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BUYING HUNTING BINOCULARS |
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John Barsness 
Optics Optimist 
Joined: January/27/2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 679 |
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 Topic: BUYING HUNTING BINOCULARSPosted: September/11/2009 at 15:05 |
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The only thing I know for sure is that Meopta makes most of the lenses for the Zeiss Conquest riflescopes. Zeiss makes the erector lenses and tube, Meopta makes the rest of the lenses and scope tube, adjustment parts, etc. Or at least that is what the people told me when I inquired.
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John Barsness
Optics Optimist
Joined: January/27/2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 679 |
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Posted: September/11/2009 at 15:23 |
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Would also like to comment that I am not totally sure that all the alphas are tougher than lesser-priced binoculars. This is based on some personal experience as well as a lot of contact with sporting goods dealers, North American guides and African professional hunters. Right now my personal choices as the very best buys are the top Zen Rays and Hawkes in the sub-$500 class, and the Meopta Meostars in the sub-$1000 class. I have used the Zen Rays and Hawkes a lot lately (and the Zen Rays recently for 10 days in Alaska) and have had no problems, but have used a 10x42 Meostar for several years on three continents, and they are about as tough as binoculars get. But I have used a bunch of supposedly sub-alpha binoculars from other companies such as Alpen, Bushnell, Leupold, Nikon, Pentax, Weaver, etc. as well. And in a year or two the market will change.
One thing that I didn't mention in the article is that some binoculars simply do not mesh well with some users. One of my favorites is a Nikon Premier 8x32 that I've used hard for a number of years now. A friend bought one because of my recommendation, and for some reason they simply did not suit his eyes at all and he had to return them. In fact I believe he tried two, thinking the first must have been defective.
We are all different in terms of binocular fit, color perception and the "feel" of binoculars, so the ideal situation is to find a store that stocks a lot of binoculars and hold and look through them all. That is often impossible, however, so the next best thing is to order a binocular in your price range from a repurable company such as SWFA that is willing to take returns and see if it works.
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RifleDude
Optics Jedi Knight
Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 6108 |
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Posted: September/11/2009 at 15:55 |
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pahuntnut, If I were you, I would buy either the Meopta Meostar 8X42 or the Vortex Razor 8X42, and would base the decision on which one you prefer ergonomically. You probably won't notice a significant difference optically. I personally like the Razor slightly better because it has a little better CA control, a little more neutral color rendition, it's about $150 less expensive, and I like the eyecups better. However, the Meostar has the appearance of maybe being more ruggedly built, having similar construction and heft as the Leica Trinovids and Swaro SLCs. The Zen, Hawke, and Promaster ED bins are unbeatable in their price range, but I slightly prefer the image through the Meostar and Razor, both of which have a sharper field edge and greater depth of field.
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Ted
You can tell a lot about a fellow's character by his way of eating jellybeans. -- Ronald Reagan |
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pahuntnut
Optics Apprentice 
Joined: March/20/2008 Location: Pa Usa Online Status: Offline Posts: 65 |
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Posted: September/11/2009 at 18:16 |
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I own Monarchs in 8x42 and really like them. What started all this is an upcoming elk hunt werer i will be in a drop camp and all transportation will be on foot. so I started to look for a more compact glass. But the companies i have it narrowed down to are Meopta, vortex, and Zens.
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FrankD
Optics Journeyman 
Joined: November/11/2005 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 416 |
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Posted: September/12/2009 at 09:02 |
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This is easily my favorite current optics thread in any forum.
Very well done article John. I happen to read this after replying to PaHuntnut and his question about selling an Alpha for something less expensvie.
Everything said here in this thread coincides perfectly with my own findings. In my opinion for 99% of the users out there in any activity the likes of the open-bridge ED binoculars such as the Hawke Frontier ED, Zen Ray ED2, Promaster Infiniti Elite ELX, Atlas Optics Intrepid and the Meopta Meostars truly represent the best overall values out there right now. Their optical performance is so good at any price that it is hard to justify spending any more.
I am on a bit of a Meopta-kick at the moment as I have their 8x32s, 8x42s, 10x50s and 8x56s on hand. I am hoping to do a bit of a comparative piece on them.
More to follow.
;) Edited by FrankD - September/12/2009 at 09:04 |
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Frank
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D. Bravo
Optics GrassHopper
Joined: December/16/2007 Location: Minnesota Online Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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Posted: September/12/2009 at 15:09 |
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I read an article by Ron Spomer one time that stated ED glass would only show an improvement over regular glass in the power range of 15 or above. Does anyone (Koshkin) have a comment about that? I purchased the 8X42 razors after reading the evaluations on this forum and I like them. I had been looking at the Swaros EL, not that I could afford them, but I liked the design and she didn't even buy the " I saved $800.00 defense. I guess Mercedes and Jaguar are something she can get more use out of.
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koshkin
Optics Jedi Knight
Dark Lord of Optics Joined: June/15/2004 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 5249 |
Quote Reply
Posted: September/12/2009 at 15:16 |
Mr Spomer was over simplifying things a bit. The higher the magnification the more difficult it is to control chromatic aberration. However, properly utilized ED glass has an effect at lower magnifications as well and that effect is noticeable. Perhaps, most importantly, usage of ED glass often allows for fewer optical elements in the design makng the overall piece lighter and easier to build. ILya
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www.kitchentabletopics.com
Those who are merciful to the cruel, are cruel to the merciful. Talmud |
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FrankD
Optics Journeyman
Joined: November/11/2005 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 416 |
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Posted: September/12/2009 at 19:35 |
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Ditto on ILya's comments. The benefits of ED glass are more pronounced optically as you move up the magnification range but even using ED/FL glass in a 7x binocular can show a marked improvement over the same binocular without it. These improvements typically come in the form of increased contrast, color representation and apparent sharpness.
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Frank
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John Barsness
Optics Optimist
Joined: January/27/2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 679 |
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Posted: September/12/2009 at 21:11 |
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I would, however, agree with Spomer that the difference is minimal in lower-magnification glass. In fact I would debate its practical difference in most binoulars. |
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koshkin
Optics Jedi Knight
Dark Lord of Optics Joined: June/15/2004 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 5249 |
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Posted: September/12/2009 at 23:13 |
It is pretty dificult to debate how useful ED glass is since adding it introduces pretty significant design differences. It is not as if you can take a non-ED design and simply swap one of the components out and replace with an ED lens. ILya
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www.kitchentabletopics.com
Those who are merciful to the cruel, are cruel to the merciful. Talmud |
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FrankD
Optics Journeyman
Joined: November/11/2005 Location: United States Online Status: Offline Posts: 416 |
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Posted: September/13/2009 at 14:27 |
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I think the Swift Audubon 820s would probably be the closest binocular you could do this type of comparison with...ED vs. non-ED. I have heard mixed comments on the issue so I look forward to trying the comparison for myself.
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Frank
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Acenturian
Optics Journeyman
Joined: September/07/2004 Online Status: Offline Posts: 532 |
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Posted: September/14/2009 at 03:49 |
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Well I own both the Swift Audubon 820's one non-ED which I gave to my father and I kept the ED version. The non-ed glass gives you a bit brighter image. The ED version is a tad darker image but eliminates CA, which I am pretty sensitive to. That is why I kept that pair, well that and the fact that the black body looks better then the gray in my opionion. Both are fantasic binoculars and darn close to any alpha glass out there.
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