Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics What is the story on Swarovski CL series binos?

Saw some of these in a Cabelas catalog and they sparked my interest. 8X30's, 17.6oz, $929. Hey Doug, any show samples?

Anyone hand thier hands on these yet?

I've been eyeballing these too, a couple of gents on a birding forum have tested them and given them glowing reports, but that's about all the press I've seen... I need them like I need a hole in the head, but that never stopped me before!

Read a couple birder reviews, they seemed really impressed. Wondering if the little bridge is enough for some rougher hunting use?

I just looked through a pair at cabelas, they are nice and very light weight. I compared them side by side to the 8x30 slc and liked the slc better. The slc seemed to be a bit sharper on the edges and a bit brighter.

handwerk just purchased an 8x30 CL, perhaps he'll chime in.

were the SLC's twice as good for twice the price?

8x30 SLC's are not twice the price- in fact they can be found at some places at prices less than the CL's. Cabelas has the SLC 8x30 for sale at about the same price that the current CL is at.

Interesting that most places that carried the 8x30 SLC are not carrying them any more as soon as the CL's showed up. Well, it is not really that interesting because I believe that the SLC's will be found to be brighter and sharper and it is tough to now charge the same or more (the CL's) for something that is not quite as good as the previous type product (SLC).

Only thing I can tell that the CL has going for it is slightly lighter.

Llama:

The SLC 8x30 has been discontinued, and now replaced by the new CL 8x30 and the 10x30. That is why
you will not be finding those in shops unless it is old stock.

New price point for Swarovski, the new mid-range is lighter, has the focuser up top.

Without comparing it is hard to say which is better and brighter and all the rest.

These are just coming available, so the reports will soon be coming in.
I hope to have mine by next week. I will report back.

SLC 8x30 are my favorite binocular.

The SLC was discontinued 3 months or more ago. They wanted them all sold out and cleared out when the CL's started to be shipped.
The new CL's are nice, sharp and a very clean small size. I think @ the under $1000.00 price point they will be a big seller.
A side by side with the Minox 8x33 German HG series will be interesting

Now that makes sense that Swarovski would not want the SLC's still around when the new CL's came in.

But even Swarovski must not think that the CL's are better than the SLC's, otherwise -why would they price them lower than the most recent retail price on the 8x30 SLC NEU that they are clearly replacing. No one improves something and lowers the price- especially Swarovski.

The 8x30 SLC was according to Swarovski tech's that I spoke with the same optics quality wise (same glass and lens- just different body and focus) as the 8x32 EL and that is considered one of the best 32 mm glass ever produced.

I am just disappointed that Swarovski did not make a improvement (ED/HD glass etc ) with the 8x30 SLC or even as yet improve the 8x32 EL. I understand that they wanted what they consider to be an entry level (if you call almost 1 k entry) to compete with the other mid market mid priced bins that are breathing down their neck.

I personally love the 30 and 32 mm size glass and would have loved to see a SLC 8x30 HD. Instead of some new bin that I do not believe is any improvement at all in the 8x30 format that they already had, and in fact I would be willing to bet is a step backwards.

So for now I will be very happy with my (2001) Swaro 7x30 SLC and my Pentax 8x32 DCF ED (which BTW was better to my eyes when I extensively compared it against the most recent 8x30 SLC NEU) The Pentax ED glass was brighter/sharper and had better resolution detail than the 8x30 SLC.

I love Swarovski glass and their over all quality. For me I just wish that with all of the other improvements that they make in their line, that they would step forward and improve their glass in the size of bino that I use the most (30 and 32 mm glass). They really have not made significant improvements to that size since the 8x32 EL over 10 years ago, or the SLC's over the last 10 years.

But, then again when they do that, they will not be priced at less than 1 k. It will certainly jump to the 2 k range. So even then, I will probably be just fine with what I already have. After a while, you get into diminishing returns.

Right on the money IMO. The Pentax ED is a killer bino. I personally see no benefit to the new CL. With a lower price than the SLC it replaced I can guarantee you corners were cut to keep the price down. More plastic? I'm betting they didn't just cut the price for the heck of it.

The big advantage of the CL is their size. The 8x30 SLCs are nice but too big, almost the size of the 7-8x42 Leicas. If you are willing to pay SCL money and willing to get a price hike for even better optics, I don�t see why you are willing to carry an 8x30 if for the same size you can carry a 7-8x42

In general as technology advances you can get better quality for less. The only problem is that in optics people seem to have forgotten that trend and give you improvements only with disproportionally steep price increases. I hope the CLs are at par with the SCLs and I�ll wait to see and compare before I get critical on them. Their FOV is less than the SLC and their diopter adjustment is not part of the central focusing system but on one of the barrels. These two �features� alone together with increased competition might lead to a reduced price.


I bet if you ask the same Swarovski tech he�ll also tell you that the CL are of exactly the same optical quality as the SLC and therefore the EL�

Aic

As I stated earlier- the one thing that I do see that the CL's have going for them is they do weigh 3 oz. lighter than the previous model.

As far as the Leica 8x42 mm size they weigh 28 oz. or so- which is over 7oz. more than the 8x30 SLC (Which comes out to about 33% more). For what I want for my everyday- all day carry, I do not want to carry that much weight. But that is MO.

I personally love the 30 and 32 mm glass for my type of hunting- less weight to hump around the hills. So I do see the appeal of the smaller and lighter CL. If I did not already have a 7x30 SLC, then maybe I would be more excited about the new CL. Plus I also have a 8x32 Pentax DCF ED that was already to my eyes better than the 8x30 SLC. So for me to get excited about a new offering from Swaro in this size range- they were going to have to make a forward move- not what I see as a lateral one. Even that remains to be seen if it was indeed a lateral one. The CL may not be even on par with the SLC or the EL.

Since I like the 30-32 mm glass, I would have liked something new and improved in that size from Swarovski. More along the lines with what they did with EL (Swarovision) or the new type of SLC (HD) in the 42 mm sizes in just this year. After those offerings were released, I was hoping for a 8x30 SLC HD, or what I really would have liked was a 7x30 SLC HD (but that was never going to happen). They even dropped the 7x42 size all together.

I know and I get that the majority of binos that they sell are the 42mm and they are probably being very smart with the current move- because a SLC 8x30 HD at about 2 K would have probably been a tough sell.

So it is what it is. I just cannot get real excited about something that is only just as good as what is already out there. Do not get me wrong- the SLC and the EL's are great, but for those of us that already have something like that- why buy with no real improvement.

That is OK anyway- I really do not need to spend any more money on optics- what I have is plenty good enough for the rest of my hunting days. I guess I am just also a fan good glass.

I really also just need to keep some of these thoughts to just myself, because it is feeling as if I am whining and I did not intend for it to come across that way.

Swarovski didn't set the price of the CL lower than the old SLC price because they are nice guy's, they cut the price because they also cut corners, I'd guess rather confidently that the SLC binos are superior to this new "latest and greatest" offering..........Hillbilly.

Doug doesn't say, but I don't see many of the original "full" size SLC line except the 8x56 & 15x56 SLC. With a stop of production about April 2011 of most of the original SLC line, Swarovski can only say they will have all parts to fix the Swarovski SLC series until 2021. This doesn't include the 8x56SLC and 15x56 SLC that are still shown for sale at the bigger optics places.This is my take on this anyway.

I am not trying to get people all worked up or anything, just trying to let them know.There is a link on Birdforum about this.

I don't really see an improvement ove the 8x30 SLC's I currently own. They suit me just fine. I also own the 8x32 EL's.

I've compared my 8x30 CL's to my SLC Neu 8x30's at length, and I can't see where they've lost a thing optically. The reduced field of view is scarcely noticeable to me, it's just not that different...I can't see any difference optically between the two but I much prefer the weight and form factor of the CL's as well as the focus wheel on the back where all my other glasses have it.

I like them and my SLC's are now going down the road.

Dan, I will have to compare my 8x30 SLC neu with this CL when I get a chance. I like the front mounted focuser of the SLC 30 series, esp. when wearing a hat.

Stephen I am with you, I would of liked to see a Swaro SLC 7x30 HD.