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High End - Binocular relative price stats worldwide (1 Viewer)

V

Vespobuteo

Well-known member
I have made an unscientific investigation on binocular relative prices,
which I find a bit interesting, obviously it's not only current exchange rates that decides what a pair of binoculars will cost you depending on where in the world you buy them.

The price of the Nikon EDG is the reference price, and other prices are the percentage of this price in each country respectively.

First figure is price level in Sweden (my local dealer), second is US (from a big online store)

Sweden, US
100%, 100% - Nikon EDG 10x42
112%, 111% - Zeiss HT 10x42
127%, 101% - Swarovski EL SV 10x42
110%, 88% - Leica HD 10x42
64%, 40% - Steiner 10x44 Night Hunter XP
74%, NA - Steiner 10x44 Discovery

Comments:
The Leicas seem to be a bargain in the US.
The Nikons are good bang for the buck in Sweden compared to Swaro.
The XP:s are made in Germany, but still very low priced, especially in the US.
HT:s are the only ones with a consistent relative price compared to Nikon.

One possible explanation is that price is related to the status of the brand. The manufacturing cost and the price is more seldom than one would expect related to each other.

Feel free to add you own relative comparisons, for your country and favorite brand, use the price of the Nikon 10x42 EDG as base price.
 
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Hej VB

Thats really interesting, I hope others around the world will add to it so we can get a bigger picture.

Well done, tak.

Lee
 
Vespobuteo said:
I have made an unscientific investigation on binocular relative prices,
which I find a bit interesting, obviously it's not only current exchange rates that decides what a pair of binoculars will cost you depending on where in the world you buy them.

The price of the Nikon EDG is the reference price, and other prices are the percentage of this price in each country respectively.

First figure is price level in Sweden (my local dealer), second is US (from a big online store)

100%, 100% - Nikon EDG 10x42
112%, 111% - Zeiss HT 10x42
127%, 101% - Swarovski EL SV 10x42
110%, 88% - Leica HD 10x42
74%, 40% - Steiner 10x44 Night Hunter XP

Comments:
The Leicas seem to be a bargain in the US.
The Nikons are good bang for the buck in Sweden compared to Swaro.
The XP:s are made in Germany, but still very low priced, especially in the US.
HT:s are the only ones with a consistent relative price compared to Nikon.

One possible explanation is that price is related to the status of the brand. The manufacturing cost and the price is more seldom than one would expect related to each other.

Feel free to add you own relative comparisons, for your country and favorite brand, use the price of the Nikon 10x42 EDG as base price.
Click to expand...

Vesp,

Well done but I would like to see the sales prices rather then percentages.
Down here the prices varies a lot, so from which pricepoint does one take the percentatage. Knowing the pricepoint one could make that 100%.

So I think the most reliable way is to use the official MSP and next to that the lowest price found. Down here we have prijsvergelijk.nl which does exactly that.

Jan
 
dalat said:
Hi,
a while ago I made a small comparison between German and US prices, you find it here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showpost.php?p=2832880&postcount=58

Do your Swedish prices include VAT or not? Prices on US online shops are usually given without taxes.
Click to expand...

I don't compare prices between different countries as you did,
The price comparison is between brands within each country/shop respectively,
so tax etc should not affect the result.

Here is the comparison for a german online-shop, 8x binos this time:

100 % - Nikon EDG 8x42
102 % - Zeiss HT 8x42
115 % - Swarovski EL SV 8,5x42
93 % - Leica HD 8x42
92 % - Steiner 8x44 Discovery
78 % - Steiner 8x44 Night Hunter XP

Added Steiner Discovery as it's probably more interesting for birders than the Night Hunter XP.
 
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That's interesting. Using B&H pricing in the US, the Nikon EDG appears to be higher here than in Europe. If the Steiner NightHunter XP is really in the same league, it's a steal:

100% Nikon EDG 8x42
92% Zeiss Victory HT 8x42
108% Swaro SV 8.5 x 42
88% Leica UVID HD 8x42
-- Steiner 8x44 Discovery
37% Steiner 8x42 Nighthunter XP

It would be interesting to see comparisons of MSRP. It may be that the above numbers show how willing an online dealer is to discount various brands. The Nikon price quoted on the B&H website is basically identical to MSRP. The Swaro, OTOH, is on B&H at 87% of the price quoted on the Swaro US web site for 'add to shopping bag'

HNY,

Jim
 
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Vespobuteo, Jim, isn't the Swarovski SLC the better comparison? Jim, when I looked in the B&H site just now the ratio is: 77%. Strangely, the Sv. 8.5x42 price is different from yours: 103%. (Nikon EDG 8x42: $ 2397, Sw. SLC 8x42: $ 1729, Sw. Sv. 8.5x42: $ 2459.)
 
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Bincoculars Relative Price Index*

SE, US, DE
100%, 100%, 100% - Nikon EDG 10x42
112%, 90%, 99% - Zeiss HT 10x42
127%, 101%, 112% - Swarovski EL SV 10x42
110%, 88%, 91% - Leica Ultravid HD 10x42
64%, 40%, 77% - Steiner Night Hunter XP 10x42
74%, NA, 89% - Steiner Discovery 10x44
90%, 72%, 79% - Swarovski SLC 10x42
100%, 86%, 90% - Swarovski EL SV 8x32


Added Swaro SLC, and an example of German pricing.

SE = Sweden
US = United States
DE = Germany

* The index shows relative pricing differences between models for each country/market.
The price of the Nikon EDG 10x42 is the reference price (and will always be 100%).
The index does NOT show differences in the absolute price level between countries.

Possible explanations to differences:
Market penetration (Country)
Strength of brand name
Dealer distributor structure
Toll fees
Small data sample
Product release year (older binoculars get more frequent discounts)
 
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Pomp-

Huh! All the other prices are the same, except I see the Swaro 8.5x42 SV for $2529 USD. Maybe they are already reflecting the Swarovski price increase discussed in another thread.

Jim
 
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Jim, when you last posted if the Nikon's price was the same as now the Swaro. Sv. would have been between $ 2577 and 2601 (to be = 108% rounded). So within 21 hrs at this retailer it has gone from ≥2577 down to 2459 and up to 2529 (= 106%). Strange(?)
 
Bincoculars Relative Price Index

SE, US, DE
100%, 100%, 100% - Nikon EDG 10x42
112%, 89%**, 99% - Zeiss HT 10x42
127%, 103%*, 112% - Swarovski EL SV 10x42
110%, 92%*, 91% - Leica Ultravid HD 10x42
64%, 40%, 77% - Steiner Night Hunter XP 10x42
74%, NA, 89% - Steiner Discovery 10x44
90%, 72%, 79% - Swarovski SLC 10x42
100%, 88%*, 90% - Swarovski EL SV 8x32

* Price increase
** Price decrease (and correction of value)
 
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gvca1 said:
That's interesting. Using B&H pricing in the US, the Nikon EDG appears to be higher here than in Europe. If the Steiner NightHunter XP is really in the same league, it's a steal:......

Jim
Click to expand...

Jim,

Amazon has the lowest price on the Steiner -- $1,200, but the one review was not favorable:

,,,, what I did not like -- and what is something that I care about a lot -- is the resolution of the central field. It could not keep up with a Chinese-made 8x43mm ED binocular in the central field of view, which is the area that is the most important to me. In every other area, these are an impressive set of bins. But it's central sharpness was very disappointing, so much so that I sent them back.

http://www.amazon.com/Steiner-Peregrine-XP-8x44-Binocular/product-reviews/B002LB7VDA/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?showViewpoints=1

Brock
 
brocknroller said:
Jim,

Amazon has the lowest price on the Steiner -- $1,200, but the one review was not favorable:

Brock
Click to expand...

I think Jim means the Steiner Night Hunter XP 8x42, it is 899.99 on Bhphoto,
The pair on Amazon are called "Peregrine" probably the same as the "Discovery" model in Europe…a bit more expensive.

The 8x44 model is reviwed at Allbinos.com:

http://www.allbinos.com/157-binoculars_review-Steiner_Night_Hunter_8x44_XP.html

Probably the name has changed to Discovery since or are they just mixed up?

The Night Hunters are 8x42 and not 44 as far as I can see on Steiners web-site.
The 44 mm Discovery-models are missing on Steiners north-american web-site.
 
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I can tell 3 prices from Bulgaria. I can find only them. You can convert them to % ... SV - 3000$ , EDG - 3600$ , Discovery - 1980$ :)

EDIT: EDG is 3333$, not 3600 ... so 100% / SV 90% / Discovery 59% ...
 
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