Cabela's Euro (1 Viewer)

Hi All,

I am new to this form, I have got a ton of useful information from this form, so I feel it is only right I try to give back. As bad as this may hurt. I am not a birder, but I do watch a lot of wildlife and hunt. I wanted to upgrade my binoculars and based on a lot of the information I received here and on other forms and some testing on my own, I purchased 4 commonly recommended bins that I could purchase locally in the 800.00 to 1000.00 range so I could see what worked for me. I did not what to spend that kind of money on something without being to take them home and try them in my environment and keep the one that works best for me.
The 4 bins were
Kahles 10X42
Zeiss Conquest 10X40
Bushnell Elite 10X43
Pentax DCF 10X43 ED

After my testing, the Pentax was my choice and I returned the other 3. I am or was very happy with my choice. I personally am not a big fan of Cabela’s, but my friend just purchased the “Cabela’s Euro 7X42”, and as bad as I hate to say it at $749.99 are noticeably better than my Pentax ED’s We had 6 different people at our lease this weekend check them out and only the one person who has 10X50 ELs had better glass. Everyone else had Bins form $600 to $1200. They beat most most everything and rivaled the high end.

Like I said I am not a big fan of Cabelas, but if I can find a place to get rid of my Pentax, I may just have to go over to the dark side. The have a no fault warranty, that you can take them to any Cabelas and exchange them on the spot if damaged, or send in and it is transferable.

I have no hidden agenda here, and I really hate to admit I made a mistake, but for my use, I did. The Pentax are great, but these are way more than I would of ever expected and they have earned some praise. Anyone looking to do anything less than the big 3 should take a look at these. I know they are re badged Meopta’s and if this is a indication of their quality, I am impressed. I would be interested anyone else’s thoughts good or bad.

Many of us have gone to buying binoculars from several mail order places. Eagle Optics, Optics Planet, Cameraland NY etc. You get to test them 30 days and they are then returnable. That way you would not get stuck with one you do not like.

One outfit will take trades:
http://www.samplelist.com/

Other than that you could eBay it.

Good luck.

Hi ML,
Welcome to Bird Forum!

We enjoy discussions like this.

I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get rid of your Pentax 10 x 43 ED's. If you do a lot of long distance scanning when you hunt, you may find them more useful than a 7 x 42.

I'm not surprised that you were impressed with the Cabelas 7 x 42. A first rate 7 x 42 is probably the most user friendly binocular made. They have huge 6mm exit pupils. This makes it easy to center them over your own pupils, and makes them quite bright in overcast, dark woodland and twilight conditions. They have excellent depth of field which keeps fiddling with the focus knob to a minimum. Most of them have very wide fields of view, especially when compared to 10 x 42's and they also have long eye relief which makes them very useful to people who wear glasses. They excel as an all purpose binocular but many people prefer a higher powered binocular for long distance applications. In my own case, I use a 7 x 42 as my primary birding binocular and I have a quality 10 x 42 when I want to look for migrating raptors.

Cordially,
Bob

ceasar said:

Hi ML,
Welcome to Bird Forum!

We enjoy discussions like this.

I wouldn't be in too big a hurry to get rid of your Pentax 10 x 43 ED's. If you do a lot of long distance scanning when you hunt, you may find them more useful than a 7 x 42.

I'm not surprised that you were impressed with the Cabelas 7 x 42. A first rate 7 x 42 is probably the most user friendly binocular made. They have huge 6mm exit pupils. This makes it easy to center them over your own pupils, and makes them quite bright in overcast, dark woodland and twilight conditions. They have excellent depth of field which keeps fiddling with the focus knob to a minimum. Most of them have very wide fields of view, especially when compared to 10 x 42's and they also have long eye relief which makes them very useful to people who wear glasses. They excel as an all purpose binocular but many people prefer a higher powered binocular for long distance applications. In my own case, I use a 7 x 42 as my primary birding binocular and I have a quality 10 x 42 when I want to look for migrating raptors.

Cordially,
Bob

Click to expand...

I agree completely with your comments on the appeal and advantages of quality 7 x42 binoculars and the Meopta Meostar 7 x 42 is just such a glass. However, the Cabelas Euros (all made by Meopta BTW) are presently only offered in 10 x 42 and 12 x 50 configurations.

Folks,
Thanks for the welcome

I am sorry! My mistake. The Cabela's Euros are the 10X42 NOT 7X42.

I have found that 10X works best for the hunting/watching I do. I do not do allot of walking, mainly sit in stand or up on a ridge some place. I am not unhappy with the Pentax, I just could of saved $300 dollars and got a better set of bins in my opinion.

Where I found the Cabeals really stood out was in the night / evening before we had the mostly full moon came up. We were watching a group of wild hogs about 300yds up on a ridge. The Cabelas and Swaros were the only 2 that you could actually make out and identify them before the moon came out. You could make out a dark blob with my Pentax, and some of the others, but until the moon came out they were the only 2. after it came out you could make them out with the others, but with the extra light the Caleba's and Swaros were just that much better.

So you probably will eventually want both a good 8x and a good 10x. Watch the money. I paid 200 for my first 10x roofs, they are now sold, and obsolete.

But as you will discover, even a pretty good 8x32 is one of the handiest binoculars for all around use. packs small for travel.

mljohn said:

Folks,

Where I found the Cabeals really stood out was in the night / evening before we had the mostly full moon came up. We were watching a group of wild hogs about 300yds up on a ridge. The Cabelas and Swaros were the only 2 that you could actually make out and identify them before the moon came out. You could make out a dark blob with my Pentax, and some of the others, but until the moon came out they were the only 2. after it came out you could make them out with the others, but with the extra light the Caleba's and Swaros were just that much better.

Click to expand...

I am not surprised at your experience with the Cabelas/Meopta 10 x 42. In my view the Meopta Meostars are remarkably close in performance to all of the current crop of nosebleed alpha glasses and arguably the best buy in a sub $1000 binocular presently on the market.

chartwell99 said:

I am not surprised at your experience with the Cabelas/Meopta 10 x 42. In my view the Meopta Meostars are remarkably close in performance to all of the current crop of nosebleed alpha glasses and arguably the best buy in a sub $1000 binocular presently on the market.

Click to expand...

I have to agree,, that is how my eye's saw, but I must admit, I never though Cablea's could pull it off, I just assumed they were a stripped down version of Meopta.

I own a pair of the Euros and love them. I've used them for a variety of hunting and sight seeing applications from Deer and Turkey, to viewing the Grand Canyon and they are very nice. I've had the opportunity to use the Swaro EL 8.5x42 and I must admit that the Euros are probably 99% as good, which for the price is great for me. The glass I upgraded from was the Nikon Monarch ATB 10x42, and the difference was very noticeable in low light conditions, although I gotta say that the Nikon's were VERY nice for a full day of hiking due to their light weight.

ML John,

Check the Meoptas here.

http://www.binoware.com/brand/meopta.htm

$699 is a very good price

Hello

I just joined this forum, looking for some binoculars, just had my EL 10X32's stolen and looking for glass in the mid range price that is good. Have been considering the Zeiss Conquest 10/30 (32?) or the Nikon Premier LXL 10X32 . . .

any suggestions?

thank you in advance

The Nikon 10 x 32 LX L will come closest to matching your stolen Swaro 10 x 32 EL. The FOV is 345' @ 1000 yards as opposed to the Conquests 288'. The Nikon costs just under $1000.00 while the Zeiss is about $500.00. Both cost quite a bit less than the EL. http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=4014 You can also get a great deal on a close out Zeiss top of the line 10 x 32 here: http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/zeiss.pl?page=523221
Bob

PS Welcome to Bird forum!

and whatever you get, don't neglect to insure them.

--AP

oleaf said:

ML John,

Check the Meoptas here.

http://www.binoware.com/brand/meopta.htm

$699 is a very good price

Click to expand...

They seem to be out of stock...

I just purchased them from Cabelas and if you sign up for their credit card right now, you get 15.00 off "for signing", then another 100.00 off for the discount.

Their price was 799.00, but the salesman said they were really 749.00.... so after tax of 61.87, minus 115.00, they were 696.86 out the door.

NOTE, this was for the Cabelas brand which is the meopta.....10 X 42.

Thank you all for the info . . . I am going to post a new thread with some questions about differences between the Victory, Premier LX-L and the Leica Trinovid . .. right now I think these are the front runners.