SLC, Monarch HG, Conquest or Trinovid ? (1 Viewer)

Conndomat · May 19, 2020

[email protected] said:
The best low light performer would be the Conquest with the SLC a close 2nd and the HG coming in last.

Dennis,

The SLC is given with 91% transmission, the conquest "only" with 90%, I think the two do not give anything.
In practice, you will hardly see a difference.

Andreas

P.S.1100$ for a new SLC is a very good price.

denco@comcast.n · May 19, 2020

Conndomat said:
Dennis,

The SLC is given with 91% transmission, the conquest "only" with 90%, I think the two do not give anything.
In practice, you will hardly see a difference.

Andreas

P.S.1100$ for a new SLC is a very good price.

I know. I corrected it above. I was just feeling lazy! My transmission's are from Allbino's.

chill6x6 · May 19, 2020

adeel.mohd said:
Hello, Please recommend: Swaro SLC 8x42, Monarch HG 8x42, Zeiss Conquest 8x42 or Leica Trinovid 8x42.
Purpose: Birding (Birds of prey) primary. secondary-sight seeing, star gazing.
It would be a onetime and final purchase so really confused. Appreciate ur help.

A one time purchase? All are VERY nice binoculars and any would be a nice choice. I can basically make a case for owning any of these. But for a ONE TIME purchase? Then I definitely would have to go with the SLC. FOV is #2 here with the flattest field. Best warranty/service. Quite honestly I'd probably throw the Conquest HD and the Trinovid HD out due to #3 and #4 FOV from this group. THD and CHD FOV is fine of course but they suffer by comparison here. The Monarch HG would be my second choice due to FOV, super focus adjustment, small frame, and low weight.

I took the liberty of putting these together for a photo for comparisons sake...

Conndomat · May 19, 2020

[email protected] said:
I know. I corrected it above. I was just feeling lazy! My transmission's are from Allbino's.

Zeiss would surely advertise with a transmission of 93%, Allbino probably measured a little too much here ...
https://www.zeiss.de/consumer-products/jagd/fernglaeser/conquest-hd/conquest-hd-8x42.html#data
"90% light transmission

High-definition glass offers 90% light transmission for the eye, excellent performance in low light conditions and excellent target resolution across the entire magnification range."

Andreas

adeel.mohd · May 19, 2020

Conndomat said:
Hi,

you can't say that clearly in a price!
I find the SLC much better than the HG, whether twice as good is a nonsensical question ... sorry!

Andreas

Haha. Sorry, seems u dint understood me. price is not really a constraint but since im deciding between 2, I just wanted to knw if the price of SLC approx. 500 USD more than HG justifies its quality? I mean is it value for money compared to HG?

adeel.mohd · May 19, 2020

chill6x6 said:
A one time purchase? All are VERY nice binoculars and any would be a nice choice. I can basically make a case for owning any of these. But for a ONE TIME purchase? Then I definitely would have to go with the SLC. FOV is #2 here with the flattest field. Best warranty/service. Quite honestly I'd probably throw the Conquest HD and the Trinovid HD out due to #3 and #4 FOV from this group. THD and CHD FOV is fine of course but they suffer by comparison here. The Monarch HG would be my second choice due to FOV, super focus adjustment, small frame, and low weight.

I took the liberty of putting these together for a photo for comparisons sake...

Thanx a lot, It seems SLC is a clear winner but FOV and low weight of HG cannot be ignored, If i say i shud start with HG and if unsatisfied ill sell it and go for SLC. Wats ur take? or shall i buy SLC and most probably there will not be looking back

denco@comcast.n · May 19, 2020

Conndomat said:
Zeiss would surely advertise with a transmission of 93%, Allbino probably measured a little too much here ...
https://www.zeiss.de/consumer-products/jagd/fernglaeser/conquest-hd/conquest-hd-8x42.html#data
"90% light transmission

High-definition glass offers 90% light transmission for the eye, excellent performance in low light conditions and excellent target resolution across the entire magnification range."

Andreas

You will have to take that up with Allbino's. I am just quoting their figure's.

jring · May 19, 2020

Hi,

the transmission values on allbinos should be taken with a pinch of salt... they have changed methodology quite often and some older ones were obviously quite a bit off - like some roofs over 95%... which would require too good to be true transmission values per surface and a near perfect reflectivity of the dielectric coatings on the roof prism... which just doesn't happen (unless you are measuring monochromatic but for birding a red only image makes everything a robin ;-)

I trust the measurements from Gijs and his team more - they seem to know what they are doing and tend to be in line with manufacturer specs and some theory like counting surfaces in a simple porro design like the habicht and calculating transmission with know values for up to date multicoatings...

Joachim, who thinks that transmission is overrated for birding. It's all about contrast!

Conndomat · May 19, 2020

adeel.mohd said:
Thanx a lot, It seems SLC is a clear winner but FOV and low weight of HG cannot be ignored, If i say i shud start with HG and if unsatisfied ill sell it and go for SLC. Wats ur take? or shall i buy SLC and most probably there will not be looking back

Nobody can take away the uncertainty!

My last tip on this topic, try to compare both glasses yourself!
You can order both binoculars one after the other and then test them for 14 days before sending them back. That would be a slightly longer, but safe way!
A pair of binoculars is always a subjective experience, what fits with one does not have to fit with others, in case of doubt you have to see for yourself.

Andreas

chill6x6 · May 19, 2020

adeel.mohd said:
Thanx a lot, It seems SLC is a clear winner but FOV and low weight of HG cannot be ignored, If i say i shud start with HG and if unsatisfied ill sell it and go for SLC. Wats ur take? or shall i buy SLC and most probably there will not be looking back

I don't see a thing wrong with that analogy! I don't think you will have a reason to look back with the MHG. It's a great birding binocular.

denco@comcast.n · May 19, 2020

jring said:
Hi,

the transmission values on allbinos should be taken with a pinch of salt... they have changed methodology quite often and some older ones were obviously quite a bit off - like some roofs over 95%... which would require too good to be true transmission values per surface and a near perfect reflectivity of the dielectric coatings on the roof prism... which just doesn't happen (unless you are measuring monochromatic but for birding a red only image makes everything a robin ;-)

I trust the measurements from Gijs and his team more - they seem to know what they are doing and tend to be in line with manufacturer specs and some theory like counting surfaces in a simple porro design like the habicht and calculating transmission with know values for up to date multicoatings...

Joachim, who thinks that transmission is overrated for birding. It's all about contrast!

House of Outdoor's say's 92% Transmission for the Conquest HD 8x42 so that is fairly close to Allbino's. The newer transmission test's on Allbino's are pretty accurate because they changed their testing method's.
https://www.houseofoutdoor.com/wp-c...-EN-PRESTATIES-VAN-DE-KAHLES-HELIA-8X42HD.pdf

"TRANSMISSION (15 points) - Currently we use spectophotometer to obtain the transmission graph in the range of wavelenghts from 380 to 900 nm. The method is very precise one and allows us to minimalize uncertainties to around 1%. In older tests we used three less accurate methods:
We mount a high level digital camera to an eyepiece (ocular lens) and we take a picture of diode. Then after standard procedure of data reduction, we carry out aperture photometry by comparing diode brightnesses (measured by eyepiece + camera configuration). Results depend only on lens diameter (which we know) and light transmission (which we can count).
We mount a high class CCTV video camera and record diverse luminosity star clusters (for example ‘Pleiades’) on a very starlit sky. The differences in range results from different transmission.
Another method rests on projecting intensive sunlight onto shaded white screen. A part of this screen is directly sunlit and to shaded part we glue a ruler. The screen is located in a specific distance to line up and cover screen surface brightness with projected image of sunlight surface brightness. Now we take a picture of this projected image of sun by camera. The ruler let us measure the scale of taken picture. A proportion of measured sun image in relation to actual lens area gives us the transmission."

adeel.mohd · May 19, 2020

chill6x6 said:
I don't see a thing wrong with that analogy! I don't think you will have a reason to look back with the MHG. It's a great birding binocular.

Im in southern Norway, So its cloudy most times. Also 6mnths we have day light and rest 6 mnths most times its dark. The other thing is tht i use Binoculars for birds of prey especially Peregrine Falcon.. So its either dawn and dusk and therefore i was concerned about low light performance of Nikon HG, If its really good but less than SLC it would work for me but if its bad then i may have sell it and buy SLC in future. I have also decided 8x42 so i feel Brightness would be better than a 10x42.

pbjosh · May 19, 2020

Adeel,

I don't know that there's a clear recommendation between an $1100 SLC and a $600 MHG. If you have a chance to try them out before buying, of course that is best. But both are really good deals on really good binoculars. If it's to be your only binocular, and within budget, I would echo Chuck's comment to go with the SLC probably unless you really value the weight difference. The SLC is ultimately the superior binocular, and you have the best service in the binocular world for it.

Normsc · May 19, 2020

Unless you are able to try both for enough time to decide, you will always be kicking yourself for not buying the best the first time around. Now that I am older I find that a slightly better view, even though it costs significantly more is worth it. Really depends on how much time you spend viewing through binoculars and how important it is to you.

chill6x6 · May 19, 2020

adeel.mohd said:
Im in southern Norway, So its cloudy most times. Also 6mnths we have day light and rest 6 mnths most times its dark. The other thing is tht i use Binoculars for birds of prey especially Peregrine Falcon.. So its either dawn and dusk and therefore i was concerned about low light performance of Nikon HG, If its really good but less than SLC it would work for me but if its bad then i may have sell it and buy SLC in future. I have also decided 8x42 so i feel Brightness would be better than a 10x42.

The "low-light" performance of those four binoculars is essentially equivalent. There is NO real world difference in the brightness of those four. All four are equally suited for use in Norway. I'm sorry a few members confused the matter for you.

jremmons · May 19, 2020

adeel.mohd said:
Ok gr8. So please suggest.. SLC for 1100$ and HG for 600$, Both of them almost new, never used. Which one will u pick?

At those prices, if price is a concern, I'd go with the HG. The SLC is a great pair of binoculars, easily on par optically with the best such as the Swarovski EL SV and Zeiss SF, but the improvement between it and a Monarch HG would be small, in my opinion.

Justin

adeel.mohd · May 19, 2020

chill6x6 said:
The "low-light" performance of those four binoculars is essentially equivalent. There is NO real world difference in the brightness of those four. All four are equally suited for use in Norway. I'm sorry a few members confused the matter for you.

Thanks a lot for all ur help and for the pic

adeel.mohd · May 19, 2020

pbjosh said:
Adeel,

I don't know that there's a clear recommendation between an $1100 SLC and a $600 MHG. If you have a chance to try them out before buying, of course that is best. But both are really good deals on really good binoculars. If it's to be your only binocular, and within budget, I would echo Chuck's comment to go with the SLC probably unless you really value the weight difference. The SLC is ultimately the superior binocular, and you have the best service in the binocular world for it.

Thanks.

denco@comcast.n · May 19, 2020

jremmons said:
At those prices, if price is a concern, I'd go with the HG. The SLC is a great pair of binoculars, easily on par optically with the best such as the Swarovski EL SV and Zeiss SF, but the improvement between it and a Monarch HG would be small, in my opinion.

Justin

It depend's no how much you can tolerate CA and how much you value low light performance. The SLC has less CA than the HG especially on the edge and it has better transmission.

denco@comcast.n · May 19, 2020

chill6x6 said:
The "low-light" performance of those four binoculars is essentially equivalent. There is NO real world difference in the brightness of those four. All four are equally suited for use in Norway. I'm sorry a few members confused the matter for you.

I disagree. I have had all those binocular's and compared them in low light and the Conquest and SLC are definitely the brightest in low light. IMO the Conquest is the brightest in low light of the four. Zeiss tend to have very high transmission in general and I can see it. You get over a 4% difference in transmission and it is obvious. The SLC though has better contrast than the Conquest. One weaker area of the Conquest HD is contrast. For example, the Swarovski CL 8x30 has better contrast than the Conquest HD and that is one reason I prefer the CL over the Conquest.

SLC, Monarch HG, Conquest or Trinovid ? (1 Viewer)

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