Talk me out of Swaro

[Hatchet Jack]

Having used them both in the field, I disagree with you 100%.. If you only get to hunt a week out of the year, why wouldn't you want every advantage. They can literally be the difference between failure and success.

Bingo. I work a 9-5, have 2 soon to be 3 young kids, and a very finite amount of time to be out glassing and hunting. Time is more of a limiting factor than money at least for what i like to do. I bought my Swarovksi EL 12x50s for $2k used. I've used them for a few years, and i'll use them for a bunch more years. And if i ever decide i need an extra 2 grand for groceries, i can have them sold in a day or two and not lose a dime. Kind of a no brainer really. I guess if you're not a big glasser then sure the chinese or other stuff will work.

 

[WRO]

If you are only hunting a week in the field statistically your odds of success will be very low to start. It can take some people a whole day to get their "glass eyes" as i call it and get your eyes use to the extensive glassing you would be doing.

Maybe your use is different than mine but to tell someone that the difference between failure and success is a swaro compared to a razor (or any bino in the $1000 category) would be extremely misleading.

A razor (again any bino in the $1000 category that i have looked through would be comparable in this example) will give you more than enough detail to find any deer glassing just as easy as any "alpha" glass. I will agree with your comment if you were to say a $1000 bino will be a difference compared to a $300 bino though.

Here is a simple example, Razors have a slight yellow tint to them I've seen it side by side be the difference between spotting a bedded deer and not. Also Razors have garbage edge to edge clarity compared to alpha glass which means you are effectively losing about 20% of your usable FOV which can make a difference.

Not to mention the whole QC issues which plague them, which means that there's a much better chance that you'll end up missing a few days of your hunt the BEST WARRANTY IN THE BUSINESS.

If we were talking best in class 1k glass like the meostar/nikon HG, I would have a much harder time making the argument although it's still a difference.

 

[JNDEER]

Here is a simple example, Razors have a slight yellow tint to them I've seen it side by side be the difference between spotting a bedded deer and not. Also Razors have garbage edge to edge clarity compared to alpha glass which means you are effectively losing about 20% of your usable FOV which can make a difference.

Not to mention the whole QC issues which plague them, which means that there's a much better chance that you'll end up missing a few days of your hunt the BEST WARRANTY IN THE BUSINESS.

If we were talking best in class 1k glass like the meostar/nikon HG, I would have a much harder time making the argument although it's still a difference.

We will agree to disagree. There are NO $1000 bino that hold the edge to edge like alpha glass- but they hold it well enough that to anyone who is not a casual hunter will not loose as much as you are trying to portray in your posts.

I discussed the yellow hue I saw in many of the Binos I tested when I made my purchase a few years back. The yellow hue is worse in Zeiss ht than in the razors.

My point was not to say razors are as good as slc. My point was if an average guy thinks the leap between the razors and slc is going to be a game changer- they are not. But that’s just my opinion - and we are all entitled to one.

 

[JNDEER]

Bingo. I work a 9-5, have 2 soon to be 3 young kids, and a very finite amount of time to be out glassing and hunting. Time is more of a limiting factor than money at least for what i like to do. I bought my Swarovksi EL 12x50s for $2k used. I've used them for a few years, and i'll use them for a bunch more years. And if i ever decide i need an extra 2 grand for groceries, i can have them sold in a day or two and not lose a dime. Kind of a no brainer really. I guess if you're not a big glasser then sure the chinese or other stuff will work.

Yep- if every hunter had an extra $2000 hanging from their money tree..with 3 kids at home and only hunting a few days a year.... Chinese glass wouldn’t exist.

 

[bozeman]

I will say from personal experience (not what my friend told me or I read on the internet) that I purposely try to spend a significant amount of time behind optics. I even posted my SLC's For Sale (here) after about 3 weeks of use, but within 10 mins regretted and closed the post. They are the BEST image I have ever looked through for any bino's...…...I am one of the lucky few who suffer from the rolling ball effect on the EL's and simply couldn't use them for long at all. To each their own, but once you own a pair for a few weeks and spend some time behind them, definitely hard to use anything else. Spread the cost out over 10 + years and its definitely an easy choice.

 

[WRO]

We will agree to disagree. There are NO $1000 bino that hold the edge to edge like alpha glass- but they hold it well enough that to anyone who is not a casual hunter will not loose as much as you are trying to portray in your posts.

I discussed the yellow hue I saw in many of the Binos I tested when I made my purchase a few years back. The yellow hue is worse in Zeiss ht than in the razors.

My point was not to say razors are as good as slc. My point was if an average guy thinks the leap between the razors and slc is going to be a game changer- they are not. But that’s just my opinion - and we are all entitled to one.

How much time have you spent behind the Monarch HG or the Meostar?

I owned a set of HT's for a year, I never saw yellow, plenty of blue though.

 

[JNDEER]

search the forum for my review. I don't recall off hand, but I think I had all the binos for 60 days (cabelas euro not the meostar). Nikon HG was not available then or if it was it was off my radar.

The original HT- but you will only see them really bring out the "yellow" if/when directly comparing them side by side with other bino's in its league.

I don't feel it right to get way off topic comparing how many days did you look through x binos, how many days do you hunt, etc. I gave my reasonable justification to "talk me out of a swaro" and we should leave it at that.

 

[jspradley]

I will say from personal experience (not what my friend told me or I read on the internet) that I purposely try to spend a significant amount of time behind optics. I even posted my SLC's For Sale (here) after about 3 weeks of use, but within 10 mins regretted and closed the post. They are the BEST image I have ever looked through for any bino's...…...I am one of the lucky few who suffer from the rolling ball effect on the EL's and simply couldn't use them for long at all. To each their own, but once you own a pair for a few weeks and spend some time behind them, definitely hard to use anything else. Spread the cost out over 10 + years and its definitely an easy choice.

What's the rolling ball effect?

 

[bozeman]

Best way I can describe it is I get a ‘dizzy’ feeling. I couldn’t figure out what it was and started researching. I’ve had LASIK and have also developed an astigmatism. I am one of the unlucky few. But the SLCs are superb.