Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Cost for next meaning meaningful step up in binos

Given that the Bushnell Elite 10x42's I have now are the nicest pair I've ever owned, I am looking for some input on some models that make up the next tier in quality. I would like to keep working up as funds are available but given my lack of technical optics knowledge I want to make sure that my next pair gives the obvious impression that I am on my way up in the optics world...

I have held some very high end models that don't, through my novice eyes, look much different. Though obviously the gold standards in binos are Swaro, Zeiss, and Leica models, not Bushnell Elites.

I guess the question is do most of you what you have until you aren't happy with its performance or do you upgrade when it's convenient and recognize your gains when using your new gear over time? Also, what do you guys see as my best next step? My budget would be under 1000 so no alpha glass yet.

Nick

You can get an alpha near your $1000 price range......a Meopta Meostar (Cabelas Euro)10x42 HD. World class stuff.

Thanks JG. Those are certainly on the radar. I am holding out to hear more reviews on the new Meopro HD's, early talk is that they might be a repackaged Meostar HD... Have you looked at a pair yet?
Nick

No I haven't. Good luck with your search. Have some fun with it.

The Cabela's Euro are a great value. I like the 10X32's over the 10X42's. But they are both excellent. You need Swaro EL's to beat them, IMO.

I have heard good tings about the German Minox but below the big 3 euros I think the Meopta / Cabelas 10x42 HD is the nicest an closest I've looked through. I owned several sets of decent to good binos and the Bushnell elites are probably as nice as you really need for hunting....but I found a good deal on some new Swaro SLC 10x42's and hopefully I'm done for many years.

The view through those is really terrific, I've seen different colors on deer hides and individual features on hills near my place that I had never observed before. Eyes are different so I would try them all but the SLCs or Zeiss HT for under $2K new are really nice and you would know you made a step up without a doubt. Everyone has their own threshold of financial pain but in retrospect I would have saved up more sooner and taken fewer steps. On the other hand the $3-600 binoculars today are perfectly good for any hunting needs.

If one graphs out the cost vs quality relationship, what you get is an S curve. Start out at the bottom, add some quality, add some price, the graph goes up correspondingly. At some point in the rise up the curve we hit a spot where the rise of the graph begins to decrease in relationship to the quality increase in relationship to price increase. The graph begins to flatten out. It does not go flat, but the rate of upward movement on the quality axis slows down a lot. Someplace along this graph we get to the point of diminishing returns.

The first slowdown in the rise of the curve likely is somewhere around $4-500. The real slowdown is likely around the $1,000 mark. That is relative and depends on your own viewpoint and I don't think there is a strict definition of what price points these points occur. In short someplace upward of the lower point ($4-500) we start get less bang for the buck. At the upper end ($1,000) the bang for the buck really slows down.

Why somebody needs more binocular than can be got at about $1,000 with a Zeiss Conquest HD or the Meopta Meostar HD, I don't know. But if you need to spend more you can.

The degrees of change are subtle and are not as dramatic as one might expect from the increase in price.

I think we all need to go through our own personal evolution in arriving at selecting the best gear we take afield with us. In many ways the most important thing about how well we enjoy a binocular comes from how well it fits our face, hands, and eyes. If it has the right eye relief for you, the eyepieces fit your eyes, if it balances right and everything feels right when you use it, that is a big step in the right direction regardless of who made it or what you paid for it.

You are living at the fist dip in the curve with your binocular and you are eying the upper drop in the curve.

The Meopro HD is not the binocular that the Meostar HD is.

Just an FYI

I bought a pair of Swarovski SLC 10x42 on Ebay for $940.

I also bought a pair of Swarovski SLC 7x42 on Ebay for $600

I also bought a pair of Swarovski 8x30 SLC (the first version) on Ebay for $400. Not a big fan of them, but the are small and light weight.

How so Timber? I've been curious about this myself.

save your $1000 for a year and add an extra $500 to it in that time. Then go and buy a really good pair of used Leica geovids, or trinovids, if you don't want the rangefinder, and call it good.You will never regret it. Once you go to alpha glass,you will never go back. I did just what I mentioned above, and best move I ever made.

A Meopta Meostar HD is optically a better binocular than a Leica Trinovid. I hunted with the Trinovid for 15 years or so and now own the Meopta HD. Both are bulletproof.

I haven't used the Meopta's, so no opinion. Had a decent pair of leupold wind rivers before. Not even in the same ballpark as my geovids. They add an easy 10 minutes early and late to glassing, and there is never any eye fatigue. I spend a ton of time glassing and I would make a lot of cuts to my hunting budget and outfit before I gave up my leica's. There is that much difference.

Leica's products are great. As you know though, the warranty is for original owner only. That's not so great.

If there is one thing that I have learned about scopes and binoculars from my time at the 'fire, it is that there is no meaningful step up as such. There is nothing worth having except the absolute top of the line (read: price) currently available. A caveat here is that this will only be acceptable until the next model comes out at a higher price.

With all due resect John, "Duh".

With some things I agree with you, but if you spent 2 weeks glassing for big mule deer (or anything else) at long ranges sometime for 8 or 9 hours a day you would change your mind. If you are sitting in a box blind glassing deer at 200 yds then yes your choice of binoculars doesn't really matter. (as much.)

Its clear the coatings or possibly other aspects are lesser in the Meopro HD as the light transmission specs as listed on Meopta's website are quite higher on the Meostar HD series.


As to the original question, I would recommend the Meostar HD or possibly a used Zeiss Victory FL as a next step up for the OP.

atse,

So have you used any other brand of what you consider top-line binoculars that the Leica? Did you just go straight to the Leica from the Leupold?

What 5sdad is saying, with his tongue at least partly in his cheek, is that there are many Campfire members (and others) who firmly believe that the most expensive binocular is the best, and that if another more expensive binocular comes out this year they will switch to it, just because of the price and not any proven advantage in the glass.

Thanks for all the input guys. The Meopta are certainly a desired next step, though I have at least gotten to the point after looking through the Bushnells over the last couple of days that they do still look better to me than any I've owned in the past. Probably better not to spend another $1K until I find a legitimate flaw.

That being said there seems to be one bino in particular that keeps popping up as a giant killer. Many well respected reviewers put the Zen Ray ED3 at Meostar type levels and the cost is something attainable. Are they really that good or are people looking to spend less money more likely to rate the underdog higher then the optics they can't quite afford at the time?

Nick