Crowd Sourced Optics Comparison (CO area) ***Updated 3/9/24***

[Benchleg Hunter]

Good read and really cool and unique idea
Good job

 

[Tahoe1305]

If anyone is interested in our “fan fav”. Decided to let the Kowa go ;(.

No big hunts planned for a few years for that much glass. I’ll regret it.

WTS - Kowa 66a 25-60 (TE-11WZ).

New Kowa 66a with TE11 eyepiece. Bought for my optics comparison (see link). It was the best 65mm scope we had fairly unanimous by all. Never hunted with. Mint condition. More scope than I need for foreseeable future so letting it go for a small discount. $2600 shipped/insured in all...

rokslide.com

 

[crowlja]

If you ever plan on doing another one of these, I really hope to make it out! Sounds like a ton of fun and very informative!

 

[Tahoe1305]

Heck now the new baby Kowa is out I feel ones needed. But pretty sure it will be as good as atc with dual focus like all the others are saying.

New NLs would be fun to mess with too.

Will let you know.

 

[mlevimadden]

I missed this thread at the time too but turned on notifications now. I'd be happy to join for a future comparison but only have meopta 12's and a kowa 774 to contribute.

 

[bojangles808]

@Tahoe1305 maybe you can help me out with this looking through so many optics. I have been trying different optics with friends to try and get feel for price tiers and such and had a question. Some of the optics as I adjust and am looking through them, the two circles merge to one clear circle as I adjust eyecups/diopter. Obviously this is ideal viewing experience. On other optics the two circles don't quite merge all the way no matter the adjustment. My question is this a more personal fit issue? or bino quality issue? LIke the higher the quality/price the more likely you will get one clear circle or do these just fit me better? My eyes sit a little deeper than most too so I don't know if thats the issue and yes I am adjusting diopter/eyecups per the manual.

 

[Tahoe1305]

@Tahoe1305 maybe you can help me out with this looking through so many optics. I have been trying different optics with friends to try and get feel for price tiers and such and had a question. Some of the optics as I adjust and am looking through them, the two circles merge to one clear circle as I adjust eyecups/diopter. Obviously this is ideal viewing experience. On other optics the two circles don't quite merge all the way no matter the adjustment. My question is this a more personal fit issue? or bino quality issue? LIke the higher the quality/price the more likely you will get one clear circle or do these just fit me better? My eyes sit a little deeper than most too so I don't know if thats the issue and yes I am adjusting diopter/eyecups per the manual.

Good question. I’m no expert but had a similar issue with a pair at work last week.

I think it is a mechanical issue with the inner pupil distance being too far. Said another way you can’t get the barrels close enough.

The only other thing that can be adjusted is the diopter on one barrel/eyepiece. But this is just making them focus equally (if individuals eyes aren’t the same acuity). It shouldn’t affect the two circles you saw. Hope that helps.

Edit. Moving the eyecups out can effect it a bit too IMO. And to be clear I don’t think it has to do with quality, but more the mechanics of individual binos.

 

[ShakeDown]

We should do this again.

I now have the 14x NLs…

 

[Tahoe1305]

We should do this again.

I now have the 14x NLs…

HahahHa. We should! I’m going down for ACL surgery tomorrow so will be out for a while.

Happy to host again. I’ll be jobless this summer. Great excuse to glass.

 

[ShakeDown]

HahahHa. We should! I’m going down for ACL surgery tomorrow so will be out for a while.

Happy to host again. I’ll be jobless this summer. Great excuse to glass.

Man! Sorry to hear it. I had ACL and lateral and medial Meniscus last May. I did call for my brother in NM in September, shot a doe pronghorn in October, and shot my first Barbary in February… get after the rehab!

 

[Tahoe1305]

Man! Sorry to hear it. I had ACL and lateral and medial Meniscus last May. I did call for my brother in NM in September, shot a doe pronghorn in October, and shot my first Barbary in February… get after the rehab!

That makes me feel a bit better. I need to be able to walk well by June. Do an atv rifle elk hunt in Oct. Ski in December. Only goals I have.

 

[ShakeDown]

That makes me feel a bit better. I need to be able to walk well by June. Do an atv rifle elk hunt in Oct. Ski in December. Only goals I have.

Let me know if I can help. I was non weight bearing for 6 weeks post op. If you “just” have an ACL you’ll be getting after it in no time.

 

[TheGDog]

First I’d like to thank @Tahoe1305 and everyone else that let us use your optics.

I’d also like to mention the fact that I’m pretty inexperienced compared to the others at the review. I’ve been hunting for 6 years and have always had lower budget optics. I’m looking to upgrade to high end glass and wanted to take advantage of trying them in a realistic scenario without spending money on rentals. I’m by no means an expert on optics and just hoping that sharing my experience could help others in a similar situation as I am.


I was primarily comparing my Maven C3 10x50 to Swarovski SLC 15x56, NL 12x42, and EL 8x42 range. Using the resolution chart at 400 yards and the 3D archery buck at 1200 yard I could hardly differentiate between my maven and the EL ranges midday. I could cleanly see a few more resolution points at 400 and 600 yards (I couldn’t distinguish any points with the EL or C3 at this range) with the SLC and NL but I think this is primarily due to the extra magnification.

For most of the afternoon I was quite disappointed with the higher end optics. I had felt that my sub $509 binoculars were competing well with optics over $3k. The larger FOV and edge to edge clarity difference was significant but nothing that couldn’t be overcome by simply panning the tripod. The center of the C3 proved to be very good. The C3 fell behind in every category but it mostly wasn’t significant enough for me to justify the cost of upgrading. I’ll be quite confident having those in my truck knowing I have a very good backup optic going forward.

It wasn’t until the sun set behind the mountain that I could tell why people spend significant amounts of money on high end optics. Primarily comparing my C3 to the NL 12x42 the last hour I could see a significant degradation of resolution from my C3. The image seemed hazy in comparison despite the perfect weather conditions.. After about 3 hours of glassing I had to take a few seconds break every few minutes with the C3, but didn’t have to do that with the NL. I could clearly see into bushes (750-1000 yards away) with the NL while i could only see the cluster of bushes with my C3. The small differences became large, resulting in an overwhelming advantage to the NL. I understand that there’s a significant jump between the C3 and NL but I think the EL and SLC were much closer to the NL than the C3 in this regard.

While the SLC was my favorite from a resolution/magnification standpoint, I definitely want a solid low light and short range binocular as the FOV is too narrow for anything less than 1000 yards. If you are typically glassing around 1 mile or more than I think the 15x56 SLC would provide a solid advantage over the lower magnification optics. Some day I’d love to own one.

In the sunny conditions, the bino bandit was extremely helpful. It significantly reduced glare which helped with eye fatigue and honestly it felt like I could resolve the chart better with them on. This theory may have to be tested but for less than $20 it’s hard to not have one on your binoculars



Overall, I think there’s a significant advantage to high end binoculars when it comes to low light performance. This is when animals are on the move and when you need your optics to be performing best. I think the NL would be a poor financial decision at this time and plan to look at some binoculars in the $1500-2500 range. I really liked the EL range 8x42 and EL 12x50 and I think I’ll end up getting the EL 10x42.


As for spotting scopes, I plan to keep my Maven CS.1A. I’m not counting inches and just need it for getting a bit more magnification when a deer is just out of range and/or for judging antler frame. While it was definitely the worst spotting scope at the review it’s still decent enough for me. That being said, the ATC and new 66 Kowa were outstanding and one of the two would be my choice if I were upgrading.

I've only been hunting about 10 yrs now. And last few years I've been upgrading my glass.

Some things I noted were :

• Edge-to-Edge Clarity : On lesser binos, there's a ring around the edge of the FOV that ISN'T focused/clear. The cheaper it is? the bigger that ring often becomes.
• Depth-of-Field : On the nicer higher-tier binos, if you focus on an object, due to the MUCH BETTER Depth of Field... you can still clearly see, with good detail, objects a significant distance in front of and behind the object you initially focused on. Go back and try that with a lower-level bino! On the lower level binos? the Depth-of-Field is very narrow, so as a result, you the user, will have to "fish" more with the focus knob... per square feet of ground you scan thru, which equates to inefficiency and wasted time over the course of the whole day.
• Contrast/Clarity : Higher-end binos have better grade coatings on the lenses to enhance the "Pop" of the contrast in the image. You are literally seeing the world in better detail then you ever would with your own eyes.

 

[TheGDog]

Great write up! In the same boat as you as wanting to transition to owning and using primarily the 12x42 NL and atc… it does get kind of tough justifying those jumps in price but as a do it all “weight weenie” optic set I think it is really hard to beat

I'm right there with you man. Starting a few years back, here in SoCal I begin doing zone D14 in the San Bernardino mtns.

Particularly this one ridge I'm focusing on that's one helluva climb thru raw terrain. So the "weight weanie" thing became important QUICK!

I did my best to get close to such a setup, but for less coin...
Used:
ZEISS Conquest HD 10x42 (LOVE THEM!!)
Maven s.2 12x27 56mm

Big thing was, I had the Gen 1 50mm Vortex Razor... and it was angled. So it's limitations, and the limitations of it being angled and unable to make it lean-over like many of them can nowadays? The main push was wanting to switch over to a Straight spotter, because I wanted to be able to rapidly switch over to spotter WITHOUT having to EFF around with dropping/raising the tripod when changing back-and-forth. So it takes less work to "re-find" the animal after swapping. Which becomes important the farther away you're looking.


Really liked the Coarse/Fine focus on the Vortex. But I'm getting used to the barrel focus on the Maven.

 

[TheCougar]

@Tahoe1305 maybe you can help me out with this looking through so many optics. I have been trying different optics with friends to try and get feel for price tiers and such and had a question. Some of the optics as I adjust and am looking through them, the two circles merge to one clear circle as I adjust eyecups/diopter. Obviously this is ideal viewing experience. On other optics the two circles don't quite merge all the way no matter the adjustment. My question is this a more personal fit issue? or bino quality issue? LIke the higher the quality/price the more likely you will get one clear circle or do these just fit me better? My eyes sit a little deeper than most too so I don't know if thats the issue and yes I am adjusting diopter/eyecups per the manual.

This is an IPD issue. I am a narrow-eyed freak, so this is near and dear to my heart. This has only been an issue for me on larger glass - 15s and above. I cannot do 18s or the double STC set up. If you are looking at 15s, I settled on the Swaro SLCs - they had the smallest IPD and the best image when "almost merged". Getting the circles as merged as possible (whih I can't quite get there with 15s SLCs), and having the most edge-to-edge clarity is important. If you have edge to edge clarity, it makes the glassing much better when the circles don't line up. Its always important, but even more so in this case.

 

[mainbeam pursuit2]

I participated in the crowd sourced optics day, It was a lot of fun, some great guys and more than anything it was very enlightening. Would do another one anytime, especially if I was thinking about new optics.

 

[Tahoe1305]

I participated in the crowd sourced optics day, It was a lot of fun, some great guys and more than anything it was very enlightening. Would do another one anytime, especially if I was thinking about new optics.

I may have some time to organize later in the summer (I’m in between jobs and bored). I’ll put a target of early August to allow folks time to make moves prior to hunting season.

 

[ShakeDown]

August is probably too late for me, archery antelope starts mid Aug.

I’d be up for this month or next. Y’all can always use my stuff though. Maybe I’ll sell someone my SLC 15s…

 

[mainbeam pursuit2]

Shakedown, you’ll probably sell the 15s. I’ve enjoyed the 554 I bought from you after the last get together.