Bino help! Kowa gensis, Cabela’s euro hd, swaro slc?

[Barnhill06]

Looking to purchase a new set of binos. 10x42 range. 1-1500k price range. Anyone gone any insight. I hear the Kowas r top notch for the price. Looking at swaros el’s but not sure I will spend enough time behind them to justify the 10% better optics for 30% more the price.

 

[Farmerlentz]

Was in the same boat. Swaro slc hands down. I love mine. Call ss archery and you can get a great rokslide discount. Mine still impress me every time I take them out

 

[Graves14]

I’ve looked through virtually every bino in this price range and I bought SLC’s. They offer the best balance of clarity, FOV, crispness and size and weight.

for my eyes and hunting style they are the absolute best tool.

 

[mproberts]

I upgraded to 10x42 SLCs awhile back and honestly wished I hadn't. To my eyes the Zeiss Conquest 10x42s were just as good and almost half the price. The only time I could really notice a difference was a few minutes at first and last light. Even then I wouldn't spend the money again to get the SLCs

 

[gr8fuldoug]

The SLC's are the "how do these binoculars compare to the SLC's" basis of all comparisons. The Kowa Genesis is a great unit as well, just doesn't have the popularity outside of the birding community.
We'd be happy to discuss this with you if you have a few minutes to give a call, 516-217-1000
Doug

 

[NoWiser]

I had 10X42 Conquest HDs and they are great binoculars. I didn't like 10x and I had blackout problems with them, even with the extended eyecups. It wasn't terrible, but it was annoying enough for me to switch to 8x SLCs. I do like the SLCs more, but not by much. I haven't tried the others on your list but I doubt you'd be disappointed in Conquests (as long as you don't have issues with blackout) or SLCs. The nice thing about good glass is it holds it's value. I bought my Conquests as a demo and sold them 4 years later for $50.00 less than I paid for them.

 

[452b264]

Meopta optics get my vote!

 

[TX_Diver]

I'm kinda in the same boat. The SLCs are cheap right now...

I was mainly between conquest and trinovids but Neil at cameralandny strongly suggested the meostars. I'm still tbd at this point.

 

[Barnhill06]

Yeh think I am headed to cabelas Sunday morning and get behind every glass they have around that price range.

 

[Matt G.]

I have used the meostars for last 10 yrs. I love them.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

 

[Ronan Wiebe]

Try out some Mavens, order a demo pair test them for a week and then send them back if you dont like them

 

[eaglemountainman]

The SLC's are the "how do these binoculars compare to the SLC's" basis of all comparisons. The Kowa Genesis is a great unit as well, just doesn't have the popularity outside of the birding community.
We'd be happy to discuss this with you if you have a few minutes to give a call, 516-217-1000
Doug

Very glad I went with the Kowa Genny 10.5X44s over the SLCs.

 

[mthillrunner]

I have the kowa genesis 8.5x44, very happy with them. Only gripe is they’re a bit heavy, not enough to have spent the extra $ on something more expensive

 

[JGRaider]

Just remember that Cabelas branded optics' warranty now officially SUCKS.....Bass Pro ruined the Cabelas brand. If you want a Cabelas Instinct (Euro) buy the Meopta version instead.

 

[ZDR]

I ordered a pair of the Cabelas Instinct Euro 10x32 binos after looking at the 8X42s (which were great). I took them back one day after they were delivered as the depth of focus was so shallow and traded them for a pair of Swaros. The warranty was 90 days no questions asked. I was surprised by the how different the 10x were compared to the 8's. MAybe its just because they were 10x32 and the 8x were 42s.

 

[Spiral Horn]

Was recently shopping for a new spotting scope and also did some binocular comparison. The Nikon Monarch HG 10x42s were shockingly good - directly compared them to the SLCs and Meostars. Optically, (to my eyes) I found them superior to the Meostars and at least an even match to the SLCs. Where they really shined over both was a much wider FOV, ergonomics/handling, and weigh quite a bit less. However, I’d probably still say the HG is still slightly behind both in overall field ruggedness. But at a retail of ~$1k it’s hard to go wrong with the HGs - I already have Zeiss Victory FL T* and several other binoculars or I’d have already bought them.

A Rokslide Staffer did a comparison of the HGs vs the Meostars - which can be read here https://www.rokslide.com/review-nikon-monarch-hg-10x42/

 

[eaglemountainman]

Was recently shopping for a new spotting scope and also did some binocular comparison. The Nikon Monarch HG 10x42s were shockingly good - directly compared them to the SLCs and Meostars. Optically, (to my eyes) I found them superior to the Meostars and at least an even match to the SLCs. Where they really shined over both was a much wider FOV, ergonomics/handling, and weigh quite a bit less. However, I’d probably still say the HG is still slightly behind both in overall field ruggedness. But at a retail of ~$1k it’s hard to go wrong with the HGs - I already have Zeiss Victory FL T* and several other binoculars or I’d have already bought them.

A Rokslide Staffer did a comparison of the HGs vs the Meostars - which can be read here https://www.rokslide.com/review-nikon-monarch-hg-10x42/

So, what scope did you land on?

 

[Spiral Horn]

So, what scope did you land on?

I ended up with the Meopta Meostar S2 Spotter and love it - the quality/value for the $ was just too good to ignore. The Kowa and ATX may be very slightly better optically but you’d really have to look for it. Submitted the post below a few months back.

Just recently spent months looking for the best value/performance high-end spotter. Quickly eliminated Vortex, Leica, Zeiss, etc - and eventually narrowed it to Kowa 883, Swaro ATX 85, or Meopta Meostar S2 (or its Cabelas clone). Loved the Kowa‘s image but the non-armored housing was a huge turn-off that I just couldn’t get past. The Swarovski ATX is just plain fantastic - great ergonomics and image quality second to none - but the near $5k price tag pushed me away. That leaves the Meopta Meostar S2 - fantastic ergonomics/components/build quality, and an image quality very close to the Kowa and Swarovski. Found out that Cameraland had S2 case-demos on sale for $1799. That’s way too good a deal to pass up, bought one yesterday.

 

[eaglemountainman]

I ended up with the Meopta Meostar S2 Spotter and love it - the quality/value for the $ was just too good to ignore. The Kowa and ATX may be very slightly better optically but you’d really have to look for it. Submitted the post below a few months back.

No personal experience with Meostars, other than a casual look through one, now and again. They seem to get very good reviews. Good luck with it.

 

[elkguide]

As gr8fuldoug@cameraland said, everything is compared to Swarovski.

Call Doug and talk with him.
Such an incredible resource of knowledge and information. (and great prices!!!!)