What to upgrade? Bins or Scope? (1 Viewer)

Good afternoon, It's my first post and a thread right away as well, but I've been lurking around this place, trying to search and find some info to what to do.
I'm starting with watching birds, but I already have some equipment.
I have a Leica Monovid 8x20. Easy to pack, always with me and really good quality.
Then I have an 8 or 9 year old Zeiss Conquest 8x30. Since I have the Monovid I hardly ever use them, I don't like them as much because the Monovid is IMHO better as the Conquest (besides dusk-conditions) and more portable.
Last I have is a Optolyth 30x75. This is an age-old draw telescope that has one big advantaged (it was really cheap at €60 orso) but it's not easy to hold, not easy to use on a tripod or monopod, and the optical quality isn't very good as well.

The question I have is easy: what to upgrade?
The Optolyth gives a really appalling view so upgrading would be a huge difference, but I use the bins much more.
Is there a standard wisdom in birding? First buy good bins, then find some scope? I could probably give the Optolyth with a good service as it is somewhere between 15 and 35 years old according to the manufacturer.

I am looking at Swarovski's EL 10x50's or at an ATM80HD. Both end up around €2200-2500 MRSP but the EL's have no discount yet (way too much demand and not enough production yet, so it seams).

One more thing is that I'm not a stationary guy, I like to walk and when I see something, I grab some optics. But I live in the Netherlands and when you want to watch something it's usually at the other side of some pasture, often 200-500meters away.

Advice would be very welcome!

Well, it all depends on what you want. If you are interested in identifying birds that are far away and carry a scope most of the time, you should get a better scope. If you don't use your scope all that much and are more interested in doing some birdwatching in parks or on walks, you might be better off getting a different pair of binoculars.

One more consideration: The Conquest is certainly not a top binocular, but it's definitely useable. Not the best, but OK. If you actually prefer the Monovid in the field, you might want to have your Conquest checked. Normally the Conquest should show you quite a bit more than the Monovid - it isn't a Mono, so you use both eyes, and it's got a larger objective lens. The ones I looked though in the past were actually quite good. Not as good as the Victory FL and so on, but good. So there may well be something wrong with your Conquest.

The Optolyth, on the other hand, is getting decidedly long in the tooth. It wasn't a very good scope when it came onto the market many moons ago, and today ... Well. No, not really. The new scopes all run circles around it.

What I'd do? I'd get a better scope and give the Optolyth to someone who wants one. Probably someone I don't like. Yes, the Optolyth is pretty bad by today's standards.

Hermann

Hmm, good consideration. Thank you!
And what I like as well is that I can get a good discount on the scopes (about 20%, so saves quite a bit and makes the scope with a 25-50 ocular about the same price as the EL10x50.
The ATM-80-HD was introduced in a good 2 years ago. What is the usual life-cycle for a Swarovski telescope model?

BTW, the difference between the Conquest and the EL was really huge, so perhaps having the Conquest checked isn't a bad idea. Is it expensive? I read it could take somewhere between 1 and 4 months for repairs?!

alecgold said:

The ATM-80-HD was introduced in a good 2 years ago. What is the usual life-cycle for a Swarovski telescope model?

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Hard to say, but Swarovski has got excellent customer service - even for products that aren't made any longer. A bit like Zeiss. The ATM is one of the top scopes, no doubt. But if you go for *long* walks like you wrote in your other post, you might want to look at the ATM 65 as well. 200 gr less weight ... BTW, they've got package deals for the Swarovskis at the moment, until the end of June. You choose a scope + an eyepiece. Might be worth thinking about.

alecgold said:

BTW, the difference between the Conquest and the EL was really huge, so perhaps having the Conquest checked isn't a bad idea. Is it expensive? I read it could take somewhere between 1 and 4 months for repairs?!

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OK, the EL *is* better, but the difference shouldn't be huge. Obvious OK, even very obvious, if you're a critical observer, but not *huge*. I'd send it to Zeiss or have someone who's got some experience with binoculars look at it, preferably in the field. If there's something wrong, I'd send it to Zeiss. Unless you dropped the Conquest, put it in the dishwasher or ran it over with your car, Zeiss will probably repair it free of charge. Doesn't it have a 10 year warranty? If it does, you should be well inside the warranty period.

I'm in Germany, so I normally send my stuff straight to Wetzlar with a nice letter detailing what I think is wrong. Much easier and quicker than going through a dealer. I finally got round to having some of my older bins checked and cleaned or repaired by Zeiss last year. Repair times varied from 2 to 4 weeks. Four weeks was for a 20x60S Mono I had dropped ... That was a more complex repair, obviously, and the Zeiss people apologized for taking so long. Very happy with their service, actually. Not happy with the price for the repair of the 20x60S, but then it was silly ol' me who dropped it.

If you need the address and phone number from Wetzlar, drop me a PM.

Hermann

The package deals are nice indeed, that's how I got up to 20% discount on the MRSP.

I have been quite carefull with my Zeiss, they never took a ride in the dishwasher (I don't have one, so that's easy enough) and as far as I know they never dropped.
Good to hear return times are quite reasonable. There is a dealer about 150km away that gives you about the same bin's to use when they are in repair, but I could also send them in for repair myself. Sending them myself would be more fair for the dealer as I did buy them at a local shop that stopped selling Zeiss at the time. I got a good of around 35-40% at the time.