Binos

Can't afford Swaro's. Looking at Ziess vs Steiners vs Maven. I have Leupold McKenzies right now and boy are they terrible. What do you say?

I agree the Leopold McKenzies are terrible. I have the same ones

Look at meopta binos

I second the Meopta. Great glass for the money.

I have the Meopta binoculars as well. Talk to Doug at NY Cameraland and see what he has to say.

coin toss between Maven and Meopta. I can attest to Maven’s warranty after a full send diwn a mountain face.

checkout Vortex's HD

Gotta say.......check out the Vortex Razor HD on Cabelas site. It's $699 on sale, if you buy it on Monday (today) you get another 15% off, making it $595 or so.....an absolute steal.

Big fan of my Maven B6, Best glass I’ve looked through that wasn’t swaro, deals can be found if you look.

Zeiss.

Just get some used Zeiss, Leica, or Swarovski.

Vortex is hard to beat for the price.

Range finders built in are a plus.

This is a good idea, they will warranty their products even if used.
I bought used Swaro SLCs about 25 years go and still use them. Sent them in for new glass , expecting to pay for that service and they did it for free as they found a defect in the glass.

Steiner all the way for me

But, there’s a lot of good glass out there.

https://cameralandny.com/shop/brand...0133-ed60-00163e9110c0?variation=1210351

These are fantastic for the money.

They are very similar to my Leupold BX-5 Santiams which I am happy with.

Unless it pertains to the new Leicas bought in the past couple of years, the Leica warranty is for the original owner only and non transferrable. Zeiss customer service absolutely sucks nowadays. If you're bound and determined to own an alpha, Swaro rules.

Sux to hear about Zeiss, my compact Leicas haven't had an issue but are rarely used- archery elk hunting mostly, and about 30 years old.
Swaro has treated us right and no issues for about 25+ years now.

Warranty is important for any brand. Can't say now I would go with Zeiss.

The Mavens and Meoptas have been getting good reccs on other forums too.
I have had Steiners, not a big fan but know folks that love them.
Have a pair of older Leupold gold rings porro prisms that are good glass.

I guess I got lucky when I bought my used Swaro 10x42 SLCs in the bargain cave. Haven' t had a need to upgrade and they haven't had any issues other than the new glass right after I bought them. They were half of new cost back then used.
Glass has made huge improvements, looks like mid range is much better now than years back.

Try to at least go look through some before you buy. Some great binos just don't work for some people due to their eyesight, etc.

I bought a set of Steiner 12x42 Predators in 2009, I use nothing else. Really clear and sharp, even at long distances. Bushnell has come out with a decent set of binos now as well.

I dropped my Zeiss Conquest binocular on a hard surface and damaged it a few weeks ago. Zeiss repaired it for free even after I told them it was 100% my fault.

I love my Steiners as much as my Zeiss

now a days every company’s warranty policy should be no fault replacement, as its pretty much industry standard. love or hate, Vortex pretty much set the CS and warranty standard.

Ive used warranty on the below, and the biggest difference was turn around time, except swaro, they said sorry but not sorry.

maven- full replacement -5 days
Vortex -full replacement - 14 days
Leupold -full replacement 20 days
Zeiss- full replacement of discounted model with a soon to be discontinued model- little over a 1 month
Swaro- no longer support, wont fix.


Maven has been the best CS I have ever delt with, but they are also the smallest company above and are direct to consumer

German or Austrian glass period.

That may have been true about 10 years ago. Today....not so much, especially since the glass makers lke Schott have factories in Asia, including China. The Japs make world class glass as well.

Steiner has been my favorites for a while. I've looked at others over the years, but still have my steiners. For most hunting purposes I have 8x30's in my bag and in the hunting truck. In my daily truck, I have some older 12x Leupolds, generally need a little more reach from the truck than from the blind.

I very rarely need any company support for optics. I own and use everything on your list except Vortex. I will never own another one of their products.

I have more faith in razor line of Vortex than any thing leupold. Sending Vx5HD 3-15 back next week

I got the maven 10x42, the B1 model. Been very pleased. Good in low light and no fog issues. Leupolds we’re constantly fogging. 3-400 yds is all I need with good low light capabilities.

You and me both. The Razor HD binos are excellent as well.

I consider them hit or miss but I don't doubt you. I primarily use optics made in Germany or Austria.

Sold a pair of Steiner Predators a few years back and replaced with Leupold that are complete junk. Would give anything to have my Steiners back.

I came here to say the same thing. I have a pair of 25 year old Zeiss as a backups and 15 year old Swaros that are my regular binos. Both are still excellent. I'll upgrade in a few years to some rangefinding binos, and those will be Zeiss, Leica, or Swarovski.

I have a buddy who is a very cheap. He went through 3 different low end brands before finally getting some Steiners that he likes. They're not bad, but no where near as good in low light conditions as the Big 3.

I previously had some Leupold scopes on 3 guns. I always HATED them- bought them with bad advice from my BIL. Got rid of those scopes and replaced them with Zeiss and Swaros. Makes such a huge difference.

EuroOptic and even Ebay have deals on display models. I have done that 3 times and the scopes arrived in like-new condition. Go with cash and check out the EuroOptic booth at DSC on Sunday- I've had luck dealing with them on the last day of the show.

The gap is narrowing every day between the alpha stuff and $1000 class glass. $500 glass is better than the alpha stuff was 20 years ago. I quite chasing absolute top end performance a short few years ago when I figured that out.

That's good to know. I try to never pay full retail MSRP, but that's something to take into account going forward.

Son got me the Sig low end (buckmaster) binos a few yrs ago. Glass is actually very good/clear, equal to SIL's Nikon stuff. 10x and good for 4-500 yds. Much better than my 30 yr old Bushnells. Unfortunately the caps don't stay on well.

direct to consumer model leveled the playing field, no longer retailer margin needed.

Maven, Tract, and GPO have really closed the performance gap.