Leica Duovid 10-15x50 or 2 Binos

[HuntNTag]

I am in a bit of a dilemma. I am debating between getting the Leica Duovid 10-15x50 or rocking 2 bino’s such as the Maven B2 9x45 and a Maven B5 15x56.

Not saying I could buy Swaro’ s but I am not looking at price as the option/thought here.


Pro’s/Con’s on either and do you think optically one is better than the other. I hear the Duovids have the Ultravid glass while the Mavens that I Demo’d were nice and bright but their size sucks on those B2’s and weight is a factor for me backcountry hunting.


Thanks for the input in advance!

 

[gr8fuldoug]

The downside of the Leica is the narrow FOV

 

[HuntNTag]

The downside of the Leica is the narrow FOV

How do you feel about the glass quality?

 

[gr8fuldoug]

How do you feel about the glass quality?

Optically it's awesome. It's a Leica

 

[Steve O]

I will never understand this “narrow field of view” knock on the Duovids. They are excellent, they are the last binoculars l will ever get rid of. I currently also have 10x42 ELs among others and have used most of the Leica/Swaro/Zeiss options.

Duovid FOV at 15x is listed at 208’ @ 1000 yards. Swarovski 15x is listed at 234’ @1000 yards. Nobody will ever convince me they can actually notice 13’ on each side of the very edge of the field of view at 1000 yards. I call BS.

At 10x the Duovids have 274’ and SLC 10s are 330’. This is slightly more of a difference in theory with 28’ on each side of the edge of the field of view but in practice, I have never been gassing with my Duovids on 10x and said, “I could be spotting more animals if I brought my ELs”.

If you have a chance at Duovids at a good price I would grab them and never look back. IMO the only downside is if you use them exclusively on 10x, they are a BIG 10x binocular but that’s not why you buy the Duovids, you buy them for versatility and a great 15x bino.

 

[willfrye027]

I will never understand this “narrow field of view” knock on the Duovids. They are excellent, they are the last binoculars l will ever get rid of. I currently also have 10x42 ELs among others and have used most of the Leica/Swaro/Zeiss options.

Duovid FOV at 15x is listed at 208’ @ 1000 yards. Swarovski 15x is listed at 234’ @1000 yards. Nobody will ever convince me they can actually notice 13’ on each side of the very edge of the field of view at 1000 yards. I call BS.

At 10x the Duovids have 274’ and SLC 10s are 330’. This is slightly more of a difference in theory with 28’ on each side of the edge of the field of view but in practice, I have never been gassing with my Duovids on 10x and said, “I could be spotting more animals if I brought my ELs”.

If you have a chance at Duovids at a good price I would grab them and never look back. IMO the only downside is if you use them exclusively on 10x, they are a BIG 10x binocular but that’s not why you buy the Duovids, you buy them for versatility and a great 15x bino.

View attachment 168924

I agree with all of that Steve. Love my duovids and I’m glad you helped talk me into them a while back. Also I am no optical engineer, but it seems like there is give and take with FOV and depth of field. I’ve been amazing with the duovids at times with how little I need to refocus them long distance glassing. I enjoyed the view from my Zeiss conquest 10x42 which has better FOV than the duovid at 10x, but I found myself fiddling with the focus knob more.

Curious if you have compared them to swaro 12x50s. Those are the only binos that have made me consider going away from the duovids for mule deer glass.

 

[HuntNTag]

I will never understand this “narrow field of view” knock on the Duovids. They are excellent, they are the last binoculars l will ever get rid of. I currently also have 10x42 ELs among others and have used most of the Leica/Swaro/Zeiss options.

Duovid FOV at 15x is listed at 208’ @ 1000 yards. Swarovski 15x is listed at 234’ @1000 yards. Nobody will ever convince me they can actually notice 13’ on each side of the very edge of the field of view at 1000 yards. I call BS.

At 10x the Duovids have 274’ and SLC 10s are 330’. This is slightly more of a difference in theory with 28’ on each side of the edge of the field of view but in practice, I have never been gassing with my Duovids on 10x and said, “I could be spotting more animals if I brought my ELs”.

If you have a chance at Duovids at a good price I would grab them and never look back. IMO the only downside is if you use them exclusively on 10x, they are a BIG 10x binocular but that’s not why you buy the Duovids, you buy them for versatility and a great 15x bino.

View attachment 168924

Thanks for the feedback. I agree 100%. I’d never notice that and I’m getting the glass to be able to have 2 different Binos in one. There is always going to be a trade off.


Do you guys know if Leica will upgrade the glass down the road for a fee. I’m thinking if someone was to have these for 10 years and then the coatings get better, will they service them for a cost to upgrade?

 

[willfrye027]

Thanks for the feedback. I agree 100%. I’d never notice that and I’m getting the glass to be able to have 2 different Binos in one. There is always going to be a trade off.


Do you guys know if Leica will upgrade the glass down the road for a fee. I’m thinking if someone was to have these for 10 years and then the coatings get better, will they service them for a cost to upgrade?

No idea...but CS has been great for me on that subject. Damaged the diopter on a plane flight and they fixed it free no questions asked super quickly. You might call and ask them about upgrading the coatings...although I doubt it would make a very noticeable difference. The glass is great.

 

[Hatchet Jack]

I will never understand this “narrow field of view” knock on the Duovids. They are excellent, they are the last binoculars l will ever get rid of. I currently also have 10x42 ELs among others and have used most of the Leica/Swaro/Zeiss options.

Duovid FOV at 15x is listed at 208’ @ 1000 yards. Swarovski 15x is listed at 234’ @1000 yards. Nobody will ever convince me they can actually notice 13’ on each side of the very edge of the field of view at 1000 yards. I call BS.

At 10x the Duovids have 274’ and SLC 10s are 330’. This is slightly more of a difference in theory with 28’ on each side of the edge of the field of view but in practice, I have never been gassing with my Duovids on 10x and said, “I could be spotting more animals if I brought my ELs”.

A more useful metric to compare field of view is the actual area. If you calculate out to actual visible area within your field of view, that's a 26% increase in total area going from the duovid to slc at 10x, and a 56% increase in field of view at the 15x specs. IMO this is definitely something to consider. It's noticeable to me. Rarely do i find a deer by looking directly at it, they are usually out on the fringes of my FOV and i catch the movement out of the corner of my eye. Now, that being said, i was very impressed with the optics in the duovids, they are definitely top shelf. If EL 12x50s didn't exist the 10-15x duovids would be in my bino harness no question. You can't argue the usefulness and convenience of having a 2 in 1 optic with alpha glass. Just a couple of things for the OP to consider and this is, of course, MHO.

 

[Extrapale]

Very happy with my Duovids. I think they are amazing optically at both 10 and 15. I don't notice a FOV constraint.

My previous binos were 12x56 Kowas and the Leicas were shockingly better optically.

Sent from my LM-G820 using Tapatalk

 

[cowsandgrass]

I am considering the 8-12 douvids. They would be more of a general purpose Bino. I have 10x42 geo I’d hd-b’s.
Do you think there would be any advantage to the magnification range of the duovids over my 10x

 

[HuntNTag]

I just got the duovids 2 days ago and used them last night. My scenario is a little different than yours where mine are the 10-15 power but I usually run just 12’s so that might be more similar to your scenario with your 10’s. In that case, going from a 12 to a 15 isn’t that big of a jump with 25% magnification. You would be at a 20% jump from 10 to 12.

I think it will matter to what your application is of them. If they are a truck bino I would just get get a 12 power binocular and save some money. If you are using them on all your hunts moving forward, I think there is some practicality there but they are beefy for a treestand hunt.

I also can’t say I’ve heard anything special about the 8-12’s due to more reviews being on The good things of the 10-15’s. Hopefully more guys can come in and give you peace of mind that can steer you in the right direction aside for myself.

Personally, I wanted a pair to just know I have 2 pairs in one bino if I don’t want to use my 8’s and my 12’s out west. Also having a 15 is nice at times instead of whipping out a spotter for its lowest magnification.