Upgrading Binos to RF, need advice

[Roboz]

Hi Guys, new guy here to the forum. Looking for advice on some rf binoculars, i am going from Viper hd's to possibly a used set of Swarovski EL Range non TA or the Leica Geovid R. I dont need the ballistic stuff so looking at my basic options for under or close to $2000, How big of an improvement is the Swaro glass over the Leica or is there much difference? Any other options out there i should look at?

 

[Badseed]

Bino RF glass is typically inferior to non-RF glass so keep that in mind if optical quality is your goal. I have had the leica geovid HD-R binos for a few years and have zero regrets. Ive compared them to swaro RF binos and I thought the leicas were better although I didn’t do any scientific testing just overall impressions.


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[handwerk]

I agree, I like the Leicas better.... after owning all 3 generations of the EL Ranges. I sold them and still enjoy my old Geovids.

 

[Roboz]

Thanks for the input, i have been researching for a couple of months and as you guys are saying i havent found anything bad about the Leicas. I guess a big concern is glassing all day here in Arizona coues hunting, if you feel i can do that with the Leicas that might be the way to go. Otherwise maybe a set of El non range and a seperate rangefinder since i am about 50/50 bowhunting or rifle hunting.

 

[Roboz]

I also looked at the GPO rangeguide but i think i would like to stick with a company that i know is not going anywhere. The new Vortex Talon are interesting as well just seem to be super heavy.

 

[Badseed]

Thanks for the input, i have been researching for a couple of months and as you guys are saying i havent found anything bad about the Leicas. I guess a big concern is glassing all day here in Arizona coues hunting, if you feel i can do that with the Leicas that might be the way to go. Otherwise maybe a set of El non range and a seperate rangefinder since i am about 50/50 bowhunting or rifle hunting.

It depends on your budget. I hunt with a rifle and archery. I have the geovids for rifle season and vortex viper hd 8x42 plus a leica rangemaster for archery. The geovids are pretty heavy and bigger than your standard binos. While archery hunting I prefer the lighter weight and wider fov of the separate bino and RF setup.


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[Stache Attack]

Nice set of used geo r’s in classifieds l. Under optics offload. For 1,000 bucks that’s a great deal

 

[Cervid]

Tract optics is coming out with rangefinding binos soon-ish. I’d expect they’d be a more competitive price point but no word yet on the price or specs.

 

[Roboz]

Thanks everyone, i looked through the Geovid R today at scheels, glass seemed very clear compared to my old Vortex, now i need to find some swaro to look through since they were out if the el’s.

 

[HuntHarder]

Geovid Pro Ab's have been great for me

 

[Roboz]

I do like the AB pros but those are out of my price range

 

[HackKickthrust]

I do like the AB pros but those are out of my price range

I had a pair of ultravids that got stolen out of my pick up 2 days before my elk season started and didnt have alot of time to look through glass and research stuff so I ran into scheels and bought the geovid pro in 10x42. I was pretty disappointed in the quality of the glass which I suppose is gonna be the case for any rf bino, but the low light performance was abysmal and the scan function of the rf took forever compared to the sig kilo 5k that I also got stolen. Glassing during brightest part of the day was fine but seemed to lack contrast or sharpness or something, reminded me alot of the tract toric if you've ever looked through those. The focus wheel stayed buttery smooth even when it got super cold and exposed to snow/sleet and the rf menu is very intuitive. Used them for 8 days ranging everything and sometimes just dicking around in the menus and it never dropped a bar of battery life. I ended up returning them and picked up used swaro el and another sig 5k. I tried to find another set of ultravids but didnt want to buy new and their are alot more used swaros out there than ultravids.

Obviously none of this was a side by side comparison and I was pretty furious I had to by anything at all so maybe that affected my experience with them.

 

[Hans_Grimsgaard]

I have the Leica Geovid HD-B. The glass is excellent. The older version like I have lacks some features for ballistics I would like to have (angle compensation while in the ballistic profile mode). I’ve been looking at the Revic BLR10B possibly purchasing those, form what I’ve read sounds like the glass will not be as good as the Leicas but the rangefinder aspect is amazing.