I've been wanting to add a 15 power binocular to my system for years now. Like many of you I also have to live on a budget and suffer from analysis paralysis (Rokslide exists because of those two things). This year I finally decided to pull the trigger on a set, but struggled to decide on which ones. After a few conversations with @S&S Archery (Rob) I finally convinced him to let me borrow a couple and try them out. The only stipulation was that I do a quick write up on what I thought. Shortly after receiving the Swarovski SLC 15x56 and vortex Razor UHD 18x56 I found a set of zeiss conquest HD 15x56 in the classified here on rokslide and bought them to round out the test. Assuming I could part ways with them if I liked something else better.
Early backyard testing has proven that these are all premium optics. I'm starting to find things I like and dislike about each pair. Here I'm making out detail on a distant neighbors tree at 2598 yards. I am also trying to make out the railing on the patio.
I'm going to take these scouting in the next couple days and will give my opinion of the good and bad of each optic after I feel like I've ran them through their paces.
Edit to update
No real surprise here but to my eyes the Swarovski is the best. It is the brightest and has the sharpest image. Early on I really felt like the extra magnification of the vortex gave these some serious competition but as the glassing distances got farther the better clarity won out. These also have the most comfortable eye cups which I feel is important for long glassing sessions. I really like how Swarovski does their single eye adjustment and the focus wheel is smooth and easy to dial in. These weigh almost the exact same as the vortex but are slightly shorter. As a side note, you can fit these on a short outdoorsman bino adapter but you'd be better off with a tall.
From a purely optical standpoint I would rate the Zeiss as a second place finisher. The biggest reason for this is clarity and color. I really like the natural coloring of coatings that Zeiss uses. Glassing into haze and poor lighting the Zeiss edged out the vortex. If the vortex was a 15x I feel like they would have tied for clarity. With that said, The Zeiss have by far the worst controls. The focus is very touchy and the eyecups are basic at best, additionaly they're the heaviest and longest of the group. They do come with a very good tripod mount from Zeiss that I would put on par with the outdoorsman system.
Let me start my description of the vortex with the fact that I didn't want to like them. I've sent in nearly every item I've owned that wore their name. I also wish they would have made these 15x instead of 18x. At first I really thought the magnification helped but after some use it seems to cut into their ability to see into dark areas and hurts the field of view. That said I don't think there's many situations where I would miss an animal with these that I would see it with the swaros. They really are close. If money was a concern and you weren't planning on using these to make a living it would be hard to spend the extra for either of the other binoculars. I was impressed with the fit/finish and the controls were very smooth and easy to adjust. Only time will tell if the build quality is at the level of the German optics but there's no question that if something brakes they will take care of it. I also want to point out that the color is somewhat overdone and seems unnatural I really only noticed this during the brightest part of the day but it stood out as odd to me.
I would like to thank @S&S Archery (Rob) for letting me try these out. They're a rokslide sponsor and great resource for technical gear questions.
Early backyard testing has proven that these are all premium optics. I'm starting to find things I like and dislike about each pair. Here I'm making out detail on a distant neighbors tree at 2598 yards. I am also trying to make out the railing on the patio.
I'm going to take these scouting in the next couple days and will give my opinion of the good and bad of each optic after I feel like I've ran them through their paces.
Edit to update
No real surprise here but to my eyes the Swarovski is the best. It is the brightest and has the sharpest image. Early on I really felt like the extra magnification of the vortex gave these some serious competition but as the glassing distances got farther the better clarity won out. These also have the most comfortable eye cups which I feel is important for long glassing sessions. I really like how Swarovski does their single eye adjustment and the focus wheel is smooth and easy to dial in. These weigh almost the exact same as the vortex but are slightly shorter. As a side note, you can fit these on a short outdoorsman bino adapter but you'd be better off with a tall.
From a purely optical standpoint I would rate the Zeiss as a second place finisher. The biggest reason for this is clarity and color. I really like the natural coloring of coatings that Zeiss uses. Glassing into haze and poor lighting the Zeiss edged out the vortex. If the vortex was a 15x I feel like they would have tied for clarity. With that said, The Zeiss have by far the worst controls. The focus is very touchy and the eyecups are basic at best, additionaly they're the heaviest and longest of the group. They do come with a very good tripod mount from Zeiss that I would put on par with the outdoorsman system.
Let me start my description of the vortex with the fact that I didn't want to like them. I've sent in nearly every item I've owned that wore their name. I also wish they would have made these 15x instead of 18x. At first I really thought the magnification helped but after some use it seems to cut into their ability to see into dark areas and hurts the field of view. That said I don't think there's many situations where I would miss an animal with these that I would see it with the swaros. They really are close. If money was a concern and you weren't planning on using these to make a living it would be hard to spend the extra for either of the other binoculars. I was impressed with the fit/finish and the controls were very smooth and easy to adjust. Only time will tell if the build quality is at the level of the German optics but there's no question that if something brakes they will take care of it. I also want to point out that the color is somewhat overdone and seems unnatural I really only noticed this during the brightest part of the day but it stood out as odd to me.
I would like to thank @S&S Archery (Rob) for letting me try these out. They're a rokslide sponsor and great resource for technical gear questions.
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