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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New Swarovski SLC 42 Binoculars (1 Viewer)

The new SLC has been rumored to be lighter than its predecessor. And it seems correct! According to a Swedish salesman is the weight 767 grams, ie about 40 grams lighter than the SLC HD. Is there anyone who has the opportunity to weigh their SLC HD? It would have been interesting, I think!
 
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Kingfisher,

I have weighed an 8x42 SLC HD with a digital scale, and the weight without strap, e-p rainguard and objective covers was 834g. Go weigh yours, and post the result. If you don't have a scale, use one at the grocery store (remember to punch the code for fair-trade bananas).

Kimmo
 
kabsetz said:
Kingfisher,

I have weighed an 8x42 SLC HD with a digital scale, and the weight without strap, e-p rainguard and objective covers was 834g. Go weigh yours, and post the result. If you don't have a scale, use one at the grocery store (remember to punch the code for fair-trade bananas).

Kimmo
Click to expand...

I do not have a digital scale, but the swedish salesman weighed the new SLC on my request. He did that on two different digital scales and both showed 767 grams. That's 67 grams lighter than the "old" SLC HD!
 
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KF: are the eye pieces/eye cups the same on the SLC vs SLC HD? I hope they didn't change the ergonomics. The eye positioning/face fit of the HD's are perfect for me.
 
Lost Arra said:
KF: are the eye pieces/eye cups the same on the SLC vs SLC HD? I hope they didn't change the ergonomics. The eye positioning/face fit of the HD's are perfect for me.
Click to expand...

Very good and reasonable question!

Sometimes I feel that I'm not really "inside the image" in the same way as with the old SLC HD. But that feeling you can `t trust I think.. ;). I do not have access to the old SLC HD anymore, so there is no way for me to compare them with each other. The design of the eyepiece however, seems to be identical when you see pictures of them. So I would say that nothing has changed in that case!
 
The Kingfisher said:
The focus on my new SLC has now become much better - almost perfect actually!

From being really stiff and choppy right out of the box, it is now almost completely smooth and much less stiff. It felt like the focus got better and better the more I focused, but the improvement suddenly stopped. The focus was still irritable choppy, and a "squeaking noice" could also be heard when focusing. In desperation I put the bino under the tap and flushed some water (just a second or so) over the focus wheel. And VOILA - it helped! The focus immediately became almost perfectly smooth and the squeaking sound disappeared. Am I happy or am I happy now? I'm happy.. |:D|
Click to expand...

Woke up this morning and thought I would use my new SLC..and then discovers that one half is completely fogged up - on the inside! Now, about 45 minutes after the discovery, the foggy thing still has not completely disappeared. My copy of the new Swarovski SLC does not seem to be particularly waterproof...
 
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And now I discovered that if I look in the binoculars from the wrong direction against a light background, then I see something like a thin straight crack, scratch or similar. The fog is also still there..
 
Suddenly, I can see the crack very well! It is a hair thin, perfectly straight line that runs right across the binocular field of view!
 
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Now the foggy thing is gone and then I can not see the crack. Is there anyone who has experienced the same thing?


Updates the post just minutes after I wrote this above: the foggy thing is now coming back. Very strange...|8.|
 
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Kingfisher,

As Pileatus suggested, but so briefly you may not have gotten his meaning, the thin straight line you are seeing is the roof edge of the Schmidt-Pechan prism. It is therefore not a crack, and probably not a problem either. Just about any roof-prism binocular will show it, especially if you view backwards through the binoculars towards a bright light source. It is a problem if it is not ground fine enough, when it can cause spiking in stars or bright light sources in normal viewing, and sometimes in cheap binoculars even a darker diagonal shadow line across the view when looking against a uniform background such as gray clouds or blue sky. In a Swarovski binocular, I have not yet seen a poor roof edge. The reason you could see it so well must have something to do with the condensation, as you said it disappeared mostly after the condensation vanished.

The condensation on the other hand is a clear flaw, and should not happen. What were the circumstances in which it happened? I suppose it must have leaked when you flushed the focusing mechanism, but a waterproof binocular must take a bit of tap water without a problem.

Kimmo
 
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kabsetz said:
Kingfisher,

As Pileatus suggested, but so briefly you may not have gotten his meaning, the thin straight line you are seeing is the roof edge of the Schmidt-Pechan prism. It is therefore not a crack, and probably not a problem either. Just about any roof-prism binocular will show it, especially if you view backwards through the binoculars towards a bright light source. It is a problem if it is not ground fine enough, when it can cause spiking in stars or bright light sources in normal viewing, and sometimes in cheap binoculars even a darker diagonal shadow line across the view when looking against a uniform background such as gray clouds or blue sky. In a Swarovski binocular, I have not yet seen a poor roof edge. The reason you could see it so well must have something to do with the condensation, as you said it disappeared mostly after the condensation vanished.

The condensation on the other hand is a clear flaw, and should not happen. What were the circumstances in which it happened? I suppose it must have leaked when you flushed the focusing mechanism, but a waterproof binocular must take a bit of tap water without a problem.

Kimmo
Click to expand...

I just held the bino under the tap and flushed some water on the focusing wheel for half a second or so. It was just a few drops of water, so it must be a flaw. I mean..the bino should be waterproof down to 4 meters for about 10 min. It took several hours between the flushing and the condensation to appear. Between I was birding.
 
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Well, it's obviously a defect. How old are they? Swarovski should replace them or repair them at no cost to you. If they aren't too old your dealer may replace them directly.
 
The Kingfisher said:
It's the latest version of the SLC, so it is only about one week old..
Click to expand...

Hi Kingfisher,

Sorry, I can't recall whether you owned the 8x42 SLC HD and returned/sold it. If you did, I'm really curious as to why?

My experience with SLCs over the years (I own five including the 8x42 HD) is that they will leak eventually. Typically, however, that has taken 5+ years to materialize. SONA always gets them back in order quickly, and sometimes uses the opportunity to upgrade/replace the instrument ... at no cost.

Don't worry, be happy. ;)

Ed
 
elkcub said:
Hi Kingfisher,

Sorry, I can't recall whether you owned the 8x42 SLC HD and returned/sold it. If you did, I'm really curious as to why?

My experience with SLCs over the years (I own five including the 8x42 HD) is that they will leak eventually. Typically, however, that has taken 5+ years to materialize. SONA always gets them back in order quickly, and sometimes uses the opportunity to upgrade/replace the instrument ... at no cost.

Don't worry, be happy. ;)

Ed
Click to expand...


This kinda blows me away - do you mean leak water, or fog internally? Does that mean that most any waterproof roof will suffer the same fate, or is it confined to SLC's - or just Swaro's?

And, is 5 years acceptable for this sort of failure? I know if any of my Zeiss leak after just five years, I would be extremely unhappy with that level of durability. Personally, I expect a waterproof binocular to remain waterproof throughout its life - is that unrealistic?
 
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elkcub said:
Hi Kingfisher,

Sorry, I can't recall whether you owned the 8x42 SLC HD and returned/sold it. If you did, I'm really curious as to why?

My experience with SLCs over the years (I own five including the 8x42 HD) is that they will leak eventually. Typically, however, that has taken 5+ years to materialize. SONA always gets them back in order quickly, and sometimes uses the opportunity to upgrade/replace the instrument ... at no cost.

Don't worry, be happy. ;)

Ed
Click to expand...

I have owned the SLC HD, but sold it and bought the Nikon EDG instead. I love the focusing and the natural image I get from the EDG..that is why I changed. The EDG is the best bino for me I think. But you know..the SLC has a bit better central sharpness and it is brighter than the EDG. I feel that these things sometimes can help me identify birds in the field.

The new SLC is not just a little bit sharper and brighter than the EDG..it now also is completely covered with rubber, has a better/thicker rubber material than before (this means that your fingers don't get so cold) and the focus should be improved. All these things together made me order the SLC again. I still love my EDG, so this time I'm not gonna sell one binocular just because I buy a new one. Instead I will enjoy two fine binoculars..and it also feels good to know that there is a backup binocular in case something happens to either of them. For example, if any of them would leak.... ;)

I am still happy (even though I am a little disappointed and frustrated also)! |=)|
 
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