Tract Toric 12.5x50

[Ingo]

I've got them in hand. There are no in-depth, comparative reviews that I've seen for these. I will soon have an opportunity to use these in the field with several other pairs of binos. Hopefully, I'll be able to borrow a friends 12x SV ELs to compare, as well.

I received them from UPS after dark last night so I just looked at the night sky a bit before bed. I gotta say that Jupiter and it's Galilean moons looked awesome and I haven't even set the diopter adjustment.

The build quality feels fine, nothing special, but fine. I'm not sure about the eye cups yet. They seem to be ok but not exactly like I prefer. I was able to get a comfortable view, at least.

If you're interested in these stay tuned and I'll be back with a full review.

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[Little Joe]

I am interested. Waiting on your review.

 

[roughnecknine0]

Following! I've heard it recommended a few times so I'm curious to see what more people say. One thing I really appreciate in optic reviews/comments is honestly about the downsides/negatives as well as something more more substantial than just "it's great glass for the money!".

Able to compare against BX4 12x50's?

 

[Ingo]

Able to compare against BX4 12x50's?

Absolutely. My dad has a pair of the 12x BX4s that have been a backup pair for him. I may get to compare them this weekend.

I really wish I knew someone with 12x Meoptas but I should, at least, be able to compare them to the BX4s and Swaro SV ELs.

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[Kscrawfo]

Looking forward to review

 

[Ingo]

I know! It's been forever. Things didn't go as planned this fall with helping on family hunts and such and I still have yet to use my Torics in the field.

I did get out in Central, AZ Rim Country today with my dad and was able to do some daytime comparisons. We set up on his back deck to compare 3 sets of 12x50s all the way up until dark.

- Tract Toric
- Leupold BX4 Pro Guide
- Swarovski EL

I'll be working on writing up my impressions. Will follow up soon.

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[ZackP]

Looking forward to it.

 

[Ingo]

So...

I've been waiting a long time to get a side by side comparison of my Tract Torics alongside some other 12x50 binos. I've always been the kind to be fairly happy with high-value minded, upper mid-grade gear. Never been a "top of the line only" snob. I've spent time with many pairs of binos from old Nikon Monarchs to Leupold Cascades to Vortex Razors and Kaibabs to Leicas to SLCs to ELs and I've briefly looked through NL 12x42s.

I can say that the past 20 years have been very good for the consumers of optics at any level. I bought my son a pair of Leupold BX-2 binos on clearance at Costco for $100 that are incredible quality. In broad daylight those are every bit as good as I would ever need for general hunting binos. I've looked through them for hours without any undue eye fatigue (I can't say that about Vortex Diamondbacks). The gap between the well-executed, inexpensive binoculars and Alpha isn't as dramatic as it should be, any more. The blessing/curse of Chinese manufacturing is no doubt to blame.

So, where is the sweet spot? For someone who can spend the money and not be stealing food from their children's mouth, surely your choice of Alpha makes the most sense. Why leave anything on the table?

I have children to feed, however. And I answer to the ol' lady. The prospect of $750 12.5x50s with nearly Alpha level fidelity is very appealing to me. I wouldn't say that I necessarily believed deep down that they would be all I hoped they would be but I really wanted them to be.

Continued....

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[Carr5vols]

Following. Looking forward to your comparison.

 

[elkguide]

Anxiously waiting..........

 

[DawnPatrol]

Don’t make us beg….

 

[OregonHunter13]

Can't wait for the review...

 

[Ingo]

Can't wait for the review...

Sorry guys. I wrote out a whole article length review and somehow managed to delete it before I posted it. Haven't had time to come back to it.

I'll just give the bullet points.

Swarovski 12x50 EL SV (new) - I've spent time with 12x50 ELs in the past and they're the gold standard, imo (maybe displaced now by the NL). The lack of anything polluting the entire view, the low-light performance, and true to life colors are impeccable. The EL outclassed the other binos at last light, no doubt. I will be able to use some NL Pure 12x42s very soon and I'll add my impressions once I do.

Tract Toric - The short story: I like them and will never need anything more. Surprisingly very similar color (lack of any discernable tint bias) to the EL. They were great at last light but just a bit worse than the EL. There is chromatic aberration at the edge of view which gets more noticeable the darker things get. Didn't notice it all before the sun set but very noticeable at last light. I didn't notice a huge apparent difference in FOV even though it's stated less than the EL. Optically if the ELs are 10 these are a solid 9. I was worried about the depth of focus on the Tract as I had heard it was fairly shallow. It is shallower than the EL but not so much that it was an issue. I'm very glad I bought them and I won't be nearly as devastated if something happens to them.

Leupold BX4 - Basically the same level of step down from the EL to the Toric. More chromatic aberration, a warmer tint but still pretty neutral, and just a tiny bit worse at last light than the Toric. Great value. Maybe the value champion for 12x50 binos. I would be fine with these and not really feel like I was missing out. These are also Kamakura manufactured binos so I suspected they would be similar to the Tract (made by Kamakura, as well). They are similar but the Tract just has a bit more neutrality and a bit better low-light and significantly less chromatic aberration.

Sorry for the strung out nonsense. I'll post some updates here as I use them more and also a comparison with the NL 12x42 when that happens.

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[JW@TRACT]

Thank you for the write-up. Concise, with information that's actually useful to hunters/shooters.

 

[Ingo]

I didn't realize that the current street price for the BX4 Pro Guide 12x50 is around $760. I thought you could get them around $600. So, in my opinion, at that price the Tract is a better buy.

I would also love to look through the Maven B6 12x50 and Meopta 12x50 but I can't imagine there is enough value to be had between the Tracts and the Swaros to consider them for myself.

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[Ingo]

Spent some time comparing the NL Pure 12x42 to my Tract Torics last week. The NLs are an amazing leap forward in binocular tech. The size, weight and FOV are stunning. For a guy wanting to replace 10x binos I cannot imagine better. You get more magnification and no penalty to FOV compared to the EL and most other 10x binos. A 340' FOV at 1000 yards compared to 270' for the Tract is drastic. I did however notice that there's a clear difference in the actual magnification between the Tracts and NLs. Of course, the Tracts are advertised as 12.5x binos but the difference was not as drastic with the ELs.

I had initially thought that the perceived magnification difference was just an illusion because of the massive FOV of the NL but it turned out there is a noticeable difference. This didn't seem to be the CASE,e with the 12x50 ELs. I was scoping out a Northern facing mountainside around noon and found an interesting looking rock sitting on top of a bluff. Under the bluff I could see a funnel-spider web with the Tract that I couldn't make out with the NLs even though the overall view seemed a tad brighter. It was just too small to see what it was in the NLs. For what I'm using my Tracts for, that magnification is more important than the FOV or even the difference in the quality of the glass. 99% of my use will be scanning mountainsides for animals with the Tracts on a tripod. I think that I might choose the EL for that scenario over the NL. But for a true "all-around" Western binocular I can't imagine anything better than the 12x42 NLs.

I feel very fortunate that I have had the opportunity to try out many of the best binos out there. I still am very happy with the Tracts.

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[4th_point]

Thanks for the comparison review. I found it helpful and interesting.

Any updates, or other observations of note?

 

[Ingo]

Thanks for the comparison review. I found it helpful and interesting.

Any updates, or other observations of note?

Nothing other than the fact that NLs will really spoil you. It became more apparent the more I used them. There's not as much magnification but the clarity/brightness into the shadows is amazing.

The Tracts are good for the money but if you have the slightest inclination I would just pony up and get the NLs. I'm still happy with the Tracts and luckily I can use the NLs quite a bit, as well when I'm hunting with my ol' man.

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[4th_point]

Thanks for the update.

The 12x NL Pure is definitely something that I am interested in.

I was just out comparing 8x, 10x (2), 16x binoculars, and 30x spotting scope. Looking though mirage and into the shadows.

 

[jonandy]

This was super helpful! Thanks for posting.