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Meostar B1 10x50 (1 Viewer)

Arwzz

Member
Hi errbody! I'm looking for a good binocular for my regular birding and have found interest in the Czech's, i.e. the 10x50 B1's. Only problem is there is no place in Sweden where I can look through one. I'm not really bothered by CA, and I want a bin for looking over long distances at say seabirds and migrating geese etc. without having to constantly by eyeing through my spotter. I have a little Zeiss Terra for the woods but it feels a bit off during the autumn and spring migrations and when for example ID'ing little shorebirds. Would I be better off with a 12x50 just to get the HD glass or is the 10x50 good'nuf? (I feel like the field might feel a bit too narrow for my taste through those) I can't really find alot about the 10x50 on the googles so would be great the hear from anyone on here that might have experience with it. Would I maby be better off looking for a second hand 10x50 trinny?

I have had a look through the B1 10x42 HD's wich were absolutely stellar but a tad too costly and I quite like the idea of having a 50mm bino. :-D

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Arwzz,

I have compared the regular and HD version of 10x42 Meostar and the difference to my eyes is more than just the CA. It might be partly a consequence of when the samples were made but the HD had cleaner, more neutral colour reproduction, but the most striking difference was the perceived sharpness. I'm sure the optical resolution on both was very good, but the detail just appeared better defined with the HD.

Last August I again visited the Meopta stand at the UK Birdfair, and had another look at the 8x32, 8x42, 10x50, 10x42HD and the 12x50HD and 15x56HD for the first time. The HDs had a cleaner sharper view. I'm not suggesting the difference is massive, but at the limit of the detail I can see the HDs had an evident advantage.

The 15x56HD was good, but I found it unmanageble hand held. From the samples on show, I thought the 12x50HD was better than the 10x42HD. Again it was the colour and sharpness that made the difference. Perceived sharpness is incredibly difficult to pin down and describe as a characteristic, but it makes it easier to interpret the view and spot small movements. In this regard the 12x50HD was amongst the best I've seen. I thought the review sample I was sent was pretty amazing. I've found that the Meostars have continued to improve over the years and it could be that the 12x50HD was from the latest production run that made the difference.

I didn't get a chance to try the 12x50 HD for sea watching, but without question it would have been much better choice than the 10X42 ED I would normally use. I thought a light weight monopod was a great way to get the best out of the performance, but it was optically more than good enough to use their 2x booster as well if required, though I suspect that would need a tripod.

David
 
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I read your review of the 12x50, it was very interesting, really. I just like the ease of view of a 10x50, and I usually don't have a problem with holding such a bino steady. So I just thought of how much of a step up the 12x50 would be. And I feel like losing that bit of ep I could rather go for the 10x42 HD for a smaller and steadier bino. But maybe the 12x50 HD is brilliant enough for all that to not matter? I don't know, maybe I'm overhinking this but I am just like everyone, I want as much bino for the buck as possible :-D

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I read good reviews of most Meopta, but haven't came across 10x50 comments either. One thing I did read about the earlier non-Hd versions were that they had a yellow color bias. This was a 4-5 year old review so I don't know if the newer versions have this too.

I would be reluctant to spend the money until looking through them or finding a review you trust. My wife has the cabelas 8x32 Hd and I had the 10x42hd and would recommend either or them without problem. I'm considering the 12x50hd myself.

I see the benefit of the larger exit pupil of a 50mm, but I'm not sure it's worth the weight gain. Very few 10x50 offer an improved FOV over the 42mm version. I don't understand the science behind this design. The EL series and Ultravid are a couple I've seen with a slight improvement.
 
The thing for me is that you get a nice and big ep while still having 10x if you go 10x50, and you lose that ease of view of you increase to 12x50, and could rather go 10x42. Because you get about the same ep but a heavier and possibly shaky bino. I'm so sad they didn't make a 10x50 HD. Could've been perfekt! Hopefully there's some place with a really good return policy so I can order both of them and return the one I don't like or something. Or maybe I can get some more input on here to make a good purchase directly. I don't have the economy to buy a bino in a while but I like to start doing the research really early :-D

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