Looking for advise on Conquest HD Alternative

[DeuceIsWild]

I recently picked up some conquest HD 10x42s at Cabella's Black Friday Sale at a good price (was unable to try them in store as they had none in inventory). I immediately noticed the eyecups were horrible. They were so stiff and gritty they would twist off when trying to extend. In addition, I wear eyeglasses (nearsighted) and when wearing the glasses I do not get a full field of view even with the eyecups sucked all the way in. In addition when not wearing the glasses (P.I.T.A. to be restricted to always removing glasses every time I glass but at least wanted to give it a shot), I noticed that the view/image was a little better with my eyes pulled back a little even with eyecups fully extended.

I immediately called Zeiss and they offered to send a place of stock length eyecups to see if that would resolve the issue with the eyecups sticking/twisting off. In addition they offered to send an extended set of eyecups iso eye relief to see if those would resolve the issue when not wearing eyeglasses. Unfortunately they only sent the extended eyecups but the standard eyecups are still on the way.

The extended eye cups solved the issue when not wearing the glasses (the glass quality, performance in low light and overall crispness was fantastic) but these too were extremely sticky when trying to suck the cups in and out. I then tried to untwist the cups and put the originals back on to compare again and unfortunately one of the extended cups completely broke (the inner eyecup sleeve broke free from he out user sleeve of the eyecup-if that makes sense)

Taking all of these eyecup issue (view when wearing glasses not giving full field of view) combined with the poor function of 2 different set of eyecups and even one of them breaking on the very first day, I am giving up on the Conquest and will be returning them for a full refund. Only other option is to send them in to conquest for repair and see if they can address the sticky eyecups and then sell them since I got them at a very good price or give them to my son (again they just done work for me when wearing glasses).

I am wondering if anyone has other options with similar quality of glass that I should look at (new or used) that have a little more eye-relief for when I am wearing my glasses, as well as better overall eyecup functionality. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DeuceIsWild]

Seeking Advice not Advise, sheesh

 

[handwerk]

I'd look at the Leica Trinovid.

 

[DeuceIsWild]

The listed Eye relief on the Trinovid (15mm )s less than that on the Conquest HD (17mm) and I need more eye relief (or at least more usable eye relief) for when I am wearing glasses.

 

[handwerk]

I see, when I looked it up it came up with 17, but that still doesn't help you.

 

[DeuceIsWild]

I could look to move down to 8x42 to get additional eye relief although I would prefer 10x42. In 8x42 the conquest has 18 mm but that doesn't address the sticky/and what I would deem as terrible ergo of the eyecup functionality and reliability of the HDs. In the trinovid 8x42 I would get much better eye cup functionality but the relief is still 17mm which was not sufficient on the conquests when wearing glasses.

I can say that I tired the Zeiss sfl 8x40's at my local schools and they worked much better with my glasses even though they are only 1mm more of relief at 18mm. Unfortunately they are not in my budget.

 

[Eastonsgrandpa]

Meopta, and the glass is better than the Conquest line.

 

[Ikmclean]

The maven b1.2 10x42 has an eye relief 17.8mm, they have a demo program to try them before you buy.

 

[DeuceIsWild]

Are there any specific Meopta models you would recommend? I see the Meopro Airs are similar in price and have 18mm of relief.

 

[Xlr8n]

You might have not gotten the stock cups fully extended. There are 3 detents so 4 positions total. When new it feels like the cups won't extend any further than 2 clicks, but they will. You have to man handle them. Many people go to the extended cups without ever realizing they didn't get the stock cups all the way out.

I've owned a ton of glass including Meopta and Swaro EL's and SLC's, and I came back to the Conquests for the clarity, ergonomics, and robust build. I'd try to lube the eyecups just a tad and give them another chance.

 

[JREG19]

I also wear glasses and like my Maven B.5's. I also have 2 pairs of Sig Zulu 9's that offer good eye relief. Both are fantastic glass and In my opinion are better than the conquest hd.

 

[DeuceIsWild]

You might have not gotten the stock cups fully extended. There are 3 detents so 4 positions total. When new it feels like the cups won't extend any further than 2 clicks, but they will. You have to man handle them. Many people go to the extended cups without ever realizing they didn't get the stock cups all the way out.

I've owned a ton of glass including Meopta and Swaro EL's and SLC's, and I came back to the Conquests for the clarity, ergonomics, and robust build. I'd try to lube the eyecups just a tad and give them another chance.

Unfortunately it is not an issue of not extending all of the way through the 3 detents. I wish there was a way to include a video as it would more effectively demonstrate the issues I am having with both sets of eye cups. Zeiss as offered to take a look at them and address the issue but I am hesitant due to the fact both sets are less than acceptable for a $1000 pair of Binos and am fearful the next set will do the same thing at the most inopportune time in the field. (in addition to the fact they they just don't have enough eye relief when wearing my glasses-again everyone is different and they clearly work perfectly for others with glasses).

I really do wish they worked for me because with the extended eyecups (and not wearing my glasses) the glass was fantastic at least to my eyes (For what it is worth I am coming from Vortex Vipers and Bushnell Legend M Series which are both certainly inferior to the conquest glass)