Originally Posted by
sharpstick777
Translation: According to the data, Hoya LongLife scores a 4.92 in Colt's Real-Life Simulation Test. If that is correct, it's pretty impressive. Maybe even too impressive.
In the Colt's RLS test, 5.0 is considered perfect. Colt's RLS is the best AR measurement we currently have. It simulates 3 years of wear, exposure and includes normal temperature variations. The Bayer Abrasion test is not as accurate because it only considers hardness. Although it seems great, hardness can actually contribute to crazing and a hard AR is not necessarily a long lasting AR. A good AR has to flex along with the lens beneath it to ensure resistance to crazing. Basically, and lens that scores 5.0 won't wear, scratch or deteriorate the slightest in 3 years of wear, and even maintain its clean-ability over that time.
I would like to see the REAL Colt's Data sheet though. One thing I have found around the world is that many manufactures claim great RLS test numbers, but can't back it up. An Essilor Rep told me once that Avance scored a 4.79, however, Colts said it was impossible because they had never tested any AR at that number. To this day, Essilor has not released any official Avance Data from Colt's. The only verifiable Avance data I have found came from Slovakia? and listed Avance at 4.62, still good enough to put it in third place. However, since they improve the AR frequently, it’s possible this years model scored higher.
Another example of this if you look up Hoya's 1.70 specific gravity, you will get different number from every Hoya website around the world. So if I don’t trust Hoya, its for this reason.
I went by Colt's booth at Vision Expo but it was "unmanned" and empty.
The other downside to Colt's testing is that the manufacturer themselves submits the sample, which means that a company can supply a "golden sample" not produced in real life manufacturing. I have seen some amazing test AR's, but they cannot be reproduced in a high volume commercial lab. Unfortunately we have no way around this until someone can drop a dime on independent testing where the lenses are pulled from real production.
Regrettably, Colt's does not release the testing data themselves. Each manufacturer can choose to release the numbers or not. That makes wild claims possible. The only way to verify this through Hoya. Colt's wont say which manufacturer score what, but they can say if any manufacture has ever scored a certain number. Hoya could of course back up there claim by releasing the actual Colt's Data sheet, but will they? Anyone at Hoya want to comment?
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