WTB Ready for Alpha Ranging Binos

PaulieNY

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Let me know what you’ve got.hoping to buy some

I’ve got a great friends and family hunt group. We make it a point to all hunt together every year somewhere. There are six of us, one guy we’ll call him Barry L. Has always carried range finding binos. It seems to me that 90% of the time the remaining 5 of us are always asking Barry what’s the range, how far is that, how about now, etc…

Then my lucky younger brother borrowed Barry’s ranging binos on a stalk and proceeded to kill his biggest ever mule deer. Needless to say, he bought ranging binos for the following season. lucky little brother of course had to dump a solid bull elk. While a lot went into that kill, he and the guys with him raved about the accuracy and time saved used the ranging binos.

the dynamic DOPE charts and auto adjustments in todays alpha level glass attributes in a lot of success for us as a group. I’m convinced and now Shopping

I think I’m prioritizing the Zeiss Victory RF 10x42 (latest generation only).

Didn’t really like the ergonomics or feel of the swaro ranging binos ( I already have 12x NL Pures)

The Leica geovids 3200.com. Look like they finally got there mobile app and software caught up. But they are big and bulky, and I plan to carry these binos on my
Chest for archery and rifle.

Looking for a great condition set of Zeiss Victory RF 10x42. Let me know what you have.

Or any strong recommendation for another comparable. I really think zeiss and Leica have it locked down.


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MTN BUM

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I have a 2021 pair of Zeiss Victory RF 10x54's that I will be selling. Im going the opposite way- back to non-RF binos for me!
 

tdhanses

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Really you knocked out any other strong competitors with swaro and leica, the rest are mid teir.
 
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A few thoughts:
  • I dont think any ranging bino is going to be a really good fit in your hand while hunting archery. but i'd be curious what other users say about ranging binos for archery.
  • Leica's true range at 3,000+ yds is awesome! You don't think you need it, but it's very nice for planning stalks in my opinion.
  • I do agree the victory RF's have the best feel and button access.
enjoy!
 

bpurtz

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A few thoughts:
  • I dont think any ranging bino is going to be a really good fit in your hand while hunting archery. but i'd be curious what other users say about ranging binos for archery.
  • Leica's true range at 3,000+ yds is awesome! You don't think you need it, but it's very nice for planning stalks in my opinion.
  • I do agree the victory RF's have the best feel and button access.
enjoy!
Not trying to hi-jack the OPs thread - so consider it a free bump...lol

I've owned several Geovids - love them for rifle hunting and/or scouting but they were too bulky for me during archery - now I either carry 10x32 or 8x42 and a hand held Leica rangefinder. I've looked through both the newest models of Zeiss and Swaro and still prefer my Geovids - a buyer really should give them all a test drive to figure out what's best. Last note - I've heard some horror stories about Zeiss warranty that turned into $1000 repair work.
 

MTN BUM

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Ill tell you why my Zeiss are new-ish (used for two weeks in field) and why the Zeiss warranty does not suck.

I bought my RF's off of here originally around June. Swapped out the normal battery cover for outdoorsmans stud. Not sure what I did during that process, but it seemed to have shorted out the computer. It would not come on again. So I sent them to Zeiss. Keep in mind that I was not the original purchaser, and the problem happened when I tried to modify the binocular.

Zeiss took a look and said yep, the computer is out. The binos will need to be replaced. We will get a NEW pair sent out to you. I responded and let them know my hunt was approaching, asked if I could pay to overnight. THEY overnighted them and paid for it. I'm not sure what else you want from a company.

Me moving from Zeiss RF's has nothing to do with Zeiss, their warranty, or these binos. They are the best glass I have ever had. My issue is that I do more archery hunting than anything else and have decided that a small handheld RF works best for me.

Not a sales pitch. Think of it as another free bump and an honest review of Zeiss customer service. Given that Zeiss would 100% get my vote for RF binos.
 
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PaulieNY

PaulieNY

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Ill tell you why my Zeiss are new-ish (used for two weeks in field) and why the Zeiss warranty does not suck.

I bought my RF's off of here originally around June. Swapped out the normal battery cover for outdoorsmans stud. Not sure what I did during that process, but it seemed to have shorted out the computer. It would not come on again. So I sent them to Zeiss. Keep in mind that I was not the original purchaser, and the problem happened when I tried to modify the binocular.

Zeiss took a look and said yep, the computer is out. The binos will need to be replaced. We will get a NEW pair sent out to you. I responded and let them know my hunt was approaching, asked if I could pay to overnight. THEY overnighted them and paid for it. I'm not sure what else you want from a company.

Me moving from Zeiss RF's has nothing to do with Zeiss, their warranty, or these binos. They are the best glass I have ever had. My issue is that I do more archery hunting than anything else and have decided that a small handheld RF works best for me.

Not a sales pitch. Think of it as another free bump and an honest review of Zeiss customer service. Given that Zeiss would 100% get my vote for RF binos.

Thanks for sharing the customer service experience from Zeiss.

Honestly if your binos were 42mm objective I’d be all over them.


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PaulieNY

PaulieNY

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kwdavis04 I sent you a PM about your Binos. If PaulieNY isn't interested I might be.

Viper go ahead and go after the 10x54’s

I’m focused on getting 42mm objectives


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Broomd

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Not trying to hi-jack the OPs thread - so consider it a free bump...lol

I've owned several Geovids - love them for rifle hunting and/or scouting but they were too bulky for me during archery - now I either carry 10x32 or 8x42 and a hand held Leica rangefinder. I've looked through both the newest models of Zeiss and Swaro and still prefer my Geovids - a buyer really should give them all a test drive to figure out what's best. Last note - I've heard some horror stories about Zeiss warranty that turned into $1000 repair work.
Yep, gotta love the option of the small Leica 1000r (etc.) CRF handheld and SV or HD+ 8x32's, and for other less weight-conscious occasions the straight up Geovid RF's. It's nice to have options.

I've always regarded the Leica RF's to be the gold standard, and can say that I've owned all the big three. Ironically Swarovski was the biggest disappointment.

Leica -- still the best and nothing has changed in that regard, imho.
 

KingGus

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Let me know what you’ve got.hoping to buy some

I’ve got a great friends and family hunt group. We make it a point to all hunt together every year somewhere. There are six of us, one guy we’ll call him Barry L. Has always carried range finding binos. It seems to me that 90% of the time the remaining 5 of us are always asking Barry what’s the range, how far is that, how about now, etc…

Then my lucky younger brother borrowed Barry’s ranging binos on a stalk and proceeded to kill his biggest ever mule deer. Needless to say, he bought ranging binos for the following season. lucky little brother of course had to dump a solid bull elk. While a lot went into that kill, he and the guys with him raved about the accuracy and time saved used the ranging binos.

the dynamic DOPE charts and auto adjustments in todays alpha level glass attributes in a lot of success for us as a group. I’m convinced and now Shopping

I think I’m prioritizing the Zeiss Victory RF 10x42 (latest generation only).

Didn’t really like the ergonomics or feel of the swaro ranging binos ( I already have 12x NL Pures)

The Leica geovids 3200.com. Look like they finally got there mobile app and software caught up. But they are big and bulky, and I plan to carry these binos on my
Chest for archery and rifle.

Looking for a great condition set of Zeiss Victory RF 10x42. Let me know what you have.

Or any strong recommendation for another comparable. I really think zeiss and Leica have it locked down.


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I agree with you, having the Rf and binos in one package is awesome for rifle hunting.

I don't have any experience with Leica, but I'm sure they are good, but if I had to pick between Zeiss and Swarovski, I would go Swarovski in a heartbeat, even if with the bino harness issues.

To share my experience with Zeiss RFs and Swarovski EL ranges, I had an older set of Swaro EL ranges but was getting annoyed with the bump getting caught up on my FHF harness, which actually wasn't bad just slight resistance putting them back in. I sold the swaros and bought the Zeiss RF. These worked better with the harness but I could tell the glass wasn't on par with the swaros, they seem to lack the edge-to-edge clarity. I used them for about 3 months then bought the new EL ranges with TA and changed out my bino harness for a Binobro with a custom-molded Kydex insert that I made to fit the EL ranges bump. The swaro/binobro works a treat, one-handed operation is flawless, even for archery.
 

mxgsfmdpx

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I have two scouting trips under my belt now with the new Meopta 8x50 range finding binos. I know you were looking in the next tier up but I think you’d be impressed with the glass on these. Field of view is ridiculous! Loving them so far as I’m slowly getting used to them. Was going to do a review on them after a couple months of use this winter.
 

ZackP

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I have two scouting trips under my belt now with the new Meopta 8x50 range finding binos. I know you were looking in the next tier up but I think you’d be impressed with the glass on these. Field of view is ridiculous! Loving them so far as I’m slowly getting used to them. Was going to do a review on them after a couple months of use this winter.

Not trying to high jack the thread, but how is the response time vs other range finding bino’s?
 

mxgsfmdpx

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Not trying to high jack the thread, but how is the response time vs other range finding bino’s?
I’ve only used the Zeiss Victory RF and was going to buy them in the 10x54. Then I saw Meopta released their version of a rf bino and in an 8x50
I really got excited. Even more FOV than the 10x54 zeiss and I love their binos from past use. Waited for a Black Friday deal and Doug from Cameraland hooked me up.

The Zeiss I believe was a click to activate and then hold for yardage style if I remember right. The Meopta one click activates the hollow circle reticle and then a 2nd quick click gives you the yardage. So if you see an animal you can double click And instantly get the yardage instead of long holding and waiting for a reading. Loving it so far. Need more time with them though.
 

MTN BUM

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I’ve only used the Zeiss Victory RF and was going to buy them in the 10x54. Then I saw Meopta released their version of a rf bino and in an 8x50
I really got excited. Even more FOV than the 10x54 zeiss and I love their binos from past use. Waited for a Black Friday deal and Doug from Cameraland hooked me up.

The Zeiss I believe was a click to activate and then hold for yardage style if I remember right. The Meopta one click activates the hollow circle reticle and then a 2nd quick click gives you the yardage. So if you see an animal you can double click And instantly get the yardage instead of long holding and waiting for a reading. Loving it so far. Need more time with them though.
I dont know how the others work, but my 10x54s are push to activate, push to range. I can range something in my view in under a second or two
 
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