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Should I make the leap and get a Swarovski? |
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Cooper25
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/01/2010 Location: MN Status: Offline Points: 50 |
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Posted: December/06/2011 at 14:15 |
Alright I am in a position to move up to a Swarovski Z5. (Thinkin 3.5-18) Best scope I have now I would say is my elite 6500 Thoughts?
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Jeff
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BeltFed
Optics Retard Joined: February/12/2008 Location: Ky Status: Offline Points: 22287 |
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If you can afford it, why ask me, go for it.
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Life's concerns should be about the 120lb pack your trying to get to the top of the mountain, and not the rock in your boot.
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JGRaider
Optics Master Joined: February/06/2008 Status: Offline Points: 1540 |
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What are you hoping to gain by doing that? Just curious.
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Cooper25
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/01/2010 Location: MN Status: Offline Points: 50 |
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A top of the line scope, would think they would be better all around. Not for sure going to do it, truth be told my scopes have met my needs. Am hoping to hear from some owners who can tell me the advantages I would gain by doing so. I have only looked at them in bright sunshine and not a whole lot of difference under those conditions. But I doubt if anyone will let me hunt and shoot them for a month or two and then decide if I want it or not, so hoping some of you can help me outwith info
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Jeff
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bugsNbows
Optics God bowsNbugs Joined: March/10/2008 Location: North Georgia Status: Offline Points: 11201 |
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Be very careful....you may become spoiled and an optics snob! LOL. Kidding aside, go for it.
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If we're not suppose to eat animals...how come they're made of meat?
Anomymous |
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supertool73
Optics God Superstool Joined: January/03/2008 Status: Offline Points: 11814 |
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I have a Z6 1.7-10x. It is by far the finest hunting scope I own. Optics are flat out amazing, mag range and FOV are excellent.
Comparing it to a Bushnell 4200 the Swaro has a very nice glass upgrade and with the 1.7x bottom end the FOV is just awesome vs the 3x on my 4200. I have no regrets for buying it. |
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Lifetime warranty and excellent customer service don't mean a thing when your gun fails during a zombie attack.
"A Liberal is a person who will give away everything they don't own." |
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31 bertram
Optics Apprentice Joined: January/15/2011 Location: Gulf Shores, Al Status: Offline Points: 57 |
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Don't do it, you may never post again.
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31 bertram
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coyote95
Optics Master Joined: January/24/2009 Location: michigan Status: Offline Points: 1196 |
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Do it! Do it! Take the leap.
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"Life is like riding a bicycle . To keep balance you must keep moving" Albert Einstein
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brodeur272
Optics Journeyman Joined: September/23/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 609 |
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Took the leap with Kahles first, then Swaro. Then picked up a used Diavari. Shop around and look for one on the Sample List or a gently used one. They are worth the money. The CS is great and in the US. I don't regret the purchases.
Go for it...
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jehu
Optics GrassHopper Joined: November/02/2011 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 41 |
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I have 2 Z6 3-12X50, 1 3-10X42 Z3, 1 PH 4-16X50 mounted on various varmint and deer rifles. At 12 o'clock noon on any given day most people are opticly equal with decent scopes but at 5:15pm with very little light left the Swaro's will give you a huge advantage. My son killed a deer the other night at 150yds with the Z3 just before legal shooting hours were to end. If it had not been for Swaro bino's and the Swaro scope we wuold not have even known the deer was there. It was a very cloudy day which lessened light early. Get the Swaro scope and you will never regret it.
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bird_hunter66
Optics Apprentice Joined: September/29/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 88 |
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The Swarovski will give you about 30 more minutes of hunting time then most other scopes. I bought a pair of SLC Swarovski binoculars three years ago and its amazing how much better they were they the Kahles that I had been using. This year I bought a Z3 4x12x50 scope after having Leupolds for years and there is a big difference. The glass is simply amazing. Go for it and don't look back.
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D. Holmes
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coldhunt
Optics Apprentice Joined: March/19/2011 Status: Offline Points: 117 |
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You will never go wrong with a swaro, but the 6500 is no slouch either. For a fraction of the price the conquest, minox, trijicon, SS, and a raft of others will take any hunter past legal light quite well. I am starting to believe that the marketing adds more value than the real extra optical gain. If money is not a factor get the swaro, and please send me the 6500 for x-mas. There is no doubt that the swaros are in the top of the class. Unlike jehu I don't see the huge advantage in legal light situations. I took a deer a couple of years ago, right at the closing bell for legal light with my Nikon monarch 2.5-10 @ well over 250 yds, and I could see him plain as day. I also used my burris 8x42 binos to glass it. The swaros will give you an opitcal advantage, but not a huge advantage, vs the huge cost difference. IMOThis year I had my burris 2-12 on a real nice buck at about 10 minutes after legal light, at a ranged 310 yds. I easily could have but wouldn't, I just wanted to see how well the new scope would perform in low light. It did very well on a very cloudy evening.
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trigger29
Optics Master Extraordinaire X = 180 Y = 90 (X+Pyro)+(Y-Pyro) = ? Joined: September/29/2007 Location: South Dakota Status: Offline Points: 4353 |
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To me the available light at the end of legal shooting time are dependant on some geographic features. In the SD plains when shooting time ends 1/2 hour after sunset I can EASILY see anything I want within logical shooting ranges with my Conquest. On the other hand, in the Black Hills when I hunted in the mountains, in thick pine trees, at 1/2 hour after sunset its DARK!! Like pitch black.......Dark thirty. I left camp right at legal shooting time, drove 10 minutes to where I was going to hunt, and walked in to where I was going to sit. I pulled up my scope to look across an opening to the trees on the other side, and could see nothing........ So if you hunt somewhere where there is mountains, and/or very dense trees, the better glass could show a real benefit. I picked out the deer that I shot that morning with my Leica Geovids way before I could see anything with the naked eye. I had to wait a couple minutes too see it clearly enough in the scope to know which end to shoot at. After the shot, I realized it was still too dark to see where it was standing without optics.
But if your 6500 has served you until the end of legal light, the only thing to gain from the Swaro would be more resolution in the last minutes of light, which could be handy for sizing up bucks, counting points, ect.
Having said that, if I wanted one, and had the money to buy it.......I would just buy it, because wanting one is justification enough for me.
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"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." |
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Stud Duck
Optics Journeyman Joined: May/20/2005 Location: WV Status: Offline Points: 508 |
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This is the truth if I've ever read it!
I've never owned a Swaro scope, but I've had/have two pairs of their older SLC binoculars. I would like to purchase a Z3 while on sale, but I'm saving for a hunt; my Leupolds and Bushnell 4200's will have to do a few more years.
Good luck with your purchase. Edited by Stud Duck - December/07/2011 at 09:29 |
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Cooper25
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/01/2010 Location: MN Status: Offline Points: 50 |
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Thanks for all the good info. Am gonna go look through some scopes today or tomorrow right after sundown and make the comparison. I am blind in one eye so at dawn and dusk, I am looking through my scopes or binos alot because they all give me more time than just my one old good eye.
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Jeff
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31 bertram
Optics Apprentice Joined: January/15/2011 Location: Gulf Shores, Al Status: Offline Points: 57 |
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In Alabama, the brightest scope is the name of the game as those sneaky deer have adapted to coming out and moving at minimal light conditions and they are getting smarter every year.
I will probably get laughed off this board but the most amazing brightest scope I've ever seen is a Simmons Whitetail Expedition, these were not Wal-Mart blister pack scopes and were only made for a very short time. You can find them on auctions occaisionaly but they ain't cheap.
I've shot several deer when it was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Good optics are never a mistake, I'd get the most scope you can without breaking the bank.
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31 bertram
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jehu
Optics GrassHopper Joined: November/02/2011 Location: USA Status: Offline Points: 41 |
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Very good deals can be found on Ebay and other such sites on barely used Swarovski scopes. The Z3 3-10X42 cost me $600 from a dealer who needed cash and it was new in box, the look on my 14yr old sons face when we found the deer, priceless!! I don't doubt there are other scope brands that will get the job done but if you've only got 2 weeks a year to do the job get and use the best equipment you can afford. When he shot the deer he could see it very clearly for the shot so good that he made a very good double lung hit. Without these optics we would not have had a successful hunt, so as to the OP's original question I say get the Swaro. scope.
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cbm
Optics Journeyman Joined: January/11/2008 Location: SC Status: Offline Points: 580 |
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I have owned a Swaro PV 3-12X50, Zeiss Diavari 3-9x42, and a Kahles Helia C 3-12X56.
I currently have a very bright set of Zeiss Dialyt 7x42 bino's and Leica Ultravid 10x42 binos. I sold all of the above scopes and now have mostly Conquests, a couple of 4200's, and a 6500. I also recently sold a rifle with a Weaver Classic Extreme that was just as good.
Like everyone has said (and I have been looking at alpha class scopes again for some reason), during most legal hunting light the scopes I have had recently have been all I needed. Actually they are fine a good bit after legal shooting light. When most people are loading up and driving out of the woods, I can still sit for 20-30 minutes if I wanted too. My binoculars will tell me eveything I need to know about what I want to shoot if I wanted to and my scope is just the tool I need for the rifle to do it's job. Which all of the scopes I have mentioned will do that for me, just fine.
I am not advocating doing anything illegal. But I really don't see where alpha class scopes are really needed unless you are hunting way before or after dark. And "yes" you can make out deer in very very very dark fields with alpha class scopes way when you shouldn't be out there, but even then, I can't judge rack size or how many points, etc. Might not be able to tell bucks from doe's even. Main reason I sold mine and upgraded rifles.
Some people make you feel like a 56mm Zeiss Diavari is like looking through night vision or something and the truth is ..........it's still dark. You may be able to make things out you would never see with a Conquest or 6500, but it's still freakin dark. That alpha glass is nice though and has great resolution and all kinds of minor things that add up "if"you can afford it.But I would get killer binoculars first and then move on to a high end scope if you feel like you need it.
I am about to put together another rifle and going through all of these thoughts again, but will probably put on of my 4200's on it and be done with it !! My binoculars are as good in low light as anything I have looked through and I still can't tell a whole lot about a deer after dark 30.
There are things like: It is legal to hunt over corn in SC. When I get in the stand sometimes I can make out corn and tell if any is still out there with my Bino's but my scopes are barely visible. I can even see the yellow color of the corn with my bino's which something none of my scopes have been able to do. My alpha class scopes would have probably been close to my bino's(the Kahles definately was as far as clarity in the dark). But like I said..........might be way before daylight and I am just sitting waiting. By the time the sun starts easing up and I can start seeing across a field at all with my naked eye.........any of the scopes I have mentioned will work fine.
Another thing........my Dad bought a pair of Bushnell legend 10x42 bino's last year. We hunted together one evening and started comparing bino's at dark. His were as bright as my Leica's. They just looked hazey looking and I could see the whole field and a deer if it walked out but it was just not as sharp and clear as mine. I could still see individual leaves on trees and his was more of just a bunch of leaves. He said he would never pay the kind of money I did for bino's. And I was kind of like, well, glad I had extra that year but if things were tougher I could get by fine with his bino's ! Edited by cbm - December/07/2011 at 14:54 |
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tahqua
MODERATOR Have You Driven A Ford Lately? Joined: March/27/2006 Location: Michigan, USA Status: Online Points: 9044 |
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Excellent glass is not just about low light performance. The high resolution also let's me see obstructions in and out of cover that could cause a wounded animal from a deflected shot. Lesser scopes just don't do it. Yes, Bushnell, Nikon and Leupold all make fine scopes for most hunters needs. In the northern forests with mixed cover I hunt, I'll take alpha class. Edited by tahqua - December/07/2011 at 16:03 |
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Doug
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cbm
Optics Journeyman Joined: January/11/2008 Location: SC Status: Offline Points: 580 |
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True. I guess in the south we do a lot of field/food plot hunting.
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