Meopta/Cabelas Meostar/Euro HD - Best buy in used bins?

Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,571
Location
In someone's favorite spot
I recently picked up a used pair of Euro HD 10x42's and I forgot just how good they are. At under $600 and sometimes under $500, they are an absolute steal on the used market. I owned a pair of the non-HD Meostars, and the latest HD versions are noticeably better. Side by side with my Conquest HD's, I would say they are optically equal. And yes, they do truly give Swaro SLC's a run for their money. Only advantage I can see to the Swaros are a little lighter and slimmer, and a better resale value.

These will be my truck bins, and most often used on a tripod or window mount, so the weight was not a concern for me. But boy, optically they are just superb.
 

jzeblaz

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
276
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
I am running the Cabela's branded Meopta 10x42, bought prior to the HD model. They were $800 when I got them and they get it done. They are touch crunchy at first and last light, but for the vast majority of the day, bright and clear. I do want to upgrade them, but until then, I'm hanging onto them...and will pass them on to my wife when I do.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Banned
  • #3
OP
Newtosavage
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,571
Location
In someone's favorite spot
I am running the Cabela's branded Meopta 10x42, bought prior to the HD model. They were $800 when I got them and they get it done. They are touch crunchy at first and last light, but for the vast majority of the day, bright and clear. I do want to upgrade them, but until then, I'm hanging onto them...and will pass them on to my wife when I do.
Get the HD's if you have the chance. They don't have that yellowish tint.
 

kipper09

WKR
Joined
Dec 5, 2013
Messages
1,050
Location
West Virginia
I have a pair of the meostar hds. I also have a set of slc swaros. I honestly think the meostars are damn close to them. I use the meoptas more, they are older and been used quite a bit and I just pick them up because optically they are so close I can’t tell much difference. Not saying they are better than the Swarovski. But for a normal guy hunting they are close enough if I was buying I wouldn’t hesitate at all to take the meoptas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Joined
Nov 8, 2016
Messages
1,618
Location
Kiowa/Deer Trail, CO
I use the 10x and 15x cabelas....

IMG_6733.JPG

IMG_3315_zpsguclpzko.jpg


I actually like the cabelas branded ones better than the meoptas. The armor and the knurled metal focus/diopter knobs, are better(to me) than the fugly rubber coated knobs on the meostars....
IMG_6681.JPG
 

nphunter

WKR
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
1,699
Location
Oregon
I love my 15x Meostars!! Got back from grabbing my camera last week and found my buddy sitting behind my Meoptas instead of his new 12x42 NL Pures!! We were glassing a bull at 2 miles and at that range the Meopta really shined!
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Banned
  • #7
OP
Newtosavage
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,571
Location
In someone's favorite spot
Huntsman22, I guess I never noticed the focus wheel on the Meopta vs. Cabelas. Would have thought they were the same but I'm glad I have the Cabelas version! Outstanding focuser. I can say without hesitation the focuser on my Cabelas Euro HD is better than the Swaro SLC focuser. I never cared for it.
 
  • Thread Starter
  • Banned
  • #8
OP
Newtosavage
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
7,571
Location
In someone's favorite spot
Added bonus I discovered yesterday is that my Outdoorsman phone adapter fits the eyepiece on my Euro HD's even better than it fits my scope or my Conquest HD's. I was hoping for that and it's perfect!
 
Joined
Nov 24, 2018
Messages
321
Meostar/cabelas binocs are indeed awesome. Extremely good value. Meopta service is pretty dang good too. The only thing I can fault them for is they are on the heavy side, maybe be a litttle overbuilt?
 

gburk

WKR
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
355
Location
Texas
I picked up Cabelas Euro HD 15x56's on here, hoping that you're right. I've been impressed so far but haven't really used them. Going to put them up head to head against my Maven 18s as soon as I can assemble all the required outdoorsman's bits for a parallel setup, and hoping to make a post about it.
 
Joined
Jul 28, 2022
Messages
1
I have the Meopta HD 10x42 and it is my personal favorite 10x42 bino. It's a bit heavy for my taste, but the added weight helps to dampen out the image shake, so in the this case it actually helps.
 

gburk

WKR
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
355
Location
Texas
Got back from about a week in the field with both the Maven B5 18s and the Cabelas branded Meopta Meostar HD 1.1 15s. Both were used on Outdoorsman pistol grip and tall bino adaptors, with the appropriate adaptor studs. Both were used interchangeably on Slik 634 and 824 tripods as shown below. Both performed great... finding deer wasn't the problem... My younger son preferred the Maven while I found myself going for the Meopta more frequently. That said, he generally outglasses me by a non-negligible margin, so take it for what it's worth. My older son abstained from voting :D

We were glassing fairly open country, not too steep, no further than 1800 yards away for the most part. Not much early morning / late evening glassing since deer were active through most of the day. None of us wears eyeglasses, and sunglasses come off, so eye relief was not an issue. Clarity on both was comparable.

Some unscientific observations:

Meoptas:
  • Easier to get a good view, less visual artifacts. No shadowing or effects that caused you to have to adjust. Stick your eyes in there and go. With Mavens I found more of a need to fiddle with eye cups or back off from the bino. This was the biggest difference in my opinion
  • Slightly better brightness. I think this was to be expected due to more exit pupil on the 15s vs 18s. I though it was noticeable.
  • Focus knob and diopter lock were very solid. No inadvertent diopter adjustment. Both felt great and I think preferable to Maven. Maven's focus knob feels a bit more sensitive.

Mavens:
  • Significantly better IPD allowance for narrow IPDs like mine. With the Meopta and the Outdoorsman tall adaptor, I found the best view was available by collapsing the hinge as far as possible. On the Maven's, there is considerably more IPD allowance - I found the sweet spot by opening the hinge somewhat from fully closed. Was the IPD on the Meopta sufficient? I'm not sure, but it was close- it would have been nice to have a bit more allowance and open the hinge some - I had to clamp it shut. Neither of my sons had this problem. Last I had checked, both bino's advertised the same minimum IPD, so I was a bit surprised by this.
  • Better balance. In some positions, I noticed some creep in the pistol grip when using the Meoptas on the more worn of my two pistols. Mavens sit better, mounted closer to center of mass, with less chance of this happening. Not a major issue.
  • The higher 18x magnification was nice on the few occasions when we wanted a better look at bucks before we stalked them. (For the most part it was stalk first, ask questions later)
IMG_4721.jpg

Unfortunately I can't provide any kind of authoritative recommendation other than to warn that you may have problems with IPD on the Meopta if your eyes are more bear-spaced than pronghorn. I refuse to believe I'm that much of an outlier in anything, including IPD, so I'm probably not alone. Other than that, I kind of preferred the Meoptas, at least on this trip where they were the new shiny toy. Next time I'll see about capturing some digiscoped photos from each in an attempt to hit the minimum functional bar for a comparative Rokslide review lol. :LOL: Until then, this will have to do.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2022
Messages
1,264
Meostar B1+, Leica Trinovid, and Leupold BX4/5 are all great buys in the used market. You get a lot for your $$ with any of them on the used market. The reason Swaro's hold their value better isn't just because they're lighter and slimmer though, they are the alpha of alpha glass and blow those all away.
 

OspreyZB

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
267
Meostar B1s are in another league than Trinovids and BX4/BX5s... More comparable to a Leica UVHD, Swarovski SLC, or Zeiss FL. They're are a non-flat-field alpha, which unfortunately seems to be a dying breed.
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2022
Messages
1,264
Meostar B1s are in another league than Trinovids and BX4/BX5s... More comparable to a Leica UVHD, Swarovski SLC, or Zeiss FL. They're are a non-flat-field alpha, which unfortunately seems to be a dying breed.

You can compare anything to anything, it doesn't mean they are equal. I've owned all of those except for Zeiss FL's, if you spent any time with all of them you would not have that opinion. The B1's are meh at best, I would take any of those mentioned over them any day and even some cheaper ones. B1+ are about equal to trinovid and BX5 but they absolutely are not on the same level as SLC's and Ultravid HD, non HD Ultravids are even better. You're not getting those for sub $1K used like you can the B1+ though so it's not a fair comparison either.

B1+ are great binos, but they aren't alpha glass.
 

OspreyZB

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 20, 2018
Messages
267
You can compare anything to anything, it doesn't mean they are equal. I've owned all of those except for Zeiss FL's, if you spent any time with all of them you would not have that opinion. The B1's are meh at best, I would take any of those mentioned over them any day and even some cheaper ones. B1+ are about equal to trinovid and BX5 but they absolutely are not on the same level as SLC's and Ultravid HD, non HD Ultravids are even better. You're not getting those for sub $1K used like you can the B1+ though so it's not a fair comparison either.

B1+ are great binos, but they aren't alpha glass.
Well I actually own all of the binoculars I mentioned, except for the BX5, and have spent a lot of time hunting with them, as well as comparing them side by side. I have doubts that you could honestly say the same based off of your statements "B1s are meh at best" and "B1+ are about equal to Trinovids"... Meostars have essentially zero CA, Trinovids have lots. Center resolution is better in Meostars, as is glare control. Meostars have better mechanics (nicer focuser, pull-out locking diopter). They are both very well built, have similar warm saturated colors, similar transmission, and similar field curvature. To me, the view through a meostar is very Leica UVHD-like, but with even less off-axis CA. So what did you like better about the UVHD than the Meostar? There are a couple things I think the Ultravids do a little better, but I'd like to hear it from you.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jun 27, 2022
Messages
1,264
Well I actually own all of the binoculars I mentioned, except for the BX5, and have spent a lot of time hunting with them, as well as comparing them side by side. I have doubts that you could honestly say the same based off of your statements "B1s are meh at best" and "B1+ are about equal to Trinovids"... Meostars have essentially zero CA, Trinovids have lots. Center resolution is better in Meostars, as is glare control. Meostars have better mechanics (nicer focuser, pull-out locking diopter). They are both very well built, have similar warm saturated colors, similar transmission, and similar field curvature. To me, the view through a meostar is very Leica UVHD-like, but with even less off-axis CA. So what did you like better about the UVHD than the Meostar? There are a couple things I think the Ultravids do a little better, but I'd like to hear it from you.



Go there and read there in depth review with a ton of technical data points with actual measurements and not just a subjective review from someones eyes. Look at all of those binoculars that those guys who are straight up bino nerds rank ahead of the Meostart B1 and B1+.

Take a pic of all those binos lined up together though, lets see if you actually own all of them.
 

Fatcamp

WKR
Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
5,659
Location
Sodak

Go there and read there in depth review with a ton of technical data points with actual measurements and not just a subjective review from someones eyes. Look at all of those binoculars that those guys who are straight up bino nerds rank ahead of the Meostart B1 and B1+.

Take a pic of all those binos lined up together though, lets see if you actually own all of them.

That list is questionable.

I've never heard anyone say Vortex Viper is superior to Meostar.
 
Top