Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics Swarovski 7x42 SLC's, A Class Act

The pair of Swarovski 7x42 SLC's I ordered from Cameraland arrived on Monday afternoon. It was raining then, so I didn't get out with them till yesterday.
I took two other pairs of binox along to compare, the 6.5x32 Minox and a pair of Zeiss 8x Classics.

I went to our rifle range and was fortunate to find no one else there. I sat at a bench looking at our 50 and 100 yard targets, as well as all of the surrounding trees. The range is totally surrounded by trees and brush. Alternating back and forth between the three sets on binox, I got a good feel for each one in comparison. I mostly looked at "things" at the 100 yard line and beyond. Our range only goes to 100. Since the leaves are still on the trees, I spent much time just observing leaves and tree branches, bending in the wind. The target backstop provided details too for comparing the three binox. The details provide the clues as to which binox delivers the best picture. All three will allow you see game animals; how well you see them is a different matter. While getting accustomed to each, I viewed all three out to the edges of their fields of view. Both the Minox and the Zeiss had some edge distortion , a slight band of waves circling the borders. The Swaro was perfectly clear all the way to the edge. And, the Swaro has a larger field of view which made them more user friendly. The one thing that stood out while doing the general viewing was the color rendition was better with the Zeiss and Swaro than the Minox, not to be unexpected with a $200 pair of binox compared to ones costing three to six times more money. There was target splatter on the backstop at the 100 line. This small target splatter showed up clearly, with detail, using the Swaro, and the Zeiss did well too. The Minox didn't show the detail like the other two did.

There were some dead pine limbs out about 75 yards, hanging high up in a tree along the edge of the range, with another dead pine limb behind about 25 yards further out. The needles were still on the dead limbs and they had died, turning to a pretty rust color. With the Swaro, the brilliant rust color jumped out, along with being able to clearly see the one 25 yards behind, with the depth perception not delivered by the Zeiss or the Minox. I could actually see into the space between the two dead limbs with the Swaro. The Zeiss showed a good picture, and I could see the dead limb behind, but I didn't get the depth perception I got with the Swaro. The Swaro has magnificent color rendition, better that the Zeiss, which isn't bad at all. With The Minox 6.5's, I could see both dead branches, but couldn't get into the space between the branches. It was a flat picture, with no depth of view, and the colors were subdued.

The Minox 6.5's are ok, but not in the same league with the other two. They don't deliver that crystal clear, brilliant image the others deliver.
The Zeiss was close to the Swaro, but no cigar. There is a depth of view, along with a magnificent, brilliant image that the Swaro's provide that the Zeiss came close to, but did not quite achieve. With the Swaro's there was the ability to view in three dimensions that differentiated them for the two. Again, the Zeiss was close, but not equal to the Swaro's, while the Minox delivered a flat picture, relatively speaking.

Weight of the Swaro, however, is higher than the other two, and those other two are better for long distance carrying. The Swaro weighs 33.5 oz and the others weigh 20 oz nominally. Knowing the weight of the Swaro's when placing the order, I ordered a wider carrying strap than the OEM strap that comes with the unit. That will distribute the weight over a larger area of the neck making them less tiring to carry.

Hands down, the Swaro delivers the image. The image jumps out at you, in full bloom, in three dimension.

Beyond the viewing clarity, the ease of use goes to the Swaro. They are just easy on the eyes; no eye strain at all, none, compared to the other two. I felt like I could look through them for hours without getting tired of the view. The other two were harder to hold steady too, given their lighter weight. And, the sweet spot of the Swaro was much larger than the Zeiss and Minox, adding to the Swaro's ease of use..

I did all viewing without glasses, using my newly installed eye lenses..
Diopter setting were close to zero on all three binox, just slightly negative on each, so my new eye lenses are close to each other. I do have slight astigmatism in my left eye, which no doubt caused the small diopter correction.

Don

I have swaros too, they built their reputation with the "birders" so you know their binos are good. they are the best I have used.

Don-I've been running the 7x42 SLC's since about the time they hit our market.

The only glass I've found close to them is the 7 or 8x42 Ultravids.

Dober

Really good glass makes things "JUMP" out. Only times I have witnessed that was with the big three and Nikon LX.
If a guy doesn't want to buy (pay) for big time good glass don't use them for a second.
Dave

I can't tell you how many times I had clients with me and when they found out I was using 7's they were dismayed.

For about the first 30 minutes that is. Then they kept wanting to give a look see thru my glass....grins

Dober

I'd been kind of reluctant to get good binox because I knew I'd be hooked.. Now I'm hooked..

LOL.... me too! Hell of an affliction in our old age eh Don?

Best!

--Bob

I have to agree with everything you said, the swaro slc in 7x42 is unbelievable. The weight isnt bad for me and I like the ergonomics. I agree on the wide sweet spot, depth of field and lack of eye strain. Optically, all I could ask for....
These are hunting binoculars plain and simple
I give these the "worth it" stamp of approval

A quality 7x42 will give the most mind-blowing image of most any bin from a given mfg... were I to carry a full sized bin it would be a 7x42 and no other. Mine would be the 7x42 Ultravid. Not only does the 7x42 have a full 6mm exit pupil to bathe the human eye with as much light as it can physically deal with, but it also has fewer glass elements than the 8x42 and, especially, 10x40/42 bins which allows greater light transmission.

Absolutely agree on the 7 x 42. Mine is the Victory FL T* from Doug. You won't go back to 8x after owning a pair. My guide had the new 7 x 42 SLC's too and we could not seperate them but the Swaros are a bit heavier. This guide is selling his 8 x 56 SLC older pair after getting the 7 x 42's!

Regards
JohnT

Swarovski service is a class act too. I sent my nine year old SLC 7X42's in for a minor repair a year or two ago and they came back completely rebuilt with new casing at no charge under warranty.

Cheers,

Grim Jim

thats not the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd time i have heard of that happening...typical "you get what you pay for" service from Swaro

Old age sucks, but I'll take it...

In debating what 7x42's to buy, that was one of my considerations, what kind of Srevice does the maker provide? I've read the same kinds of posts about Swaro's good service, so that went into the buy decision. Honestly, I've read some not so nice stuff about Zeiss' service from their repair facility in Chester, VA. That went into the buy equation too, in a negative way. I could have gone the Leica route, but Bob and Ilya changed all of that... I'm glad they did. I've never looked thru binox as good as these... They are just so easy on the eyes, with a stellar picture.. They're good enough to sleep with...

Don

I am going to test those comments Don (not yours I know). I just picked up a pair of the 8x40 Conquest ABK's on clearance at one of the local stores. Upon returning home I noticed a lack of tack sharp resolution in one of the barrels. They are packaged up and ready for shipment to the Virginia facility with a nice, detailed letter illustrating the issue. I will be sure to post further on the subject as things progress.

As for the 7x42 SLCs, I must admit their image is a revelation. The wide, flat image is exceptional. I owned a pair last year and was entirely enthused by their image quality. In truth you really cannot go wrong with any of the big three's 7x42 bins. They are all excellent both because of the specific configuration and also because each is slightly different from the other optically and mechanically. Throw in that Meopta 7x42 and you probably have some of the most relaxing views on the planet.

If I had another $900 to throw around I would be grabbing one off the samplelist too.

I had NOT good service from Zeiss on bino's. I think they handle the scopes better as there is only one barrel.
Frank I will be AMAZED if you get satisfaction. I truly hope you do but......
Dave

I will be sure to post about it Dave..here and elsewhere.

Frank,

To be quite honest I too factored in service when evaluating 7x42 choices among Leica, Zeiss, Swarovski, and Meostar. Granted what is posted online is usually the sour grapes and not so much the bravo zulus (navy-speak for well done). But there did seem to be a disproportionate number of less than laudatory service endorsements for Zeiss and Leica versus Swarovski. You seem to have had good experience with Meostar which was the only comment I'd found about it.

Coupling the service reputation with looking at performance comments like yours quoted here established the SLC as having the features I valued most:

"SLC - largest sweet spot of image in focus resulting in the most relaxed view.

Ultravid - Most vivid colors and most ergonomic. Feels tiny for its size if that makes any sense.

FL - Brightest and sharpest image with a noticeably wider true and apparent field of view."

"The Leica Trinovid, Swaro SLC and Meopta have very large sweet spots but tend to be a bit on the heavy side (30 ounces +). The Ultravid has almost as large of a sweet spot but is a bit lighter with very vibrant colors. The Zeiss is the sharpest to my eyes with a noticeably wider apparent field of view compared to the others but there is noticeable blurring (astigmatism) in the outer one third of the image.

All are great glass. I ended up with the FL because I prefer the total lack of color fringing for hawk watching plus it is the lightest of the bunch."

I have not been disappointed

BTW SONA has an optional rainguard en route to me gratis and I ordered a pair of winged eyeshields for my 7x42B SLC. Now to make a choice for a better protective case....

--Bob

i am getting the case gratis

Sako75,

What case are you getting gratis?

--Bob