What's the latest on Meopta? (3 Viewers)

[Bentley03]

Interesting thread, good questions 'detective tenex'! Certainly the spec sheets and marketing blurb are confusing and contradictory. Meopta does feel like a company permanently in limbo, unsure of which direction it's going to take. At full (or close to full) retail price, no wonder there is a lack of confidence in what exactly you are purchasing and a reluctance to spend money on this brand. People buy in to 'knowns', not 'unknowns'.

That said, a few of us here in the UK have recently been lucky enough to purchase Meostars in various configurations at very (VERY) attractive prices from one of our retailers (thank you SWOptics!). With the known and readily acknowledged optical quality of these instruments, at the right price 'the small print' on the spec sheets and in the catalogues becomes less important (or in my own case, totally unimportant).

At the price I paid, I really don't care if my 8x56 B1 Plus is built on a magnesium chassis or if they do in fact have HD glass, they are simply wonderful, whatever they are, but I would be intrigued to find out...

 

[Ignatius]

What a shame that for people on the continent, buying from the UK is no longer an option.

Enjoy!

 

[adhoc]

Now checked the specs of the B1+/HD 15x56 given in all the websites I can get to of retailers worldwide who currently offer it and in all of them the weight is the older and higher figure.

Certainly the spec sheets and marketing blurb are confusing and contradictory. Meopta does feel like a company permanently in limbo, unsure of which direction it's going to take.

Leica is not very different there, and hence I think one can be a bit more optimistic, about Meopta!

With the known and readily acknowledged optical quality of these instruments, at the right price 'the small print' on the spec sheets and in the catalogues becomes less important (or in my own case, totally unimportant).

At the price I paid, I really don't care if my 8x56 B1 Plus is built on a magnesium chassis or if they do in fact have HD glass, they are simply wonderful, whatever they are, but I would be intrigued to find out...

I can empathize, I've used many binos, from the best optical quality down, across the years, and none has been as good as this, to me, and now I'd even like to get a 12x50 (B1+/HD) also, but, of course, this is subjective!

 

[Ries]

I mailed them a month or two ago with the question if we can expect something, next to dating/serial no the coating change around 2015/6, but never received any reply at all.

 

[tenex]

Tenex, sorry cannot fully understand the ref. to 17% (this figure given by me is, of course, 992 vs 1,200 g), and to SLC.

(1) There was also a 17% discrepancy in weight of the 8x32 between the catalog figure and online.
(2) 1200g is also the weight of SLC 15x56. I thought the MeoStar (used to be?) heavier, due to an Al body.

Even the series box is confusing, stating "HD Fluoride" when 8x and 32mm models don't have that. But I don't want to go on and on about this; the point has been made, confusion and errors abound. I'm sympathetic to the argument that MeoStar is good glass in any case, but especially at recent prices one would like to know what one is getting. Just to pick the most obvious comparison, a Conquest costs hundreds of dollars less. (I do hope no one is thinking a premium price will get MeoStar regarded as a "Premium" product, a label seen on the image announcing the new TGA.)

 

[adhoc]

Tenex, thanks: 17%. I see. Should be a coincidence (the weight of the glass and metal parts will differ in other ratios).

SLC. Somehow I had clean forgotten that Swaro. has given this name to their 56s also. Sorry!

The present Swaro. 15x56 and Meopta 15x56 with the Al body are each 1,200 g (±5), although the Swaro. is shorter at 7.6 in. vs 7.9.

Looking fwd. to some review or comments on the MeoStar HD models with that Mg body--if and when they exist.

 

[tenex]

I've been informed by a contact at Meopta that the only difference between B1.1 and Plus, apart from redesigned armor, is MeoDrop (hydrophobic) coating. So there is no new Mg body, this and other errors in their literature mentioned above remain unexplained, and this thread can get no further.

 

[gcole]

I've been informed by a contact at Meopta that the only difference between B1.1 and Plus, apart from redesigned armor, is MeoDrop (hydrophobic) coating. So there is no new Mg body, this and other errors in their literature mentioned above remain unexplained, and this thread can get no further.

When we compared both side by side a few years ago I returned the plus 8x32 ‘s , to our eyes optically we could see no obvious differences.

 

[Ignatius]

The Meostar B1+ today sells from €1282 upwards in the EU. Compare that to the price of a new Leica Trinovid HD 8x32 (769) or a Zeiss Conquest HD 8x32 (855) [lowest prices on the www]. No wonder that company isn't going anywhere.

 

[dries1]

The Meostar B1+ today sells from €1282 upwards in the EU. Compare that to the price of a new Leica Trinovid HD 8x32 (769) or a Zeiss Conquest HD 8x32 (855) [lowest prices on the www]. No wonder that company isn't going anywhere.

I am glad you got your value with the SFLs. Meopta will be fine, and the glass is sublime not to mention the elevated build quality. My experience is with the B1 through the B1+.

 

[iseegeorgesstar]

I've been informed by a contact at Meopta that the only difference between B1.1 and Plus, apart from redesigned armor, is MeoDrop (hydrophobic) coating. So there is no new Mg body, this and other errors in their literature mentioned above remain unexplained, and this thread can get no further.

You're saying that the optics are exactly the same between the B1.1 and the B1.1+ ?

 

[gcole]

That’s exactly what our eyes told us or we would not have sent the Meopta 8x32 B1.1+ Plus back.

 

[tenex]

You're saying that the optics are exactly the same between the B1.1 and the B1.1+ ?

No, I'm reporting what someone at Meopta said, although one can see what even their internal communication is like. Andy in post #3 said he noticed some improvement in brightness and/or color, but the first was "since 2012", while the second may have been specific to the Plus?

That’s exactly what our eyes told us or we would not have sent the Meopta 8x32 B1.1+ Plus back.

Whereas I could see some subtle improvements in a Leica UVHD+ 32 compared to a BN, but didn't find it "convincing" enough (überzeugend?) as the Germans like to say. And despite its handsome design, I found the thinner body harder to hold. Leica and Meopta are both known for incrementalism, but the value equation has now changed for Meopta.

 

[tenex]

but the value equation has now changed for Meopta

...but as iseegeorgesstar just posted in the Bargains thread, CameraLand has B1 Plus 8x32 on year-end sale for $999. That's getting more attractive again.

Andy, how would you say it compares to a Conquest? (now $780 at B&H)

 

[dries1]

...but as iseegeorgesstar just posted in the Bargains thread, CameraLand has B1 Plus 8x32 on year-end sale for $999. That's getting more attractive again.

Andy, how would you say it compares to a Conquest? (now $780 at B&H)

Never spent too much time with a Conquest, however from an optical perspective it does compete with the Zeiss FL IMO. The issue of the B1+ 8X32 for many is not the optics but (ergonomics) - the eyecup diameter on the smaller side. Although the Leica rubbers from a UV 10X42 overlaying the Meopta eyecups, would solve the issue for many with eye sockets too deep. Some potential buyers would say there is not much difference in the price of $780 for the Conquest and $999 for the B1+, so a toss up.
I find the B1+ 8X42 I purchased here in the BF classifieds to be an excellent glass, right up there with the big three IMO - similar to Leica with respect to contrast and color. It is on the heavy side similar to the NL and Noctivid, but more compact which I like.

 

[lmans66]

...but as iseegeorgesstar just posted in the Bargains thread, CameraLand has B1 Plus 8x32 on year-end sale for $999. That's getting more attractive again.

Andy, how would you say it compares to a Conquest? (now $780 at B&H)

When the B1 Plus came out, they had the B1.1's reduced to $799. And, to boot...it is essentially the same binocular. Then they raised the price of the Plus's to '$1500'....

I really feel the main drive behind the B1 Plus was to push up prices on all of their models. At the same time as the B1 Plus price was increased, they took the MeoPro and turned it into the equivalent of the now Meopro Air and raised it up from the $400-500 range to the now $900 range. All in all, instead of having a line-up that started at $500 and ending at $900..... they now have a line-up that starts at $900 and ends up near $1500 with...with...with, essentially little or no change from the previous models.

I feel lucky I have my B1.1 which I bought for $829 on sale. It is the same thing as a B1 Plus selling for $1500 -

 

[adhoc]

In 2021 Aug. I wrote the foll. in another thread. Jim is Imans66. The quoted text, which still appears in their website, and what Tenex's contact at Meopta says, conveyed above at post #27, are contradictory.

Meopta's website says that compared with B1.1 "B1 Plus features enhanced optical tolerances to provide even sharper images and greater optical performance." Has anyone in BirdForum or elsewhere yet detected this? Jim, it's only on reading your post (#112) that I learnt MeoStar Plus is heavier than B1.1. The 15x56 is 70g heavier. Any idea why? That's surely not just in the armor.<

The only answer there was from Gcole, as follows.

I briefly had a chance to handle the Meopta Meostar B1 Plus 8x32 in the field, other than it’s different armor look and feel I like the Optics(view) thru my Meostar B1.1 8x32 more.<

Has anyone experienced a definite difference in the other direction?

Adding in edit:

After posting that I find this thread from 2020 in another forum in which see post #11. Why, then, are they claiming "sharper images and greater optical performance"? I don't expect empty advertising fluff from Meopta.

 

[tenex]

I don't expect empty advertising fluff from Meopta.

But we're getting it. It was so very nice to see an East European company survive as Jena/Docter did not; now one begins to wonder.

excellent glass, right up there with the big three IMO...

Everyone seems to agree that it's good glass, but MeoStar has become the soap opera of sports optics. Does it compete with midrange models, or with alphas?[*] Is a dramatic price increase supposed to answer that question, and are they selling now at all? Did pink versions help? What's their secret recipe for mirror coating, and why can't it improve upon 88% transmission? Are "tighter tolerances" supposed to improve mechanical performance, or optical? Why do the catalogs lie? Will B2 ever appear? Will venture capital fix all this or just kill it off? Stay tuned!

[* - of course some would say that midrange bins themselves are competitive with alphas, but that's a different question... or is it?]

 

[dries1]

Since the company changed hands, there are a few unknowns as to the business model going forward, will they turnaround and sell it to another Company, will it go belly up (I don't believe so). Will they cancel the sport optic division? Who knows.

As far as their marketing, different color options on a couple of formats - pink etc. Only the marketing decision makers know why.
Regarding the price, I always thought they were under priced for their performance, so perhaps Meopta thought so also, and raised prices.
We can ask the same questions about Leica regarding the evolution of their Ultravids, which is not very much, but then again, why fix it if it works.
I do agree their folks at Meopta responsible for descriptions of their optical products needs to do a better job.

 

[lmans66]

Meopta has a European 'hunters' audience although, just like here in America...I think the hunting audience is dying off with no one replacing in the younger crowd. Someone told me that in numbers alone the number of hunters in associations here in America have seen a huge decline, close to a 40% decline in recent years. So, Meopta for hunters, has to be hurting too.

The company does well in other areas....so yes, I can see their sports optics being discontinued.

Alphas now? Yes....I would place them in that area....