I am in the hunt for the best. Buy once, cry once bino purchase. I have narrowed the search field down to Leica Noctivid 10x42, Swarovski NL Pure 10x42 or 12x42, or the Zeiss Victory SF 10x42.
I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and found the Leica Noctivid 10x42 and the NL Pure 10x42. The staff member was helpful and we went outside the store with both pairs to do some comparison.
The Leica blew my mind. Initial impression was out of this world. The details, the colors.. It was great. The NL Pure 10x42, was not impressive initially. I needed to do some adjustments, but once I did those, the view was incredible. I knew the field of view was significantly bigger and looked for it. Once I compared the two, I had a harder time enjoying the view of far off mountains in the Leica when the field of view was so much more in the NL Pure. I compared the details and colors. I thought the colors were a bit better in the Leica, but honestly no significant difference. Both binos provided an unbelievable view, just the Leica was a far narrower view. The NL is hundreds more... Is the wider fov really worth an extra hundreds?
But Swarovski has a NL Pure 12x42... that has the same fov as the Noctivid 10x42.... I haven't seen one yet, but that difference could make the extra little more palatable..
I haven't seen the Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 yet. The fov is not as big as the NL, but is wider than the Noctivid.. It seems to go for a few hundred cheaper than the NL.
I am a hunter more than a birder, looking for moose blending into a forest on a far off ridge, details on Dall sheep horns, antler points through the forest... You birders know your binos better than anyone though, so I look here.
Anyone else been down this path? Surely I'm not the only one. Thoughts?
I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and found the Leica Noctivid 10x42 and the NL Pure 10x42. The staff member was helpful and we went outside the store with both pairs to do some comparison.
The Leica blew my mind. Initial impression was out of this world. The details, the colors.. It was great. The NL Pure 10x42, was not impressive initially. I needed to do some adjustments, but once I did those, the view was incredible. I knew the field of view was significantly bigger and looked for it. Once I compared the two, I had a harder time enjoying the view of far off mountains in the Leica when the field of view was so much more in the NL Pure. I compared the details and colors. I thought the colors were a bit better in the Leica, but honestly no significant difference. Both binos provided an unbelievable view, just the Leica was a far narrower view. The NL is hundreds more... Is the wider fov really worth an extra hundreds?
But Swarovski has a NL Pure 12x42... that has the same fov as the Noctivid 10x42.... I haven't seen one yet, but that difference could make the extra little more palatable..
I haven't seen the Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 yet. The fov is not as big as the NL, but is wider than the Noctivid.. It seems to go for a few hundred cheaper than the NL.
I am a hunter more than a birder, looking for moose blending into a forest on a far off ridge, details on Dall sheep horns, antler points through the forest... You birders know your binos better than anyone though, so I look here.
Anyone else been down this path? Surely I'm not the only one. Thoughts?
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