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Binoculars prices ???.


samboy
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Hi gang.

               Just been looking at at Swarovski NL Pure. £2450. How on earth can they be worth that sort of money or am i missing something ?.

                                                                                                                                                                                                   Thanks all.

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The three top 'names' (Leica, Swarovski and Zeiss) are all very expensive.   They are also very good.   It is a bit like a Rolex Watch, Mont Blanc pen, Rolls Royce car.  If you want 'the best' and will pay the money, those are (arguably) the names.  Something at half the price or less is very nearly as good ........... but doesn't have the name - and that can be the winning factor - where money comes easily.

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I have never owned a pair and at that sort of money I am never likely to, but I have been lucky enough to look through a pair from our local bird watcher , I have three pairs and my ( best ) ones are a pair of Pentax , these are plenty good enough for me and serve all my needs , when I looked through the bird watchers I honestly could not believe the power and the clarity of these top of the range binoculars , we were looking at some waders on the other side of the estuary , when I first looked I thought I was looking at the wrong birds , they looked a few feet away and you could see them probing the mud with there beaks , incredible , he also told me of a rare bird he had spotted a while back where he read the number from the ring that was on the birds leg and knew it was the same one that had been spotted up the coast a week or so earlier .

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7 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I have never owned a pair and at that sort of money I am never likely to, but I have been lucky enough to look through a pair from our local bird watcher , I have three pairs and my ( best ) ones are a pair of Pentax , these are plenty good enough for me and serve all my needs , when I looked through the bird watchers I honestly could not believe the power and the clarity of these top of the range binoculars , we were looking at some waders on the other side of the estuary , when I first looked I thought I was looking at the wrong birds , they looked a few feet away and you could see them probing the mud with there beaks , incredible , he also told me of a rare bird he had spotted a while back where he read the number from the ring that was on the birds leg and knew it was the same one that had been spotted up the coast a week or so earlier .

Not bad for the other side of your lounge let alone the estuary. 

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1 minute ago, oowee said:

Not bad for the other side of your lounge let alone the estuary. 

The bird in question was a Stork or one of the bigger birds and I am sure one of keen bird watchers on the forum would say this is quite possible :hmm:

He was also telling me that his telescope is more powerful than the binoculars , this I can't confirm as I haven't got a telescope and I didn't look through his , but I am sure one of our keen bird watchers can put us wise on that statement .

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I have a pair of Swaros purchased 30 years ago for £300 which I thought at the time was a bit over the top.  Recently I purchased a pair of Hawke for my wife and I honestly cannot tell the difference....only in the price I paid.

RIP OFF.

Edited by Walker570
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2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

He was also telling me that his telescope is more powerful than the binoculars , this I can't confirm as I haven't got a telescope and I didn't look through his , but I am sure one of our keen bird watchers can put us wise on that statement .

Binos are typically 8x, 10x, 12x or very occasionally 15x.

Birdwatching telescopes are often 'zoomable', but are say 25x to 50x (25 to 50 zoom) such as https://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/Leica-APO-Televid-82-Spotting-Scopes-with-2550x-WW-Asph-eyepiece-Angled which is a 'top of the range' model.

The famous stalking telescope is the "Gray" which is 25x  https://grahamsonline.co.uk/optics-c17/telescopes-c33/the-gray-co-stalking-telescope-p1021

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7 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I have a pair of Searos purchased 30 years ago for £300. I purchased a pair of Hawke for my wife and I honestly cannot tell the difference....only in the price I paid.

RIP OFF.

Feel your sentiments exactly walker but, comparing 30year old binoculars to (I assume)recent/new ones in my opinion isn’t really a fair comparison, the coatings alone that are used on the glass have likely changed a few times in 30 years let alone the rest of the materials contained within the product. Had the comparison been between 2022 swarros and 2022 hawke then it would be fair to pass the judgement. 
 

scope related :- my hawke scope is like looking through hd vision……untill I look through my friends swaro……completely different leagues and I know nothing about glass quality etc 

Edited by Spr1985
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10 minutes ago, marsh man said:

The bird in question was a Stork or one of the bigger birds and I am sure one of keen bird watchers on the forum would say this is quite possible 

He was also telling me that his telescope is more powerful than the binoculars , this I can't confirm as I haven't got a telescope and I didn't look through his , but I am sure one of our keen bird watchers can put us wise on that statement .

I am sure they are very good indeed the ones I have used are simply amazing but a lot is down to the mag. Anything above 10x and they need a tripod. 

Incidentally if you look through a meopta scope and compare that to a swaro at more than twice the price there is very little if any difference. I understand that they are made in the same factory? The new HD bino's are also a marked improvement on what has gone before. 

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1 minute ago, JohnfromUK said:

Binos are typically 8x, 10x, 12x or very occasionally 15x.

Birdwatching telescopes are often 'zoomable', but are say 25x to 50x (25 to 50 zoom) such as https://www.cliftoncameras.co.uk/Leica-APO-Televid-82-Spotting-Scopes-with-2550x-WW-Asph-eyepiece-Angled which is a 'top of the range' model.

The famous stalking telescope is the "Gray" which is 25x  https://grahamsonline.co.uk/optics-c17/telescopes-c33/the-gray-co-stalking-telescope-p1021

THANKS for update , very interesting .

When I say telescope I am talking about the ones they use on a tripod and I believe they look through the top , I take it you call these telescopes as well as the types stalkers use that are telescopic :hmm:

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36 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I have a pair of Swaros purchased 30 years ago for £300 which I thought at the time was a bit over the top.  Recently I purchased a pair of Hawke for my wife and I honestly cannot tell the difference....only in the price I paid.

RIP OFF.

But your what now Nev, 80 years old? So I doubt your eyes will notice the difference, and new Hawke bins are supposed to be pretty good, have they got ED glass?

My scopes all seem nice and clear, but when I take out my big binoculars it's like night and day, the clarity and colour my Zeis give is incredible ( but they are 12 x 50 and heavy),  so I'm sure a modern day pair of Swaro's would blow them away,  worth every penny if that's your thing.

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I realised the difference with the quality of optics on my 1st ever Deer stalking weekend, i had a £200 scope which i assumed would be up to the job, most cases it would be fine. But during the evening stalk i could make out the white rumps of a herd of Fallow, but could not decide if any shots were safe or not due to not being able to see what was behind. While all this was going on i heard a shot with a mate that had joined me for the weekend, he had managed to actually see what he was shooting at at grassed a nice Fallow. 

The lower cost Bino's are OK but have their limits, but you do have to have a budget depending on how much use they will get and how much you really need to make out the ring numbers from 1/2 a mile away. 

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Been at it a while and once the light goes beyond what I consider sensible then I pull the plug and go home.  Had a friend with all singing al, dancing scopes etc and we once said we believed he had headlights on his welloes. I worked my dogs a number of evenings trying to find deer he had shot at way beyond what I considered sensible. BUT thats another story altogether now we have the opportunity with thermals. Used a pair of thermal binos recently and  they where superb but over four grand,  As said you spends your money as you desire but I still cannot see a £2000 jump from my wifes Hawks to these high price untis is worth the while.

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I bought a pair of auto focus binos a few years ago and I find them great.I am not sure of the magnification or any of the details but I really like them. I think they were sold for watching horse racing so you didn't have to keep fiddling with the focus as the horses got nearer and further away. I really like that you just lift them up and everything is in focus.I know you can't zoom in to get really fine detail but for my stalking and other shooting I find them hard to beat. They cost me £80 but the company no longer is in business or I would buy another pair as a spare.

I was shooting with a friend in Jan and he had new Swaro binos costing the best part of £2k and when he compared the two he reckoned mine were clearer.I also have another friend who has Zeiss manual focus binos and he hates mine,says he can't get used to not zooming in to objects.

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Not long ago I bought a pair of the Vortex Diamondbacks, they have some HD but are not full HD the next model (Vipers) up are but double in price. the Diamondbacks are really clear and take in a lot of light so good in woodland, handy when the thermal picks something up but you cant identify it by naked eye, anyways I got these on sale price of £205 delivered, these are a massive improvement on my £80 pair that I have had for years.

I would find it hard to part with £2k for a pair of binos that for me would do the same job as these, but that said if I had the financial means and the need to see the detail and read a birds leg ring then maybe I would, but not looked through a top quality pair its hard for me to judge, and maybe I don't want to as it could cause me to start saving for sometime to purchase a pair.

Mick

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I still think that binoculars are a personal thing in that what make may suit one person, may not suit another. Hawke seem to be rated highly for ordinary usage ( not talking stalking or low light conditions here) but I have a pair of Bushnell 10x42 binos ( bought second hand off this forum) which I find far better than my Hawke ones. I certainly don’t need, nor could afford or justify spending hundreds of pounds on a pair.

As said, it is horses for courses and what suits.

OB

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I bought a pair (secondhand) for £35, which suited my (limited) needs fine. My friend had some Swarovskis which cost a couple of grand. His were better than mine, yes, but I certainly don't think they were hundreds of times better. They were noticeably better in lower light situations, he said, but I didn't compare at that time of day.

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I dare say the difference with mine and the top of the range ones are where I can see a small Brown bird at a fair distance with no markings, they can see all the minor details that can make a big difference between a fairly common bird , or one you are lucky to see one in a lifetime .

Mine are mainly used to spot Pigeon activity and not a rarity that is only seen once in a Blue moon , for what I paid I am happy to keep what I have got and spend any surplus money on cartridges which are nearly as dear now as the top of the range binoculars :good: 

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15 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I dare say the difference with mine and the top of the range ones are where I can see a small Brown bird at a fair distance with no markings, they can see all the minor details that can make a big difference between a fairly common bird , or one you are lucky to see one in a lifetime .

I suspect in fact that the main difference between 'good moderately priced' and 'top of the range' will be in the twilight performance (for a given size and magnification), and to a lesser extent, colour fringing (lack of) and consistent focus at the edges of the image etc.  Even quite modest modern binos are very effective in the middle of the image with plenty of light.  The high grade glass, nitrogen filling and high tech coatings on the optical parts are a part of what makes them so expensive.  Additionally expensive may well be lighter and better waterproofed etc.

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Pretty much the same with scopes, rifles, infact any walk of life, some brands will always be at the high end of the market. With binos and scopes it's a mix of the glass quality and the technology used, then if they throw in the range finding capabilities aswell, one thing I have found with the higher end of the bino market is that they are better at low light,they tend to be able to allow more light in at either end of the day.

And of course it will all boil down to your budget and if you want to have the big brand names. 

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1 hour ago, ShootingEgg said:

Pretty much the same with scopes, rifles, infact any walk of life, some brands will always be at the high end of the market. With binos and scopes it's a mix of the glass quality and the technology used, then if they throw in the range finding capabilities aswell, one thing I have found with the higher end of the bino market is that they are better at low light,they tend to be able to allow more light in at either end of the day.

And of course it will all boil down to your budget and if you want to have the big brand names. 

It's true some brands will inevitably be at the top of the market in price. There will likely be other brands that are at the top of the game in quality and function. Unfortunately punters often feel that when they have paid the most, for the brand they bought, that it must be the best.  Classic example is Harkilla. A quality product often at an exorbitant price. 

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