Call me crazy

[thnksno]

Call me nuts, but maybe its just in my head. I had a previous pair of 10x42 vortex viper hd's and decided to go with the Swarovski 10x42 els this year because of the discounts.

I have been giving myself a headache comparing them and I am not seeing the 1500$ difference in them. I have the 65mm Swarovski spotter and that I can see the difference in that when comparing to lower like models. I have not had them out at sunrise yet, but am I missing something or have I lost my mind?

 

[CoHiCntry]

You’re crazy…

 

[Wrench]

Every model has great examples and no great examples. I had a pair of leica bn's that bested nearly anything I compared them to except the noctovid.....ive also had some top shelf examples that were ho hum.

You may have the greatest vortex and the worst swaros in your possession. The true test is when light starts to suck.

 

[sneaky]

Glass for 8 hours behind the Vortex, then 8 hours behind the Swaros and report back

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

[Browninglover1]

It's not a linear difference in price vs performance but if you can't tell the difference I would really question what are you looking for? Have you looked at optics charts? Have you looked at high contrast items and noticed the chromatic aberration differences? Edge to edge clarity? Depth of focus? Details you can see in the shadows? When my 8x32 EL rolled down the mountain and broke both ocular lenses I still used them in their broken configuration over the spare set of 10x42 Viper HD I had access to because the glass that was still usable was still that much better.

The Viper HD are a great bino in their price range but they truly are outclassed in every way, including price, by an EL.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I agree with your title, you're crazy, and I agree with your post you're nuts. That looks like the only 2 ways I agree with you. The Swaros are a step (or two) ahead and above the Vipers, and it's not the price. But, seriously it could be your vision. Like boots, everything is perfect to someone, but not all.

 

[Hatchet Jack]

do you suffer from rolling ball effect?

Also you won't see a whole lot of difference hand holding for a few minutes in mid day. Spend some time behind them on a tripod in hunting conditions and there will be a big difference. I bought some mavens that, when hand holding, I thought were pretty comparable to my ELs. Once i put them on tripods and was looking for deer it became apparent the mavens weren't on the same level as the ELs.

 

[Decker9]

I’m in the opposite. My vipers seem like toys compared to my EL’s, the EL’s are like putting on glasses to me. Yet my ats hd spotter, shines no more then my pentax spotter to my eyes.

 

[mgebs311]

I just recently bought a pair of EL 10x42’s and came from using Viper HD 10x50’s. Comparing the two, I am beyond happy that I bought the EL’s. Definitely interesting hearing other people’s experiences that differ.

 

[CoStick]

I went from a couple pairs of alpha Swarovski to conquest HD and prefer them. Not sure if vipers are similar, but everyone has different eyes.

 

[JakeSCH]

It's not a linear difference in price vs performance but if you can't tell the difference I would really question what are you looking for? Have you looked at optics charts? Have you looked at high contrast items and noticed the chromatic aberration differences? Edge to edge clarity? Depth of focus? Details you can see in the shadows? When my 8x32 EL rolled down the mountain and broke both ocular lenses I still used them in their broken configuration over the spare set of 10x42 Viper HD I had access to because the glass that was still usable was still that much better.

The Viper HD are a great bino in their price range but they truly are outclassed in every way, including price, by an EL.

+1

It is easy to bias your vision through the bins by telling yourself that it is 1/3 or 1/4 of the cost. I've done it before.

And honestly, it really depends on how much you use your glass. If you are behind your glass for hours at a time you will notice the difference much faster than a guy who only tosses them up to look at something he caught with his naked eye.

Honestly, not knowing what to look for is like blissful ignorance. So if you are happy with the Vipers, enjoy the bliss and save money....because once you know it is hard to undo.

 

[BCsteve]

+1

It is easy to bias your vision through the bins by telling yourself that it is 1/3 or 1/4 of the cost. I've done it before.

And honestly, it really depends on how much you use your glass. If you are behind your glass for hours at a time you will notice the difference much faster than a guy who only tosses them up to look at something he caught with his naked eye.

Honestly, not knowing what to look for is like blissful ignorance. So if you are happy with the Vipers, enjoy the bliss and save money....because once you know it is hard to undo.

The opposite is also true. Its easy to convince yourself that your bino are "so much better!" when you paid 3x as much as the next guy.

 

[Hoodie]

The opposite is also true. Its easy to convince yourself that your bino are "so much better!" when you paid 3x as much as the next guy.

I think this is much more common.

The improvements certainly aren't correlated well with the price jumps. A Maven B2 or a Meostar is like 5-8% better than a $500 bino. An EL is like 3-4% better than a $1k bino.

The reality is these days once you get to the $400-500 dollar level the improvements get pretty minor. They are there, but they're the sort of thing you have to look carefully for. Bigger sweet spot, small improvements in light transmission. There's still a minimal amount of improvement you can get by bumping up to the $1k range.

By far the biggest price jump for the least improvement is between the $1k range and the $2-3k range. Pretty much everyone serious about optics acknowledges that. You pay double for extremely marginal performance increases.

The biggest difference between a Viper and an EL should be edge clarity. You'd probably notice even less difference if you had a bino in the Viper's price range that also had field flatteners, like an Athlon Cronus or a Theron Questa. The old Zen Ray Primes or Leupold McKinleys would also fit that bill.

 

[Banded_spooney]

I recently went from Viper HDs to SLC’s (both 10x42) and I was actually disappointed with how close they were in clarity at the center and while edge to edge was for sure won by the SLCs it wasn’t worth the price difference.
The two huge differences were depth of focus and low light.
If the only difference was depth of focus I would never go back. I never even knew it was a consideration until I ran the two side by side on a tripod. Massive upgrade.

7 minutes after sunset (23 minutes before stop shoot) the SLCs began blowing the vipers out of the water. By stop shoot I was looking at a brick chimney 325 yards away. The vipers I can see the contrast on light to dark in groups of bricks . With the SLCs I can still see the contrast from light to dark on individual bricks.

side note, it’s obviously not apples to apples but with my Meopta 15’s I can actually see individual bricks at 45 minutes after sunset. Not just contrast.

 

[BCsteve]

"Not quite 2 minutes"

 

[Fedster]

It is possible that your Vortex are at the top end up the quality Vortex offers for that model, and the swaros are lemons -- impossible to know from the internet (without doing some hands on testing). What matters is what *you* see to be honest, so either test a new pair of swaros, or keep the vortex.

 

[DangerRanger]

Stop worrying about it, sell the swaros and consider yourself one of the luckiest people alive.

 

[Macholeo]

I like my sworos


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[thnksno]

You guys are all correct. Spent a few days in the black hills of sd. No comparison. I feel a lot better now about my purchase. Thanks for the reply’s!

 

[Brian Fahs]

Late to the party.
You are nuts!