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This is my first attempt at doing a detailed review of anything. Please tell me what you think!

Cabela’s Euro HD/Meopta Meostar 10x42mm HD Review

Branding and price class:

There seems to be a little bit of trepidation buying a big box store branded optic, or other hunting related item. Usually they are of Chinese manufacture, mediocre quality, and are heavily marketed by the big box store due to higher profit margins on store branded merchandise. The reality, in the binocular world, is that almost every low-mid priced binocular is made by a handful of Asian manufacturers and companies simply stick their name on the item. Often, some optically identical binoculars can be found under several brand names. Items like the Nikon Monarch, Zeiss Terra and Vortex Viper ect. are not made by Zeiss or Nikon themselves, but by a Chinese manufacturer to Zeiss/Vortex/Nikon’s spec and badged under their name. Cabela’s did the same sort of thing with their Euro HD line of optics, but instead of going to China, they went to Meopta in the Czech Republic. In the case of the Euro HD 10x42mm, it is completely identical to the Meostar 10x42mm HD, save for badging and slight armour differences. Meopta does not rebadge Chinese manufactured products; but, like Zeiss, Nikon and Leica’s higher end lines, and all Swarovskis, they are made in house. Since the two versions are identical, this review can be considered valid for either model. Although both models retail for $1199.99 USD, the Cabela’s model has the advantage of going on sale for $150-$250 fairly often. This price range puts them in competition with the Zeiss Conquest HD ($999 USD), Leica Trinovid HD ($999 USD), Vortex Razor HD ($1199.99 USD). This level is generally regarded as pretty darn close to top tier “alpha” glass, while being about half the cost.

The binocular, strap and case:



A label on the box, Obviously a rebadged Meopta Meostar:



Opening the box and first impressions:

I once read a review on the Zeiss SF that really complemented the design of the box the binocular came in. I for one don’t care too much about the box beyond its ability to safely deliver the optic to the customer. Inside were the usual documents, a quality Meopta branded cleaning cloth, a neck strap, case and the binoculars. The neck strap is a fat Neoprene strap with large air cells that provide a bunch of padding along with ventilation. It is long and adjustable enough to use the binos around your neck, or slung over your shoulder and across your chest. The air cells make the strap extremely comfy, in fact it is the best carrying strap I have ever seen come with binoculars, a camera or anything of that nature. This is probably of little use to most serious hunters as I’m sure most of you use a 3rd party bino harness. The case is vintage looking wool. I love the vintage look, but the wool attracts leaves and grass. I also don’t use the case for much more than storage, but it is very functional, stylish and has a silent fastener. The rain guard and objective covers are quality and stay on very well. They are very supple, which does make it possible to touch your objective while putting on the covers, so be careful!
The binoculars themselves feel quite heavy for their size, but you can immediately tell they are rugged and well made. Placing them to one’s eyes you instantly notice that bright, saturated and sharp view that you get when you look through alpha glass. Instantly you know that you are really going to have to work to pick apart optical flaws that separate this bino from the absolute best on the market.

Specs and ergonomics:

The specs for the Euro HD are quite comparable to the other binos in its price class. The FOV is 109.56m @ 1000m, which is competitive. The eye relief is 15mm, which is just long enough for me to get the full field of view with my glasses. If your glasses sit further away from your face than mine do, you may have to look at another model (The Conquest HD has longer ER). Of course if you don’t wear glasses this spec means nothing. The spec that should draw your attention is this binocular’s weight. Some sites list it as 27 oz, but this is wrong. It is 31 oz, or 33.7 oz with rain guard, obj covers and strap ends. This is quite heavy for a 10x42mm and is due to the aluminum chassis and thick armour. This may be a deal breaker for some. Most competitive binoculars in 10x42mm format weigh 25-28 oz, with some cheaper poly carbonate models weighing as little as 21 oz.
The binocular compensates for is portly scale reading by being a fair amount shorter than the competing models. The thick rubber armouring also makes it quite wide though. Holding the binoculars in your hand for long periods of time is easily done and I find them very comfortable binoculars to use. The weight steadies them, the large barrel gives my large hands a comfortable grip and they are very well balanced. There is a thumb cutout underneath the barrel on the Cabela’s branded bino, but not the Meopta version. This is about the only functional difference between the two. The focuser is superb for a hunting bino! It takes 1.75 turns end to end, has zero backlash and is slightly stiffer than most birding binos. I like this for hunting because your focus doesn’t change when you set the bino down to check your range, grab a snack ect. Which is nice when you are looking at one distance for a long period of time, like we do while hunting. The eyecups are well made and appropriately sized. They do not have any intermediate click stops from fully retracted to fully extended, but they have enough “sticktion” that they do not move when you place your eyes to them in an intermediate position. The eyecups screw off for easy cleaning in the same way that Swarovskis do. The diopter adjustment is a click stop wheel in front of the focus wheel. It is easier to adjust than a traditional version, but I feared it would adjust too easily by being handled and riding in a pack. Well it sat in the top of a pack for three days and 55 km of walking without moving so these fears were unfounded. For how often one adjusts a diopter (almost never) I don’t see much utility in the new position, but it doesn’t detract in any way either. In conclusion, the binoculars are heavy, but make up for it by being very ergonomic and extremely rugged feeling. If you threw every mass produced roof prism bino into a canyon I bet this one would take the least damage. As for damage, the binocular comes with a lifetime warranty through Cabela’s. Apparently they are easy to deal with, but the warranty card does say that you need to retain your receipt, which is kind of ridiculous for a product that should last decades. There is also the off chance that Cabela’s could go under. On the other hand, these would be serviceable by Meopta if Cabela’s can’t help you.

Optics:

A short summary on the optics would be: suberb! For those of you that have used Swarovski 10x42mm SLC HDs the view is almost identical. I’ll review the optical quality by looking at: Chromatic aberration, other aberrations, field curvature, distortion and colour saturation/fidelity.
Meopta did a good job picking a glass and working on the objective design as this binocular has essentially no noticeable chromatic aberration. I looked for it in a couple high contrast situations: a brightly lit snow patch on a dark mountain side, the moon in a dark sky and birds on branches backlit by a bright, overcast sky. In all cases I don’t think I could see any. Maybe a slight cast of purple on the moon. This is one area where good binoculars have really improved in the last 10 years. As for other the other aberrations (astigmatism, coma and spherical aberration) I am not good enough at testing optics to tell these three apart at 10 power, but the image is extremely sharp to the edge. A slight softening in the outer 20% of the FOV, not quite at Swarovski EL SV level, but I honestly believe they are on par with the SLC HDs in this department. The binoculars’ control over aberrations leads to superb resolution. Doing a test with a tripod in the store I could not tell a difference in resolution between the Euro HD and the Zeiss SF and Swarovski EL SV. Maybe with lots of time, and a magnifying optic, you could see more resolution in the top shelf offerings. As for field curvature, I have young eyes and as such can compensate naturally for a bit of field curvature. I notice none in this binocular. I have seen it speculated on other web forums that Meopta added a field flattening lens in the design, but it is not marketed. Regardless, it has a very flat field. Distortion may be where this binocular gets picked over for another one. As the reader most likely knows, distortion does not affect “sharpness” and most manufacturers add pincushion distortion to avoid the “rolling ball” effect while the user is panning the binocular. (rectilinear distortion v. angular magnification distortion) Some users are sensitive to the rolling ball effect and some users are sensitive to pincushion. The Euro HD has a rather high, in comparison to others in its price range, amount of pincushion distortion. I for one am not sensitive to pincushion as I don’t find too many straight lines in nature. Others may differ and if pincushion bothers you, you should definitely try this model before buying to see if you think it is too much. Colour rendition is slightly warm with the Meopta, this is fairly typical for most Meopta models from what I have read. I hope it is from the coatings boosting transmission in the longer end of the light spectrum, as this helps hunters at last light; but, that is conjecture as I have never seen a transmission graph for the HD version of this binocular. The colours appear very saturated and accurate, this is one reason for the “oh wow” one gets when looking through high end binoculars and you definitely see this effect with these. As I said at the start of this section, the view is very much like the Swarovski SLC HDs. One would really have to try and find a difference, aside from a bit more pincushion with the Euro HD. Glare control on the Euro HD is average for the price range. The inside is well blackened, but I think the objectives being a little bit more deeply set in the barrel would help it in this regard; of course that would also make the unit longer. It controls stray light better than cheaper models, but no better than any of its direct competition.

Conclusion:

This review is not meant to directly compare the Euro HD to any specific model. But if a quick comparison must be made to its direct competition (Conquest HD and Razor HD (I have not used the new Trinovid HD)). I believe the optics have a slight, but noticeable, edge over competing models unless you are sensitive to pincushion. The binocular does weight more, but has very good ergonomics. As a whole the Euro HD/Meostar combines fantastic optical quality with a rugged design, making it a superb choice for a hunting binocular. Keep an eye out for these on sale at Cabela’s, or get the Meopta version if you are concerned about the Cabela’s warranty.

Nice review. I would agree it is great glass. Second guessing why I sold them.

Seems like a decent review, but I'd suggest using paragraphs so that your readers don't have to look at huge blocks of text.

Good point. The copy paste from MS Word to here destroyed some of my formatting.

Excellent Review ....much better than I read in most Magazines ! When I first started reading , I thought : oh boy , here comes another ..... " I looked at a cow at 500 Yards and the image sure looked good " . Your Review was very detailed and I liked your technical comparisons. I look forward to your future Reports .

Thanks!

That is a pet peeve of mine in genreral on both hunting forums and store website reviews. Tonnes of people who give favorable reviews really have no idea how to evaluate optics.

Excellent, and I agree with one major point. Having owned the Swaro SLC HD and Meopta 10x42HD's at the same time, I had them side by side many times and could see zero difference in the view. I prefer the SLC's ergos and resale value in case you ever want to sell them. I also think the Meopta's have more rugged build quality.

You can't go wrong with most anything Meopta that I've seen.

Sillyak,



Welcome to the fire. I'm one of those who "have no idea how to evaluate optics" but do it all the time. I may give a good report, but it is only because I like what I see. Otherwise I irritate some folks here by giving a bad report about their favorite optic. I compare them for my fun and share them for others who may not have the money to buy some of the stuff I have.

Don't get me wrong. The stuff I buy I have to save for. Therefore I'm not about to keep a scope or binocular just because folks here at the fire really like one.

Last year I took a Swarovski z5 5-25X52 and a Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50 to a buddies house. I also took an eye chart. He hunts three states every year so he can usually afford what he wants. After he brought out what he was using and compared them to what I brought, he replaced his elk rifle scope with a Bushnell 6500 4 1/2-30X50.

Rifle scopes are a whole different beast. With rifle scopes, on-axis resolution and contrast is the chief concern; even at that, the mechanical quality of the scope is more important. With binoculars, off axis image quality and finer details like colour saturation play into the mix and make them a little bit harder to evaluate.

Remember to do your resolution tests in several different lighting scenarios if possible. It can be quite fun picking out flaws in any optic.

Sillyak,



The first time I realized there were such things as quality optics I was using a Tasco on a custom rifle. A friend wanted to chronograph his rifle so we got together. He had a Kahles fixed 4X. The color was beautiful, despite this being about 30 years ago. The Tasco was clear enough but everything looked washed out and certainly lacked the fun color.

Recently I had the same experience when I got a Leupold VX-6 4-24X52. I compared it to the Swarovski z5 5-25X52 and saw the same thing to a much lesser degree. It was like the old experience again. I never noticed the slight lack of color until I saw the vibrant color in the VX-6. The z5 and the VX-6 went down at the same time in my low light test.



The eye charts are in the shadow even on a sunny day. But bright days certainly put more light on it. The deer antlers are in the woods and yet occasionally the sun does get through and shines on them. These are what I use for low light tests.

The meostar hd are a very good glass but would be even better (and actually very comparable to the Swarovski SLC) if Meopta would upgrade the prism coatings to dielectric instead of silver. Even the $300 China glass are using dielectric coatings.

That's a good point. Coming from astronomy I can say that a poorly done dielectric coating will introduce scatter which will degrade contrast. Obviously not an issue with a quality dielectric coating. 99.9% reflectivity vs. 98% per surface sure adds up being bounced around in a roof prism.

Meopta claims 88% transmission in daylight, which is pretty good for a roof. I'd love to see the transmission graph though. I wonder if they cherry picked that transmission at a certain wavelength, or if it is averaged over the entire visible spectrum. I am inclined to believe them though, they are quite bright even when compared to the SLC HD.