Importance of interpupillary distance for binos?

[ajroussell]

Hey everyone, glad to be back in the saddle this season and back on the forum after a hiatus due to some family priorities.

I am taking a serious look at buying some alpha glass binos, hoping some of you fine folks with more experience might shed light on some questions.
- how critical is inter pupillary distance? I have wide set eyes at 75mm IPD, binos accommodating this are a step up in price, i.e. Victory SF instead of SLCs
- for anyone who runs Victory SFs, how satisfied have you been with them?

Thanks!

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[jdubrr]

I would think that is very important! If you can't get the bino to fit your face then it doesn't matter how good the glass is cause you won't be able to see through them correctly.

 

[MidGAHunter]

I would imagine that would be important for proper use. Have you been able to try out any of the Big 3 in person? That would be my suggestion so you can make sure in person (and not just on paper) that they will work for you.

 

[2blade]

I have that problem on the other end, ipd of 58.5. Yes, it is extremely important, the image will never be sharp if it isn't right. Not to mention the headaches you're going to get during long glassing sessions.

 

[Brian Fahs]

I have no experience with the victory sf

That being said I owned the first version of the swarovski 15x56 slc. They caused problems for a lot of people because of the huge objectives and roof prism design. I could use them but some of my buddies complained they IPD was to wide for them. I sold the, and upgraded to the newest version 15x56 hd.
Swarovski redesigned the build and made a more user friendly IPD. People with a very narrow IPD or even children could use the newest version comfortably.

If swarovski found it important to redesign their 15x56 slc I would sat IPD is very important.

 

[rayporter]

i get headaches fast if they dont match and if one barrel points in a different direction. it takes a while to test if the barrels co inside with each other.

 

[ajroussell]

Thanks guys, I did a little digging with my optometrist and found out my IPD isn't quite as wide as I had self measured - looks like SLCs are again a viable option.
I have briefly looked through some 8x SLCs and was blown away by the improvement over my current Nikons...thinking Swaro may be the way to go. Sucks how money always seems to make things better!