Comparing 4 spotters side by side (Meopta, Swaro, Vortex, Cabela's)

[Daubsnu1]

Picked up four spotters at Cabela's on Friday and did head-to-head comparison. I have been reading and watching videos on spotters for months now.

Main use will be at the range and Muley day hunts in the Sandhills of Nebraska, less than 5 miles from the truck. Wanted good optics, light weigh, and didn't want to break the bank. Budget was around $1,200, but I am always willing to go higher if the quality is there. Don't hunt Wyoming/Colorado/Montana/Utah...yet.

Read another post on the Cabela's Krotos and was able to pick one up at my local store...the last angled 65mm they had on hand. I was very interested in the Meopta Meopro HD 80 with retail around $1,350. Razor 65mm was a no-brainer, with all the positive press and reviews. Wanted to look at Zeiss Gavia, but felt the 85mm spotter was a little to big for what i wanted. Same with the 80mm Razor, just a little to big for me. Would have loved to review the Kowa 55 Prominar, but lack of rotating ring, and price getting up there. Picked up the Swaro ATS 65mm as a comparison spotter, since all the reviews have been glowing.

My initial thoughts from Friday night:

Cabela's Krotos HD 15-45x65mm, $699, on sale for $342, 2.89 lbs: Performed surprisingly well for this price range. Solid feel, very small compared to the others. Love the size and weight.

Vortex Razor 22-48x65mm, $1,199, 3.61 lbs: Disappointed. Didn't seem as sharp as the rest, even the Krotos. Eye piece was wonky getting on and off.

Swarovski ATS 20-60x65mm, $2,268, 3.11 lbs: This is a demo model from the floor. Had to swap out eye pieces with another Swaro in the case because it had a blemish we couldn't get cleaned off. Super sharp image. Impressive design and build. Very light weight for a 65mm.

Cabela's Instinct Euro HD 20-70x82mm, $2,399, 4.21 lbs: Bigger, but surprisingly not as huge as I thought. It's basically the Meopta Meostar S2. Even has "Meopta" stamped on the base plate. Very impressive so far! I really like this scope.

 

[Daubsnu1]

Had a chance to line them up side by side and do some comparisons today. It was 11 AM, bright and sunny day. Glassing across town to one of the few tall buildings, and then closer to some signage. The building was 3 miles away, the signage was 250 yards. In the bright sun, differences were slight, but there were some difference. Remember, the Cabela's Instinct Euro HD is essentially the Meopta MeoStar S1.

I did all my testing with all spotters set at 45x. Here is how I would rank them...

Eye relief:
1. Meopta / Swaro, virtually the same
3. Razor, just a tad less...
4. Krotos, almost bothersome, needs a bit more.

Field of view @ 45x:
1. Meopta
2. Krotos
3. Razor, but very close to the Krotos
4. Swaro, surprise here. Quite a bit narrower than the other scopes at the same 45x power.

Color contrast: They were all very similar, just minor differences...ranked them based on my preference.
1. Meopta
2. Swaro
3. Krotos
4. Razor

Image: viewing antennas on the building 3 miles away...
1. Meopta best image here, but remember, this is an 82mm spotter.
2. Swaro, a very close second here...
3. Razor, surprisingly just a little better than the Krotos. No where near the top two.
4. Krotos, acceptable.

Focusing:
1. Krotos, smooth, and easy to turn the focus dial. But as it ages, it might loosen up.
2. Meopta, tighter and not as smooth, but still good.
3. Swaro, thought it would be better
4. Razor, almost too tight.

Edge to Edge clarity:
1. Meopta, best to my eyes.
2. Swaro, second place...still excellent, but not as good as the Meopta.
3. Krotos, surprising third place finish aheads of the much pricier Razor.
4. Razor

Internals: shined flashlight into the objective, here is what I saw...
1. Swaro, clean, no smudges, excellent build quality, excellent design, rounded corners, you can tell this is well engineered.
2. Razor, clean, no smudges, good build, well engineered.
3. Meopta, clean, a few minor marks on the non-optic areas, doesn't look as refined inside, clearly spent resources on the glass.
4. Krotos, glass was clear and clean, and no metal shavings in side the scope. But non optic surfaces had what looked like smudges, finger prints, etc. Probably due to manufacturing standards.

Eye piece removal:
1. Meopta / Swaro, quality.
3. Krotos...non-removable eye piece...
4. Razor, didn't want to lock in place, difficult to remove. Surprising.

Feel:
1. Razor, rubber armored, very nice feel.
2. Swaro, this just screams quality! But the exterior coating wasn't as pleasing to me as the Razor.
3. Meopta, excellent.
4. Krotos, Not bad, a mix of metal and rubber armored.

Size & weight:
1. Krotos, just a little lighter than the Swaro, but much smaller
2. Swaro, about same size as Razor, but 11 ounces lighter
3. Razor, surprisingly heavy for it's size.
4. Meopta = beast!

Price / Value:
1. Krotos, this is a no-brainer here. @ $350 this is a hell of a scope for the price. Light, compact and good optics.
2. Meopta, while it is the priciest and biggest spotter in the bunch, performance was above the Swaro to my eyes.
3. Swaro, quality, tradition, warranty, it's all there...but still pricey.
4. Razor, disappointed.

At this point the Krotos was leading the pack. It's not up to the Meopta and Swaro optically, but for the price...will be very hard to beat!

 

[Daubsnu1]

Low light impressions: Set the spotters up side by side on back of my truck, aiming down the street approximately 150 yards to a real estate sign. Dialed them all to 45x and focused on a small gray circle (quarter sized), on a light gray background. And focused on small rust spots on the white sign. Tough to see even at 150 yards. Stared about 15 minutes before sundown.

Razor: as the light dimmed and got closer to sun down, noticed the whites had a bit of a red/pink tint to them (looking at a real estate sign). The other scopes were more of a true white.

About 10 minutes past sundown now, the Razor starting to lag behind the others. Meopta, Swaro, Krotos, then Razor...in that order.

20 minutes after sundown, and still ranking them the same...Meopta, Swaro, Krotos, Razor.

30 minuets after sundown, and I can no longer see the circle or the small rust spots. Meopta is still the brightest, followed by Swaro. Krotos and Razor just behind.

The clear winner was the Cabela's / Meopta Spotter. It's really not a fair fight, as the Meopta has the larger objective. But man, talk about quality glass.

I have to admit i was disappointed with the Swaro. Granted, this was a floor / demo model, and we had to swap out eye pieces to find one without smudges, but come on, this is Swarovski, supposed to be head and shoulders above the rest...right?

The Razor also left me disappointed. Yes, great warranty, and quality optics, but the Krotos actually looked better to my eyes. And I could see details longer with the Krotos vs. Razor as the light faded.

I have to admit I was rooting for the Meopta. I've got a local guy looking to sell his Cabela's Instinct HD / (Meopta MeoStar S1) for right around $1,200...and that fit in my budget. But the Krotos just keep performing. And performing.

The differences between these four scopes is not all that great. Comparing 65's, yes the Swaro is better than the Krotos and the Razor...but $1,900/$1,000 better? Not to my eyes.

For the type of hunting and shooting I do, the Cabela's Krotos HD 15-45x65mm is the clear winner here. Light weight, small package, very good optics, and the Cabela's lifetime warranty. Top it off with a $342 price tag and you have a hell of a good spotter for the money. Heck, this would be a good spotter at the retail price of $699.

Fun to compare these four side by side and put them through the paces. Now it's time to pack them up and get them back to Cabela's. Daubs

 

[handwerk]

Nice write up, thanks for taking the time...

 

[flinginairos]

Great review!! I’m very happy I grabbed the Krotos for the sale price and couple with a gift card I had and some cabelas points I got it for under $200. A steal for that price!


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[zeroforhire]

Thanks for writing this. With ebay gift cards, active junky, and 10 percent off coupon I got this for under $300.

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[AGPank]

Watch for sales on the Meopta. I’ve seen is 20-30% off sometimes.


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[d3ntalbliss]

Thanks for the write up. Got the krotos last week, excited to give it a try


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[choovhntr]

Great write up! Quick question, I didn’t think the instinct had a removable eyepiece? If it does then I’m sure the WA eyepeice from meopta would work?

 

[Joelweb]

I think you are doing what you can given that they are owned by Cabelas, but I find it so hard to mimic actual hunting conditions when glassing from a store. Push a scope to the max in the field and that's where you will see the limitations and capabilities of a spotter.

 

[Daubsnu1]

Great write up! Quick question, I didn’t think the instinct had a removable eyepiece? If it does then I’m sure the WA eyepeice from meopta would work?

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD is essentially a re-branded Meopta MeoStar S2 spotter with the 20-70 eyepiece. I would think the WA eyepiece would work as well.

 

[mlevimadden]

Great write-up. Although the Meopta and Swaro both shine with their wide-angle eyepieces (30-60x and 25-50x) over the standard eyepieces.

 

[flyinsquirel]

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD is essentially a re-branded Meopta MeoStar S2 spotter with the 20-70 eyepiece. I would think the WA eyepiece would work as well.

Can you confirm that the eyepiece is removable for us? It would be a welcome change if the Cabelas version has changed from a fixed eyepiece.

 

[Daubsnu1]

Can you confirm that the eyepiece is removable for us? It would be a welcome change if the Cabelas version has changed from a fixed eyepiece.

The Cabela's Krotos 15-45x65 has a fixed eye piece. Pretty sure this the same as an Athlon Ares 15-45x65mm spotter. Watched a review of the Athlon and the packaging is exactly the same as the Krotos.

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD has a removable eye piece. This is the same as the Meopta MeoStar S2 spotter.

 

[snakelk]

The Cabela's Krotos 15-45x65 has a fixed eye piece. Pretty sure this the same as an Athlon Ares 15-45x65mm spotter. Watched a review of the Athlon and the packaging is exactly the same as the Krotos.

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD has a removable eye piece. This is the same as the Meopta MeoStar S2 spotter.

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD does not have a removable eyepiece, unless they've changed recently. That has been the main difference between the actual Meopta S2 and the Cabelas branded Instinct Euro, again, unless the new 2018 models are different.

 

[xugz0212]

The Cabela's Instinct Euro HD does not have a removable eyepiece, unless they've changed recently. That has been the main difference between the actual Meopta S2 and the Cabelas branded Instinct Euro, again, unless the new 2018 models are different.

second on this.


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[DPR64]

Did anyone verify if the 'newest' Cabelas Euro spotter has the removable eyepiece? The reviewer in post #14 states that it is removable....