premium vs. new optics- how do you judge ROI and relative quality

[nagibson1]

There are four schools of optics thought on here.
1. what you have is fine. Don't overthink it. Get some Vortex Vipers.
2. You get a lot of glass for $1000 Get some Nikons, conquests, Razor UHD's and so on.
3. Buy the best you can afford. You'll never regret it
4. Buy premium optics used. You get a lot of value.

Can you share your thought on #2 vs #4 relative to the age of the premium bino? For example, how old would a Swaro SLC or EL need to be before you're better off with a new set of Maven's or Conquests? For example, there are EL's that are on Facebook here that are 2008 and 2011's. Should I think the glass on 2008 EL's is better than 2025 Maven B.2's or something in that 1000-1200 range?

Or what about the Conquest HD's vs HDX's? How mush do you think glass quality improves year over year, if at all? IT seems like that would be a significant factor in sustained value of binos.

 

[WRO]

The els were upgraded in 2011 or 12 and are relatively un changed since then, buy them. They’re better than everything you have listed.


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[hereinaz]

3/4 buy a used pair of the best optics you can afford. The newer UHD glass is keeping up and almost indistinguishable from alpha glass for all intents and purposes. But, any alpha glass the last 5-10 years will exceed it on the edges and colors. So, the difference between Razor UHD and Maven and old Alpha glass is much less.

 

[Wrench]

There's more to it than just what you see through the lenses. The build quality of a 1998 leica trinovid and a 2024 Chinese bino are not the same. I still judge everything against the original trinovid.

I sold a pair of 8x42ba's looking for better quality based on what I was hearing on the internet. I bought tract toric uhd, nikon edg, meopta and eventually new leica noctovids.

What I found is that either I had a very special pair of ba's or there was a lot of internet hype. I miss the ba enough that I still remember it's serial number by heart and all those others are just binos. To me the noctovid is a stand out compared to the rest.

I've run the 12x50 vortex hd against my noctovid 8x42 and the noctovid is so much better that its not a question. It doesn't matter if it's at 400 or 3000 yards the image is usable and distinguishable in the leica and the vortex not as much.

I never had a chance to run the ba against the noctovid but if I did I'd bet that I'd still have ol' 1075733's in my life.

I did sell the ba's for more than I paid for them after using them for 20 years. Every other bino I sold was for a loss. I am all for a quality used optic.

One thing I'd pick apart is bulking nikon with conquests and razors. If you're talking monarchs perhaps, but the hg is a next level top quality contender.

 

[jfk69]

There's more to it than just what you see through the lenses. The build quality of a 1998 leica trinovid and a 2024 Chinese bino are not the same. I still judge everything against the original trinovid.

I sold a pair of 8x42ba's looking for better quality based on what I was hearing on the internet. I bought tract toric uhd, nikon edg, meopta and eventually new leica noctovids.

What I found is that either I had a very special pair of ba's or there was a lot of internet hype. I miss the ba enough that I still remember it's serial number by heart and all those others are just binos. To me the noctovid is a stand out compared to the rest.

I've run the 12x50 vortex hd against my noctovid 8x42 and the noctovid is so much better that its not a question. It doesn't matter if it's at 400 or 3000 yards the image is usable and distinguishable in the leica and the vortex not as much.

I never had a chance to run the ba against the noctovid but if I did I'd bet that I'd still have ol' 1075733's in my life.

I did sell the ba's for more than I paid for them after using them for 20 years. Every other bino I sold was for a loss. I am all for a quality used optic.

One thing I'd pick apart is bulking nikon with conquests and razors. If you're talking monarchs perhaps, but the hg is a next level top quality contender.

I’m still using the 8x42 BA’s I bought in October of 2001 and I still love them. Never found the need to upgrade.

 

[Wrench]

I bought my ba's new in about 1994. Dan Evans of trophy taker sold them to me when he was working at outdoor sportsman in spokane. My serial number was 1075733....if you're curious about the age.

 

[jfk69]

I bought my ba's new in about 1994. Dan Evans of trophy taker sold them to me when he was working at outdoor sportsman in spokane. My serial number was 1075733....if you're curious about the age.

Bought mine new from SWFA. It was the time when the BA’s were being phased out and the BN’s were replacing them.