Good day all.
This is my first attempt to provide a fairly comprehensive review on some binos that I have been considering for purchase. So be easy on me. My intent is to help some folks who may be in my situation, not to attempt to be a Bino expert. I live in Hawaii and have been climbing mountains out here chasing various game, so my initial goal was to up my glass quality (from Viper HD) while shaving some weight.
Let me start by saying this won't be as technical as other reviews you read (CA, coating, etc). I made some tests that in my mind created situations that would help me distinguish the performance of these binos and relate to how I could use them in the field. No fancy equipment here.
The binos I got my hands for my initial test were: Vortex Razor HD 10x42, Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42, Leupold BX-5 10x42, Meopta Meostar 10x42, Meopta Meopro 10x42, Nikon HG 10x42, Maven B2 9x45, Maven B3 8x30. After the fact I ended up with a pair of Vortex Razor UHD 12x50s, and then snagged some GPO 12.5x50's as well, acknowledging these aren't apple to apple comparisons and both a few hundred more than those listed. I know everyone will likely say I left a few off (SLCs, higher end Zeiss, others...etc). Price point is my justification, I have no doubt like everyone else I would love SLCs and some day I am sure I will have some.
I wanted to test resolution, edge to edge clarity, FOV, depth of field, low light performance, and ergonomics. I subjectively graded these categories with two other buddies, off my back balcony.
The tests we conducted included looking at two homemade resolution charts (picts below) at 40 yds and 100 yds. Various signage from distances ranging from 800-1500yds, and various other objects at similar distances (picts below). This allowed us to come up with a fairly good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each set.
We then provided a 1-10 score (10 best) and a relative score for each of the binos. I assigned values for all of the subjective criteria and then used weight, warranty, and price as objective criteria and again scored using the same scale. I know some may have issue with the warranty criteria, but its really just my opinion so take it for what its worth (a bit subjective I guess).
Below I have a few pictures of the various tests and a spreadsheet of my results.
A few quick observations, then I will leave the rest up to questions anyone may have.
-The Conquest HD's were the best optically. A bit surprised because everyone swears by the Nikon HG and Meostars at this price point. The only hit on them were they are a bit heavy, and the focus wheel isn't very consistent (stiff..then loose, etc).
-I was really excited about the BX-5's, but when they came in 4oz heavier than spec and weren't on par with a few of the others, ended up disappointed. May have just been a bad set I had.
-The Mavens were sweet. The B3's obviously a bit of unfair comparison, but to be honest they really held there own. I actually bought a pair during the testing (these were demos). For the ultralight hunting I do up here, they are perfect. The B2's glass was good, but they were too big for this mission.
-I really liked the Nikon HGs. Everything was good, maybe even best all around. But the warranty worries me (I am hard on my stuff and like no questions asked warranties) and I can't get as good of a price on them.
-Razor HDs ended up scoring the best. This is due to warranty, price, and a solid weight. Not sure if I want to sacrifice the optical performance though. I would also call these maybe best value.
-If someone said I only have $450 to spend.....I was a really big fan optically of the meopros (not to be confused with meostars). They didn't have all the stats as the $1000 pairs, but they looked good for that price. Again not perfect apples to apples, but they were in there too.
-Everyone favorite Meostars were good. But I liked the Zeiss better optically and they are pretty heavy so for my mission fell a bit in scoring.
-Yes most of these were all better than my 12x50 Viper HDs (currently own). But they did way better than I thought, almost to the point that I may keep them too.
Lastly, I will comment quickly on the higher end 12x50's I got after we tested all these. The UHD 12x50's were awesome. I was really excited when I looked through them. I can easily say as good as anything on the chart in all aspects. That said they are heavy and a bit bigger (compares closely to B2s). Also they came with an awesome harness, which is easily $100 value. I also looked at some 12.5x50 GPO Passion HDs. The glass on these were also good and I would say compared well with the Zeiss. That said to my eyes, I liked the UHDs better. These two ended up in my hands to what I would describe as mission creep. I lost a bit of focus on my initial goal of shaving weight...thinking I could gain some zoom to offset it. But to be honest, I could read the same details at the same distance with the Zeiss and a few others as I could with the 12x50s...they were just a bit bigger and probably not worth the weight in my book.
Thanks for reading, hope it helps a few other folks. Feel free to send me any questions you may have. I am happy to go into more details on the tests, explanations of our scoring, or just other opinions if needed.
This is my first attempt to provide a fairly comprehensive review on some binos that I have been considering for purchase. So be easy on me. My intent is to help some folks who may be in my situation, not to attempt to be a Bino expert. I live in Hawaii and have been climbing mountains out here chasing various game, so my initial goal was to up my glass quality (from Viper HD) while shaving some weight.
Let me start by saying this won't be as technical as other reviews you read (CA, coating, etc). I made some tests that in my mind created situations that would help me distinguish the performance of these binos and relate to how I could use them in the field. No fancy equipment here.
The binos I got my hands for my initial test were: Vortex Razor HD 10x42, Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42, Leupold BX-5 10x42, Meopta Meostar 10x42, Meopta Meopro 10x42, Nikon HG 10x42, Maven B2 9x45, Maven B3 8x30. After the fact I ended up with a pair of Vortex Razor UHD 12x50s, and then snagged some GPO 12.5x50's as well, acknowledging these aren't apple to apple comparisons and both a few hundred more than those listed. I know everyone will likely say I left a few off (SLCs, higher end Zeiss, others...etc). Price point is my justification, I have no doubt like everyone else I would love SLCs and some day I am sure I will have some.
I wanted to test resolution, edge to edge clarity, FOV, depth of field, low light performance, and ergonomics. I subjectively graded these categories with two other buddies, off my back balcony.
The tests we conducted included looking at two homemade resolution charts (picts below) at 40 yds and 100 yds. Various signage from distances ranging from 800-1500yds, and various other objects at similar distances (picts below). This allowed us to come up with a fairly good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of each set.
We then provided a 1-10 score (10 best) and a relative score for each of the binos. I assigned values for all of the subjective criteria and then used weight, warranty, and price as objective criteria and again scored using the same scale. I know some may have issue with the warranty criteria, but its really just my opinion so take it for what its worth (a bit subjective I guess).
Below I have a few pictures of the various tests and a spreadsheet of my results.
A few quick observations, then I will leave the rest up to questions anyone may have.
-The Conquest HD's were the best optically. A bit surprised because everyone swears by the Nikon HG and Meostars at this price point. The only hit on them were they are a bit heavy, and the focus wheel isn't very consistent (stiff..then loose, etc).
-I was really excited about the BX-5's, but when they came in 4oz heavier than spec and weren't on par with a few of the others, ended up disappointed. May have just been a bad set I had.
-The Mavens were sweet. The B3's obviously a bit of unfair comparison, but to be honest they really held there own. I actually bought a pair during the testing (these were demos). For the ultralight hunting I do up here, they are perfect. The B2's glass was good, but they were too big for this mission.
-I really liked the Nikon HGs. Everything was good, maybe even best all around. But the warranty worries me (I am hard on my stuff and like no questions asked warranties) and I can't get as good of a price on them.
-Razor HDs ended up scoring the best. This is due to warranty, price, and a solid weight. Not sure if I want to sacrifice the optical performance though. I would also call these maybe best value.
-If someone said I only have $450 to spend.....I was a really big fan optically of the meopros (not to be confused with meostars). They didn't have all the stats as the $1000 pairs, but they looked good for that price. Again not perfect apples to apples, but they were in there too.
-Everyone favorite Meostars were good. But I liked the Zeiss better optically and they are pretty heavy so for my mission fell a bit in scoring.
-Yes most of these were all better than my 12x50 Viper HDs (currently own). But they did way better than I thought, almost to the point that I may keep them too.
Lastly, I will comment quickly on the higher end 12x50's I got after we tested all these. The UHD 12x50's were awesome. I was really excited when I looked through them. I can easily say as good as anything on the chart in all aspects. That said they are heavy and a bit bigger (compares closely to B2s). Also they came with an awesome harness, which is easily $100 value. I also looked at some 12.5x50 GPO Passion HDs. The glass on these were also good and I would say compared well with the Zeiss. That said to my eyes, I liked the UHDs better. These two ended up in my hands to what I would describe as mission creep. I lost a bit of focus on my initial goal of shaving weight...thinking I could gain some zoom to offset it. But to be honest, I could read the same details at the same distance with the Zeiss and a few others as I could with the 12x50s...they were just a bit bigger and probably not worth the weight in my book.
Thanks for reading, hope it helps a few other folks. Feel free to send me any questions you may have. I am happy to go into more details on the tests, explanations of our scoring, or just other opinions if needed.
