Shraggs
WKR
An informal comparison of two 12 power binoculars, the Cabelas Euro HD and the Swarovski EL both in 50 mm.
I like the higher power binos for finding game and thought seriously about 15s and compared most on the market. In the end, if cues was on the menu I may have gone that route, but I’m a weight Winnie. Conversely I’m in the minority and the slightly smaller light gathering of 10x42 never felt right to me. I’ve been using Zeiss 8x42 victory for years and I’m used to those. So for me the 12 struck the right balance of power, weight and light gathering for expansive hunting areas.
In my usual OCD way, I looked and compared them all as best I could in stores. The 12 power seems less crowded than 15 and it came down to the two listed above. Even in store comparison at cabelas was tough to discern, but I bought the meopta in large part on price, and from our Rokslide’s Bitterroot Bulls excellent reviews and posts on this brand over the years, and I rationalized that being in the Midwest meant less real opportunity to use locally.
I got the last pair in the solid green armor, less a few bucks cause it was missing the small cap that covers the threads for the Tripod adapter. You all know this is really great glass, stunning actually. The one challenge I have with many optics is eye relief as a glasses wearer- I need more than 15 mm. I have to push the glasses into my face a bit, I’m used to it with my 8x30 slc neu, but the ELs have 19 mm of eye relief... so I bought them thinking I would get them compared, out of my system and returned without penalty. Oops. Sooo, I have logged many hours behind both of these awesome optics.
I have not taken them hunting or any way used them in a manner that would mare, scratch or harm as I knew I need to sell one of them. I have used them both extensively hand held and on a tripod, at the range sighting in, in the car road scouting large fields for deer, watching birds in the neighborhood, looked at detail such as signage or my own mounts staged at distance (yes OCD), in first light, bright light, cloudy days, last light and dark - thru green, fall and snow.
Really love them both, as a more user and not a technical guru comparison; I’ll refer to the cabelas euro HD as Meopta for easier typing. I am 20/15 corrected vision for the record.
Optically I appreciate detail or resolution most of all. These two are so close and honestly there wasn’t any level of detail I saw with the EL I couldn’t see with the Meopta and vice versa. The differences I looked hard for were edge to edge with EL going about 7/8 if you will before I saw distortion and surprising I’d say the Meopta was 3/4. I do not get rolling ball effect either. At half mile or so reading tractor brands in varying light conditions, both on tripods side by side there seemed an ever so slight clarity on the “e” in case with the EL. Slight... honestly I believe the diopter adjustment which is more a continuous adjustment for the EL versus the Meopta which is more spaced out clicks could explain what I observed. At distances slightly less or a bit further I saw no difference. So that’s my non technical opinion, not the quality of glass or coatings.
Second thing I prefer is brightness mechanically (getting as close to 5 mm exit light to pupils), and coatings. Meopta is often compared optically to be close to the SLC line, but they aren’t as bright as SLC and neither is the EL. They are both plenty bright and refreshing that neither is fatiguing (love my victory’s but at times it’s too much). Victory’s seem blueish to me, SLC yelloish to me - both of these are neutral equally to my eyes. Looking for differences, if the the EL is rated at 90% light transmission then the Meopta is 89%. Pretty hard to compare what’s in manuals as it seems there aren’t consistent standards. I could see it but couple buddies could not.
Third is field of view, part of the reason I have stayed with 8’s and will continue to. EL is around 300’ and Meopta 274’ at a 1000’ if I recall from memory. If you’re looking for it you will see it. I used some barns at half mile and noted what was visible. Less than 10% difference. Watching deer come out at dusk at the same distance it was irrelevant. But If I were picking apart a hillside finding hidden game I would have certainly used more area in my field of view before changing my grid. EL could be slightly more efficient over a couple hours of glassing.
Last optically is color accuracy. Kind of touched on this above, both are very neutral in color to me equally. In some bright light or snow I did see CA with the EL and I have never with the Meopta so far.
So, there is in my view an ever so slight optical advantage with the EL, really a small fov advantage, followed by a hint brighter and finer diopter adjustment. You have to decide if it’s worth roughly double the price.
I think that’s what it takes in optics. I’m a an old fashion hi-if music nut. If a $5000 system sounded good, to get a notable improvement you’d have to double your spend, true in my experience.
Ergonomics matter a lot to me also. From a tripod, it doesn’t matter, as they both worked well. I used Swarovski’s universal adapter and the Bogg universal. I liked the later better but an oz heavier. The Meopta fit no problem in my large AGC large or cub max without collapsing them to fit my eyes. The EL would not do that, had to squeeze them together to fit, then re-adjust them to use them.
From a hand held stand point I preferred the Meopta. The barrels are more parallel and taper quickly near the end to the eye where the EL is a continuous taper from the bell to the eyes. I never really settled into a comfortable hand hold on EL. Not going to hold these for 3 to 5 minuets at 2 lbs. but a minute to 90 seconds is very doable before resting, I timed. Interesting that I timed a couple of minutes for my 26 oz victory’s before I rested. Not that much longer, but I have always stopped marked my spot and rested if my image was not clear. Habit I guess. Holding in one hand say, talking or walking the open bridge of EL is easier, at least for my size large hands.
Focusing while in use was a mixed bag for me. First the focus wheel on the EL I liked and was easily able to get it right first time every time. The Meopta I almost always had to over focus and come back. Occasionally I have to minor adjust the right eye diopters with distance and the Meopta is easily done while viewing with the second wheel with the EL I just couldn’t do as easily. Pulling and pushing while in use often resulted in a worse setting and took several attempts - but seemed to have finer increment of adjustment, noted above in detail section.
I had no trouble setting either for my eye width. Getting your eyes in and glassing is easier with the EL. This gets right to the eye box design and the eye relief. Maybe its more generous off axis too, I’m not sure. But with my prescription I can get on the EL glass as if I didn’t wear glasses and not have to touch or push my glasses into my face at all, a nice change for me. The Meopta is so livable and betters most for sure (from a eye glasses perspective that is).
To wrap up, if you’ll only use these from a tripod the EL’s slight optical advantage still exists pending your funds. If you currently use a chest bino harness the Meopta may fit without collapsing them, the EL may not if you don’t want to collapse them. What’s another hundred... If you hand hold a lot on the fly and would with either of these my size large hands preferred the Meopta. Either has focusing quarks you’ll get used at this level of money. If you wear glasses and want to use them mostly with your glasses on, then EL is more forgiving for certain.
The last point..., for someone who already owns Swarovski and Zeiss, I can easily live with the cabelas Euro HD/Meopta at Half the price. The gains are a percent or two in favor, slight. My decision on which to keep is based on the ease of getting behind with my prescription and is it worth double the price or half the resale. Still thinking for a couple of weeks more.
Hope this helps, for those that asked and was easily readable.
John
I like the higher power binos for finding game and thought seriously about 15s and compared most on the market. In the end, if cues was on the menu I may have gone that route, but I’m a weight Winnie. Conversely I’m in the minority and the slightly smaller light gathering of 10x42 never felt right to me. I’ve been using Zeiss 8x42 victory for years and I’m used to those. So for me the 12 struck the right balance of power, weight and light gathering for expansive hunting areas.
In my usual OCD way, I looked and compared them all as best I could in stores. The 12 power seems less crowded than 15 and it came down to the two listed above. Even in store comparison at cabelas was tough to discern, but I bought the meopta in large part on price, and from our Rokslide’s Bitterroot Bulls excellent reviews and posts on this brand over the years, and I rationalized that being in the Midwest meant less real opportunity to use locally.
I got the last pair in the solid green armor, less a few bucks cause it was missing the small cap that covers the threads for the Tripod adapter. You all know this is really great glass, stunning actually. The one challenge I have with many optics is eye relief as a glasses wearer- I need more than 15 mm. I have to push the glasses into my face a bit, I’m used to it with my 8x30 slc neu, but the ELs have 19 mm of eye relief... so I bought them thinking I would get them compared, out of my system and returned without penalty. Oops. Sooo, I have logged many hours behind both of these awesome optics.
I have not taken them hunting or any way used them in a manner that would mare, scratch or harm as I knew I need to sell one of them. I have used them both extensively hand held and on a tripod, at the range sighting in, in the car road scouting large fields for deer, watching birds in the neighborhood, looked at detail such as signage or my own mounts staged at distance (yes OCD), in first light, bright light, cloudy days, last light and dark - thru green, fall and snow.
Really love them both, as a more user and not a technical guru comparison; I’ll refer to the cabelas euro HD as Meopta for easier typing. I am 20/15 corrected vision for the record.
Optically I appreciate detail or resolution most of all. These two are so close and honestly there wasn’t any level of detail I saw with the EL I couldn’t see with the Meopta and vice versa. The differences I looked hard for were edge to edge with EL going about 7/8 if you will before I saw distortion and surprising I’d say the Meopta was 3/4. I do not get rolling ball effect either. At half mile or so reading tractor brands in varying light conditions, both on tripods side by side there seemed an ever so slight clarity on the “e” in case with the EL. Slight... honestly I believe the diopter adjustment which is more a continuous adjustment for the EL versus the Meopta which is more spaced out clicks could explain what I observed. At distances slightly less or a bit further I saw no difference. So that’s my non technical opinion, not the quality of glass or coatings.
Second thing I prefer is brightness mechanically (getting as close to 5 mm exit light to pupils), and coatings. Meopta is often compared optically to be close to the SLC line, but they aren’t as bright as SLC and neither is the EL. They are both plenty bright and refreshing that neither is fatiguing (love my victory’s but at times it’s too much). Victory’s seem blueish to me, SLC yelloish to me - both of these are neutral equally to my eyes. Looking for differences, if the the EL is rated at 90% light transmission then the Meopta is 89%. Pretty hard to compare what’s in manuals as it seems there aren’t consistent standards. I could see it but couple buddies could not.
Third is field of view, part of the reason I have stayed with 8’s and will continue to. EL is around 300’ and Meopta 274’ at a 1000’ if I recall from memory. If you’re looking for it you will see it. I used some barns at half mile and noted what was visible. Less than 10% difference. Watching deer come out at dusk at the same distance it was irrelevant. But If I were picking apart a hillside finding hidden game I would have certainly used more area in my field of view before changing my grid. EL could be slightly more efficient over a couple hours of glassing.
Last optically is color accuracy. Kind of touched on this above, both are very neutral in color to me equally. In some bright light or snow I did see CA with the EL and I have never with the Meopta so far.
So, there is in my view an ever so slight optical advantage with the EL, really a small fov advantage, followed by a hint brighter and finer diopter adjustment. You have to decide if it’s worth roughly double the price.
I think that’s what it takes in optics. I’m a an old fashion hi-if music nut. If a $5000 system sounded good, to get a notable improvement you’d have to double your spend, true in my experience.
Ergonomics matter a lot to me also. From a tripod, it doesn’t matter, as they both worked well. I used Swarovski’s universal adapter and the Bogg universal. I liked the later better but an oz heavier. The Meopta fit no problem in my large AGC large or cub max without collapsing them to fit my eyes. The EL would not do that, had to squeeze them together to fit, then re-adjust them to use them.
From a hand held stand point I preferred the Meopta. The barrels are more parallel and taper quickly near the end to the eye where the EL is a continuous taper from the bell to the eyes. I never really settled into a comfortable hand hold on EL. Not going to hold these for 3 to 5 minuets at 2 lbs. but a minute to 90 seconds is very doable before resting, I timed. Interesting that I timed a couple of minutes for my 26 oz victory’s before I rested. Not that much longer, but I have always stopped marked my spot and rested if my image was not clear. Habit I guess. Holding in one hand say, talking or walking the open bridge of EL is easier, at least for my size large hands.
Focusing while in use was a mixed bag for me. First the focus wheel on the EL I liked and was easily able to get it right first time every time. The Meopta I almost always had to over focus and come back. Occasionally I have to minor adjust the right eye diopters with distance and the Meopta is easily done while viewing with the second wheel with the EL I just couldn’t do as easily. Pulling and pushing while in use often resulted in a worse setting and took several attempts - but seemed to have finer increment of adjustment, noted above in detail section.
I had no trouble setting either for my eye width. Getting your eyes in and glassing is easier with the EL. This gets right to the eye box design and the eye relief. Maybe its more generous off axis too, I’m not sure. But with my prescription I can get on the EL glass as if I didn’t wear glasses and not have to touch or push my glasses into my face at all, a nice change for me. The Meopta is so livable and betters most for sure (from a eye glasses perspective that is).
To wrap up, if you’ll only use these from a tripod the EL’s slight optical advantage still exists pending your funds. If you currently use a chest bino harness the Meopta may fit without collapsing them, the EL may not if you don’t want to collapse them. What’s another hundred... If you hand hold a lot on the fly and would with either of these my size large hands preferred the Meopta. Either has focusing quarks you’ll get used at this level of money. If you wear glasses and want to use them mostly with your glasses on, then EL is more forgiving for certain.
The last point..., for someone who already owns Swarovski and Zeiss, I can easily live with the cabelas Euro HD/Meopta at Half the price. The gains are a percent or two in favor, slight. My decision on which to keep is based on the ease of getting behind with my prescription and is it worth double the price or half the resale. Still thinking for a couple of weeks more.
Hope this helps, for those that asked and was easily readable.
John
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