can tell you I would take them any day of the week over vortex in the same price point.

If their build quality is anything like their optical quality I can see these flying off the shelves.

 

[918v]

So cheap 8x42 binos are just as good as expensive 8x30? Well, yeah.

 

[Apnea]

So cheap 8x42 binos are just as good as expensive 8x30? Well, yeah.

Might be deceiving to compare 42mm and 30mm objectives, since the 42 represents almost double the light-gathering surface area. The larger objective is probably inherently at an advantage in terms of how it looks to your eye in less than bright sun conditions. Objective size is not everything, for example the ATACR 4-16 has a 42mm objective and keeps up with 50mm objectives, but that is an engineering and materials feat. All else being equal, the smaller objective loses because it simply can't gather as much light.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I'm so glad we have all these new members popping up and promoting their shitty chinese products so that we can all stop wasting our money on the good shit.

If chinese binos looked the same as Swaro's, I'd tell nobody about it, pretend it didn't happen, and schedule an eye exam.

I'll give Bushnell the nod in the super low end $200 category for the Legends, they're pretty decent glass and better than others I've seen in the same price range. But anything Bushnell makes on par with Swaro for glass quality? It's time to pass the pipe, you've had enough.

 

[Patty]

Did you take them outside? look at things at a distance? from my experience when you start too look at things at a distance in mirage is where glass quality starts to become apparent. I've looked at Binos from $200 to $3200 and at 50 yards to the back wall of the gun store they all look the same.

 

[Alaska_Guy]

I did not look at them outside as the company wouldn't let me leave the store with them. However, I compared them to the vortex binos in the same conditions and the vortex looked horrid. The vortex was dark and the colors were off and the clarity wasn't there etc. Yes, I am new to THIS forum. It seems everyone but Patruck and Apnea that has posted here so far is very judgmental considering they have never looked through the optic in question. If you haven't looked through the optic, how would you know how they compare? I simply stated my experience and plainly explained the conditions I used to test them.

Vortex used to get bashed when they were the new kid on the block, then Athlon got a bunch of grief, I guess its only right that people judge a book by its cover.... By the way 90% of those optics are also Chinese, I guess they must be bad too.

I don't own a single Chinese optic and I own fairly decent glass... I have no dog in this fight. I will wait 3 months or so when people have time to test the binos and then report back. I was just pointing out what I saw in the conditions available.

They would be a great backup pair of binos for their price point ($313 locally).

 

[Patty]

I did not look at them outside as the company wouldn't let me leave the store with them. However, I compared them to the vortex binos in the same conditions and the vortex looked horrid. The vortex was dark and the colors were off and the clarity wasn't there etc. Yes, I am new to THIS forum. It seems everyone but Patruck and Apnea that has posted here so far is very judgmental considering they have never looked through the optic in question. If you haven't looked through the optic, how would you know how they compare? I simply stated my experience and plainly explained the conditions I used to test them.

Vortex used to get bashed when they were the new kid on the block, then Athlon got a bunch of grief, I guess its only right that people judge a book by its cover.... By the way 90% of those optics are also Chinese, I guess they must be bad too.

I don't own a single Chinese optic and I own fairly decent glass... I have no dog in this fight. I will wait 3 months or so when people have time to test the binos and then report back. I was just pointing out what I saw in the conditions available.

They would be a great backup pair of binos for their price point ($313 locally).

I think everyone’s concern is that it’s hard to evaluate an optic on any level just by looking through them inside a store, I would venture to say that if the vortex’s looked THAT bad just viewing them inside the store, they probably have an issue and need to be sent back to vortex. I have pretty good eye sight, and experience with many different optics, and I have never been able to see such a huge difference in one optic over another without getting them outside. I would bet that if you asked you could get a staff member to take a pair outside with you for testing, most stores are willing to do that when it comes to optics, if they aren’t, I wouldn’t buy from them.