Best 15x binos

[MallardSX2]

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I get that, and that's why I shopped by price to my door.

This fudd seems to indicate Mavens are on par with SLC's, so if Vortex ever makes a 15 power UHD I'll give them a look. I don't have brand loyalty with optics.

How does shopping by price to your door get you value when comparing different binoculars? It doesn't work like that. You have no idea what's actually going into the binoculars.

I have used B5's on numerous occasions, they're are extremely nice and they compete with anything in their price range, but SLC's they are not. Sure everyone who buys that level below likes to compare them to SLC's though and say they're the same.

 

[swavescatter]

How does shopping by price to your door get you value when comparing different binoculars? It doesn't work like that. You have no idea what's actually going into the binoculars.

I have used B5's on numerous occasions, they're are extremely nice and they compete with anything in their price range, but SLC's they are not. Sure everyone who buys that level below likes to compare them to SLC's though and say they're the same.

We’ll redneck bmxer, I’m an engineer that does photon transport and sensor design for a living, but I won’t claim to be an expert in bino design. Perhaps you can enlighten us all.

In scouring the web for reviews of 15X bino comparisons, the Mavens, Swaros and Meoptas all stood out as top options, with pretty close subjective evaluations. I didn’t see anything indicating one was head and shoulders above the other, therefore I went with an affordable option with the best explicit warranty.

If anyone in NM has another set of 15’s they want to compare side by side let’s do it!

 

[Gingerbeardman26]

I stand corrected. Got an email today after reaching out to Meopta. The damage was more severe than I thought and basically the entire left side needs to be replaced. It is going to cost me $250 to have it fixed. I spoke too soon and now I feel like an idiot. It could be worse I suppose. I’m ok with paying to have it repaired, as I got a pretty good deal. Hopefully I have them back before September.

 

[JakeSCH]

I have owned NL12, SLC 15x, Maven B4 and B5 15x, B5 18x and looked through Conquest HD 15x quite a few times.

I was an adamant 15x user for many years and named my SLC's meat seekers. I even use to get annoyed when @Ryan Avery would say good 12x could do anything a 15x could.

Decided to get a pair of NL 12x "just to see" and after two years, I have officially converted and sold my SLC's 15x. They never left my house last year.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I stand corrected. Got an email today after reaching out to Meopta. The damage was more severe than I thought and basically the entire left side needs to be replaced. It is going to cost me $250 to have it fixed. I spoke too soon and now I feel like an idiot. It could be worse I suppose. I’m ok with paying to have it repaired, as I got a pretty good deal. Hopefully I have them back before September.

You should look into a valuable personal property plan. I have $50K of coverage through USAA and it costs me less than $100/year. If all of my binos at the same time accidentally fell off a cliff USAA would cut me a check for the replacement costs. Thankfully I haven't had to use it, but it's piece of mind. That repair would have cost me zero since I have no deductible.

 

[swavescatter]

I have owned NL12, SLC 15x, Maven B4 and B5 15x, B5 18x and looked through Conquest HD 15x quite a few times.

I was an adamant 15x user for many years and named my SLC's meat seekers. I even use to get annoyed when @Ryan Avery would say good 12x could do anything a 15x could.

Decided to get a pair of NL 12x "just to see" and after two years, I have officially converted and sold my SLC's 15x. They never left my house last year.

If Swarovski made 15 NL’s it would be game over. Even ELs.

 

[abilliott]

Looking for some glass and been going over the usual "spotter or high power bino" questions.... so now we have the 14x52 NL's.... would this be everyone's go to/preference now?

 

[swavescatter]

My buddy has the new 14 NLs. They're nice, but I have zero desire to buy them. I'm too ADD to sit still behind a tripod for hours and really appreciate them. I use the crap out of my stabilized Sig HDX 16's. Rarely even bring my Maven 15's with me anymore...

Everyone's hunting style is different but for me not having to deal with a tripod all the time is a game changer.

Between me and him it's a toss up who spots more game, but when I do it's well before he even gets his tripod set up.

 

[abilliott]

My buddy has the new 14 NLs. They're nice, but I have zero desire to buy them. I'm too ADD to sit still behind a tripod for hours and really appreciate them. I use the crap out of my stabilized Sig HDX 16's. Rarely even bring my Maven 15's with me anymore...

Everyone's hunting style is different but for me not having to deal with a tripod all the time is a game changer.

Between me and him it's a toss up who spots more game, but when I do it's well before he even gets his tripod set up.

Thanks for this, I will look more into the sigs.

Any drawbacks that you've experienced with them? I guess the image stabilization is really good?

 

[swavescatter]

Thanks for this, I will look more into the sigs.

Any drawbacks that you've experienced with them? I guess the image stabilization is really good?

Always a compromise. Relative FOV and low light sucks. Stay away from the new pro models.

Clarity should be much worse, but honestly my buddy couldn't resolve much better than me at 1800+ yards with his NLs. We were trying to ID the corpse of a cow elk some dipshit poached on private and it wasn't any more obvious in his 14's compared to my 16's.

If you plan to keep your eyes glued in the binos for hour plus sessions regularly, the NLs MIGHT be worth it (compared to mavens or other beta glass). For a mobile hunter always on the move I don't think anything can beat stabilized binos...

My buddy also gets motion sickness and hates the Sigs, so there's that to consider if you're a wussy like him

 

[abilliott]

Always a compromise. Relative FOV and low light sucks. Stay away from the new pro models.

Clarity should be much worse, but honestly my buddy couldn't resolve much better than me at 1800+ yards with his NLs. We were trying to ID the corpse of a cow elk some dipshit poached on private and it wasn't any more obvious in his 14's compared to my 16's.

If you plan to keep your eyes glued in the binos for hour plus sessions regularly, the NLs MIGHT be worth it (compared to mavens or other beta glass). For a mobile hunter always on the move I don't think anything can beat stabilized binos...

My buddy also gets motion sickness and hates the Sigs, so there's that to consider if you're a wussy like him

oh shit, yea I get motion sickness.

Been considering getting the 14x52 NL's this year and then adding in a decent range finding 10x42 binocular in the future. Was thinking i might try the Sig Kilo6k HDX on that front and if I don't like them after a few years i can upgrade to a zeiss or swaro RF binos