The problem with Meopta Meostar's

[Hunthigh1]

I have carried a pair of 10X42 Meopta Meostar's for about 5 years now. The binoculars were a big upgrade for me and the biggest purchase I had ever made as a young hunter. They have been exceptional for me and spotted thousands of animals and shed antlers. Over the years I have discovered one disappointing aspect to the design of them that nobody seems to talk about. . .

Like most hunters I carry them in a bino harness (original Kuiu). The ocular housing does not protrude far enough beyond the lenses to fully protect the ocular lens from rubbing in the bino harness. This rubbing occurs on a very minor level but if you have a piece of brush, or pine seed fall into your harness bottom it can exacerbate the problem and create scratches on the lenses. I fabricated a fix for this issue about a year ago by finding some rubber pipe joining material that fit perfectly over the lenses. This gave me better viewing into bright sun and allowed the lenses to be a bit more protected.

Has anyone else noticed this problem? How far do other binoculars recess their lens into the housing? Based on photos it seems the SLC's and others have a longer distance between the housing lip and lens. I have not compared in person.

 

[Matt G.]

For this issue I always kept lens caps on the binos. Because of the compact size of the bino, I never had an issue of them sliding into harness with caps on but not secure. I now have the swaro el and this is a PITA, so I will be using with out the objective caps on.

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[Hunthigh1]

Yeah I hear ya on the caps. I find they are annoying enough when hunting that I hate using them. They add a little more movement to my bino use which is esp annoying on archery hunts or timber hunts when your doing hundreds of short little checks with binos.

 

[Matt G.]

I wonder if you could build a lattice system in frame on bottom of harness to give you extra half inch. The binos would sit higher but may also help to quicker in hand since they are short.

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[fatrascal]

I leave the caps on the binos. I have used 1st generation, 2nd generation el's and now 1st generation el ranges and have never had a problem. Fatrascal.

 

[dtrkyman]

I leave the caps on my 15s, but see your point there are always rub marks on the lens from where the rubber hits.

I also thought they had been scratched one time but it was water spots. I just keep the caps on but would prefer not to all the time! May try your hack!

 

[manitou1]

I finally yanked the caps off mine as they were a pain. I check the inside of my pack periodically to remove debris. Never seems to be a problem, but I keep it closed (not necessarily fastened) for the most part.
Oh, I do love the binos.

 

[Fatcamp]

I leave the caps on my 15s, but see your point there are always rub marks on the lens from where the rubber hits.

I also thought they had been scratched one time but it was water spots. I just keep the caps on but would prefer not to all the time! May try your hack!

Ya, my 15's have those rub marks too.

 

[Hunthigh1]

Ya, my 15's have those rub marks too.

Yean. I think it’s just a matter of time if your having contact before it gets scratched or wears through coating. The small movement of walking can cause rub and if you walk with em ALOT like I do it seems to be inevitable