Don’t buy Binos made for bird watchers

[DangerRanger]

My SLCs failed the impromptu drop test my nephew put them through. So far my leicas have held up to both me and my son

 

[Marshfly]

Is it ok to malign their riflescopes with their beautiful glass, that are utter pieces of garbage? Those are made for hunting and shooting, you know?

Yes. That would be an acceptable act of maligning.

 

[left hunter]

I feel I’m really hard on gear and other than dropping my SLC 10x42 out of a 22 foot tree stand I have had no issues.

My 10x42 NL pures haven’t caused me a single issue (and have dropped them multiple times)

If you want to see some fragile eyepieces use some Steiner peregrine XP’s. Holy crap! I feel that if I just look at them wrong I break the eyecup. Impressive binoculars if it wasn’t for the paper thin adjustable eyecups

 

[Fatcamp]

LOL. A used pair of 10X42 Meostars have been dropped out of my harness and tipped over on a tripod several times with no issues.

They may be heavy, but the glass is good and apparently they are tougher than most.

 

[darcytribe]

Slightly off topic but I dropped my meopta binos from my tree stand a few weeks ago, around 20 feet. Since the drop the sight picture is not as clear outside of the very center of field of view. Do you think this would be a correctable issue if I sent them into meopta? Any idea what may have happened Based on this description?

 

[sneaky]

Slightly off topic but I dropped my meopta binos from my tree stand a few weeks ago, around 20 feet. Since the drop the sight picture is not as clear outside of the very center of field of view. Do you think this would be a correctable issue if I sent them into meopta? Any idea what may have happened Based on this description?

Collimation is off

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[Pronghunter]

I definitely do not agree with Form on this but to each their own.

I own/owned multiple of the big 3 and each have been through hell. Never an issue with any. On occasion I’ll have to purchase new eye cups.
The only Bino I’ve had fail was the 15x56 Meoptas which took a fall that my Leica, Swaro and Zeiss have taken more times than I can remember. Everything has its limits.
Bird watchers/geeks really pic apart optics more so than 99% of the “experts” on hunting forums. They can be a wealth of information.

 

[JGRaider]

As far as build quality goes.....
Meopta
Leica
Zeiss
Swaro

As far as my preference optically...
Swaro
Meopta
Leica
Zeiss

 

[FuddRucker]

The funny thing about this thread is all of the comments saying how they have to send in Swaros every 1-2 years when "having a lifetime warranty that you'll surely need to use" is a common knock on anything vortex

 

[darcytribe]

Collimation is off

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

Thanks sneaky, do you think that is something Meopta could correct fairly easily if I sent them in to them?

 

[Formidilosus]

I definitely do not agree with Form on this but to each their own.

I own/owned multiple of the big 3 and each have been through hell. Never an issue with any. On occasion I’ll have to purchase new eye cups.
The only Bino I’ve had fail was the 15x56 Meoptas which took a fall that my Leica, Swaro and Zeiss have taken more times than I can remember. Everything has its limits.
Bird watchers/geeks really pic apart optics more so than 99% of the “experts” on hunting forums. They can be a wealth of information.

It surely varies as Ryan stated. I am around 20-30 sets of binos and spotting scopes at any one time that get used quite a bit. They are all taken care of as much as possible, always kept in padded cases, etc,, but they are used in all conditions and environments from desert to arctic.
While acknowledging that binos and spotters in general are relatively fragile over all; in a couple dozen of each, I/we have had to send 2-3 Leica or Zeiss back for warranty, no Meopta’s, and every single Swaro back at least once, with the 15x56mm SLC being the worst. They average three seasons between trips- that is one fall, one spring, and one fall; or spring/fall/spring, etc. Basically 6-8 months of use and they need repaired.
My 15x Binos are the 15x Swaros and they will need to go back this spring for the third or forth time because they are losing collimation randomly. This is after they got repaired last summer for the focus wheel braking, and also being out of collimation. The time before that the eyecups broke and locked up, and they went out of collimation. This has been my experience for more than two dozen sets in use.

In seeing relatively large amounts of them used side by side with most of the others, Swarovski binos and spotters have excellent “glass”, but are by far the most fragile of the big 3-4.

 

[Formidilosus]

The funny thing about this thread is all of the comments saying how they have to send in Swaros every 1-2 years when "having a lifetime warranty that you'll surely need to use" is a common knock on anything vortex

Do you understand the difference between an aiming device for a lethal instrument, and a looking device for viewing pleasure?

 

[FuddRucker]

Do you understand the difference between an aiming device for a lethal instrument, and a looking device for viewing pleasure?

Apparently not. I thought this thread was about binos and was speaking to comments about binos.

 

[Kenn]

My 15x Binos are the 15x Swaros and they will need to go back this spring for the third or forth time because they are losing collimation randomly.

Oddly, my 15X56 Swaros have been great until this year. After a hunt I looked through them and felt cross-eyed. I'm not aware of any impact to them, but who knows? Hopefully it's the only time I have to send them in.

 

[MJB]

My Minox have only been serviced once when they slid off the truck onto the pavement and bent one of the eye cups.

I sold my swaros after 2nd repair in one year. Great glass but too fragile for my hunting needs. I don't do the padded bino harness pouches so I guess that's why.

 

[Formidilosus]

Apparently not. I thought this thread was about binos and was speaking to comments about binos.

My apologies. Mostly what I have seen posted about Vortex and warranty is regarding their scopes.

Vortex binos also tend to have similar issues, and I would say the difference in attitude between Vortex Bino issues and Swaro bino issues, is a bit of cognitive bias “because Swarovski”, and perceived value. Quite frankly Vortex top of the line binos have good glass, yet are not on the same level of the big four (Swaro, Leica, Zeiss, Meopta), have a smaller apparent FOV, and in general the experience is just “less”. Of course some of that is subjective, but even with people that have no idea the brand difference between Vortex and Swarovski, I have yet to meet someone that chooses Vortex over Swaro when side by side.

With Swaro I get top of the line image that is comfortable to use, with no weirdness- the viewing experience is fantastic . The price is durability. With Vortex I get a decent but not great view, and the over all “feel” while using is one of “meh, they’re good, but not great”. The price is also durability. Between them the difference is some money, and a whole level better experience in use.


When my personal 15x swaros finally bite the dust, they will be replaced with Meopta B1 Plus’s. I have used them extensively, and they give similar experience in use as the Swaros, yet have shown far greater durability and longevity.

 

[Formidilosus]

My 15x Binos are the 15x Swaros and they will need to go back this spring for the third or forth time because they are losing collimation randomly.

Oddly, my 15X56 Swaros have been great until this year. After a hunt I looked through them and felt cross-eyed. I'm not aware of any impact to them, but who knows? Hopefully it's the only time I have to send them in.

It doesn’t take impact to cause it- they are just fragile. I use the rest of my equipment very harshly in general, but viewing devices are protected as much as functionally possible. It still happens.

 

[DangerRanger]

I probably won’t buy another vortex scope until something changed but I’d rock a set of vortex uhd binos, I had a set of 18s in the past and liked them

 

[Formidilosus]

I probably won’t buy another vortex scope until something changed but I’d rock a set of vortex uhd binos, I had a set of 18s in the past and liked them

Those are ones I haven’t used. How is the FOV, eye relief, etc?

 

[DangerRanger]

Those are ones I haven’t used. How is the FOV, eye relief, etc?

Been a minute but iirc they were quite good, don’t recall any issues but I didn’t have any competing 15/18s to compare fov

Hopefully someone that has a direct comparison can chime in