Swarovski Bino Advice! - First time posting (SLC/EL/NL)

[Portland]

Hey guys,

I've been lurking around here for a while but never posted. I'm looking for a new pair of binoculars to use as my primary glassing set for when I travel. I live in the PNW and my family and I camp quite a bit around our forests, beaches, and rivers. I do a lot of fly fishing and we love to hike, so I am always outdoors. My primary purpose for this purchase is for; general wildlife viewing, glassing for deer, and tripod glassing. I also want a pair of binoculars that I can take with me when I travel.

I have been doing A LOT of research on binoculars over the past two months as I'm looking for my second pair of premium glass. Yesterday I had a REALLY cool opportunity. I live pretty close to a really neat 172-are wildlife sanctuary. They have a really cool store on premise where you can buy a variety of gear, but what surprised me the most is their optics selection. They had close to 20 Swarovskis on display, a bunch of Zeiss, Nikon, and handful of other brand of binoculars as well. The cool thing is that all of their display models could be checked out and taken into the sanctuary to use and demo.

I grabbed an EL 8.5x42, an EL 10x42, an NL Pure 8x42, an NL Pure 10x42, and I already had my own personal pair of SLC 10x42s with me as well in my bino harness. They gave me a shopping cart of all things to put the thousands of dollars of optics in, and sent me on my way in the wildlife preserve.
I found a nice quiet corner near the visitor's center that overlooked a forested canyon, just above where they had an enclosure for some nesting Horned Owls (about 30 yards down the ravine from where I was).

And there I spent about an hour going back and forth between all of the different optics.

Impressions:

-They all had incredible glass. You can tell that all of these binoculars are top of the line.
-I seemed to favor the 8x over the 10x in the EL line, but the 10x in the NL line.
-The field of view in the 10x NL Pure was something else. It felt like the field of view of an 8x, but with the zoom power of a 10x. Very cool.
-The ergonomics on the NL were by far the best. They just molded to my hands.
-The field flattening technology in the EL was really noticeable especially when compared to my SLC.

However here is the dilemma for me, and I can't figure this out. Both the NL 8x and 10x gave me that dreaded 'motion sickness' feeling in my stomach. I'm not overly prone to motion sickness as I am a boat fisherman, but the Pures felt like I was watching through a shaky camera every time I moved the binocular around. It really bummed me out because I REALLY like the Pures outside of that. For me, that was a big deal. I'm not sure if I'd ever adjust to them and be OK, but I'm not sure I want to spend over $3k trying to find out. And outside of the field of view improvement on the Pure, I really didn't see THAT much of an optical difference in the EL and the NL. Maybe it's just me.

The crazy thing is that the ELs did not give me that pit in yoru stomach sick feeling at all. From what I understand they use the same field flattening technology as the Pures, so I'm confused why I had that reaction to the Pures but not the ELs.

In conclusion, I fell in love with the EL 8.5x. I felt like the size, the image quality and the overall feel of the binoculars was really quite good. I could see myself carrying those on most of my adventures.

I know this question probably came up a bunch of times, but is there any reason why I shoudl consider the 10x ELs over the 8.5x ELs, especially given that I already have a 10x pair of SLCs?

Thank you all in advance for weighting in!

p.s. my daughter finally asked to look through my SLCs to find out what's so interesting about looking through binoculars, and now I'm not so sure I'll ever get them back.

 

[Tmcgarrigle]

It is interesting that you had motion sickness from the Pures and not the EL's. Most people I know that have had issues have had them with EL's and most of them report less issues with the NL's because of the increased FOV.

If you aren't looking at the NL in 12x and you're having issues with motion sickness in the 8x and 10x, I'd tell you to go with your preference in the EL's and probably the 8.5x42 based on what your description of use would be.

I'd also tell you to give a hard look at the Leica Noctovids. Since they don't have the field flatteners, a lot of people have good luck with not getting motion sickness with them. There was a good deal on a pair of 10x42's for sale on here

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I don’t get motion sickness with EL’s or NL’s, the flat field is literally the same in both.

I’d go back and try it again with just the NL 10x42’s and spend a long time with just them and see if you come away with a different impression.

 

[Wheels]

I had the EL 10x42’s and 8.5x42’s, sold the 10’s for the increased FOV of the 8.5’s. Didn’t see that much difference between the 2 regarding the higher power of the 10’s.
I also have 15’s if I need the additional power at distance.

 

[Ronb]

The 8.5’s are my all time favorite glass. I’ve owned leicas and zeiss and my current binocular is an eight power rangefinding binoculars by Swarovski. Stay with the 8’s. Tens have too many trade offs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[handwerk]

I have the EL SV 8.5x42's and to me they are very user friendly and offer a fantastic view.
At one time I also owned the 10x42 EL SV's and spent a lot of time comparing the two along with my 10x42 Geovids.
To me the 8.5's land in a sweet spot where they offered a better more stable image w/o really noticing the slight drop in magnification.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Check out some EL 8x32 Swarovisions if you can find them. They come up pretty regularly here on the classifieds. FOV is 420ft @ 1000yards vs 399 of the 8.5x42. For your stated use of taking them with you when you travel on various kinds of trips, their lighter weight would also be a plus. They are easy to handhold, but on a tripod they are a real pleasure to look through.

 

[Beendare]

I went from SLC to the NL. I get the rolling ball with the EL But its minor.

The NL is harder for me to hand hold vs my SLC…the skinnier more ergo design feels small in my hand….is all I can figure.

 

[atmat]

-The field flattening technology in the EL was really noticeable especially when compared to my SLC.

Did you mean to say NL here?

Regardless, I’ve not heard people complaint much about the rolling ball effect in the NLs as the ELs (for whatever reason).

If it makes you sick, it makes you sick, and you should not buy them.

The NL’s glass is better, but not by that much. To me the increased FOV, ergos, and forehead stabilizer are where the NLs shine. But again, if they make you sick then that’s a no-go.

I rock the 8.5x42 EL and they’re one of my favorite binos. But 42mm is a lot to be carrying all the time (I.e., fishing, etc.). You might look into the 32mm instead as someone else commented, for a general purpose travel bino.

 

[Portland]

Did you mean to say NL here?

Regardless, I’ve not heard people complaint much about the rolling ball effect in the NLs as the ELs (for whatever reason).

If it makes you sick, it makes you sick, and you should not buy them.

The NL’s glass is better, but not by that much. To me the increased FOV, ergos, and forehead stabilizer are where the NLs shine. But again, if they make you sick then that’s a no-go.

I rock the 8.5x42 EL and they’re one of my favorite binos. But 42mm is a lot to be carrying all the time (I.e., fishing, etc.). You might look into the 32mm instead as someone else commented, for a general purpose travel bino.

Apologies, that sentence you quoted was not well written on my part. What I meant to say is that I could really tell the presence of the field flattening lenses on the EL especially when comparing it side by side to the SLC which does not have the field flattening. I was just trying to say that I could tell that the tech was present in teh EL.

As far as the NLs, they didn't fully make me sick, but it did start to give me that sick feeling. Especially when panning. Which was really confusing to me since the ELs did not do that. I can't explain why, it just is what it is. Even if the NLs did not give me that feeling, I don't think the increased FOV, ergonomics, and the very slight improvements that the NL have over the EL are worth the extra cost to me personally. Maybe if I lived my life behind a set of binoculars I would consider it, but I don't.

Thank you for the recommendation on the 8x32s. I will be going back to the wildlife sanctuary soon to take a look through those as well as I didn't do that earlier this week. I'm curious how much of a difference there is in a side by side comparison with the 8.5x42s.

 

[atmat]

Apologies, that sentence you quoted was not well written on my part. What I meant to say is that I could really tell the presence of the field flattening lenses on the EL especially when comparing it side by side to the SLC which does not have the field flattening. I was just trying to say that I could tell that the tech was present in teh EL.

As far as the NLs, they didn't fully make me sick, but it did start to give me that sick feeling. Especially when panning. Which was really confusing to me since the ELs did not do that. I can't explain why, it just is what it is. Even if the NLs did not give me that feeling, I don't think the increased FOV, ergonomics, and the very slight improvements that the NL have over the EL are worth the extra cost to me personally. Maybe if I lived my life behind a set of binoculars I would consider it, but I don't.

Thank you for the recommendation on the 8x32s. I will be going back to the wildlife sanctuary soon to take a look through those as well as I didn't do that earlier this week. I'm curious how much of a difference there is in a side by side comparison with the 8.5x42s.

I do a ton of panning while glassing, so if they made you start to feel sick on panning, I’d skip it totally. And I agree on the ELs being a “better buy” than the NLs, which is why I went that way.

The nicest thing about the 32x will be ease of travel.

That said, I think someone is selling a pair of 8.5x42s on the classifieds.

 

[rodney482]

Going to be selling my EL SV 8.5x42s if anyone is interested. Mint condition w box

 

[Boarmaster]

Based on what you describe in your post I would buy the 8.5 ELs. But, going back and looking thru the 10x NLs is not a bad suggestion. I have owned ELs since 2004/5 and never felt I should have bought another set. And believe me I have had a lot of regrets……

 

[roweraay]

I believe around 2% of the population is affected by a queasy feel with binoculars having field flatteners, and the NL in particular is very aggressive with the flatteners. So I am not surprised with your reaction from the NL.

I myself am debating between the NL 12s, the SLC 10x56s and the SLC 15s. The NLs are certainly more pricey vis-a-vis the SLCs, but I am willing to pay that significant extra, if it is a one-and-done deal. We’ll see.