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Meopta Meostar 12x50 HD review (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone and thanks David for the great review.

I managed to get my hands on a 'new other' Meostar HD 12x50 which I am very happy with, as well as Opticron DBA VHD 10x50, which is also very sharp. The Meostar's larger image is even more satisfying, especially for its fine differentiation of colours, some of which could not be seen with my other binoculars. I would not say steadiness is much less than with DBA 10x50 and the Meostar is really ok for quick views when out and about, without bothering with the monopod, and again it's even better when seated.

Glad also to find that the eyecup surrounds take up only 3mm of the 15mm eye relief, and that with glasses I can comfortably see the whole field. The focus wheel action is similar to that of the DBA, being smooth with no stiction, and lightly damped.

The only fault is a broken catch on the fabric-type bag (not the felt type), although the catches look the same on each type. The button has broken off at its stalk (picture below) and I intended to try to mend it by drilling the broken plastic parts, and fixing them together with a short piece of wire and some araldite.

While above, in the photos of bags, the buttons are shown at 90 degrees to the slots they have passed through, the action of the catch is a bit mysterious. This is because the stump of the button stalk, remaining in the catch-mounting, does not seem to be able to rotate (and maybe that is why it got broken).

To understand it better before I go ahead, may I ask if the part of the button carries a spring within the fixed part of the catch, perhaps to give some resistance and then to provide a self centring action, or should the button be able to rotate freely?
 

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David,

Thanks very much. Viking Arms say they will just replace the bag under warranty |:d| - small problem solved.
 
cheating?

David,

With regard to both hand-held steadiness, ER, impression of disproportionately greater magnification, and 'micro-resolution' my Meostar B1 HD 12x50 are just as you described, so for my purposes there is now no reason to pick up anything else.

While the effects of those features are evident, to try to understand this I compared with Opticron DBA VHD 10x42:
- Meo is just as steady hand-held, and no great advantage with monopole.
There seems a bit more more high-amplitude low-frequency shake, which is less disconcerting,
and a bit less jitter, than with DBA.
- No probs with glasses
- Greater AFOV may explain the impression of greater size?
- Looking at Acuba, (variegated fruiting laurel-type evergreen) the berries looked a little more orange (cf. immediately they were only red with DBA), with different shades becoming apparent (with study this variation could 'just' be discerned with DBA, but it was hard work), and ditto for the otherwise unremarkable splits in one berry, which revealed the creamy pulp. Reflective parts of the berries were also differentiated to a greater extent by the Meostar.

The plant was at about 25ft and I found that the Meostar view could not otherwise be obtained, even by getting very close indeed: It was then a surprise to find that the Meostar had in fact exaggerated the variations. The view with DBA had actually been more reallistic, if less interesting!

After all it is about the magic of seeing what can't otherwise be seen, and I reckon it is those very exaggerations with Meo which are so beneficial, especially at longer range, and after all it's only an illusion of an illusion ;)

As far as the enhancement of texture is concerned, the Meostar seems to put a very fine/invisible drapery over things to bring out the underlying contours, as in Greek sculpture. I guess that it might be helped to achieve this by increasing the apparent variation of colours and shine, along with very fine resolution.

Chris
 
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Chris,

Thanks for the comments and the eloquent descriptions. Sounds like the HD12x50 impressed you as much as it did me. I'm not sure I recall that it "put a very fine/invisible drapery over things to bring out the underlying contours", but I stuck to birdwatching myself. ;)

David

Hop
 
With the Meostar, this afternoon in failing light, in the top of some beech trees a couple starlings, quite unusual now and perhaps newly arrived, could be recognised from their markings. In the opposite direction, with the sun nearly in the line of sight and only lightly veiled by cloud, a blackbird was confidently singing for the better weather on a twig 20ft away. To the naked eye it was just a sihouette but with Meostar the variations of its black and brown feathers and bright eye were comfortably revealed, and its yellow beak crumbed with dark wet soil - a nice moment.

These 12x binoculars have themselves been a revellation and Viking Arms have sent me a new case which will be good as a shoulder bag, together with an extra strap, under warranty. I have been trying Meostar 8x32 which are also the best I have used and are tiny, but can't convince myself that I really need both...
 
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That is a nice combo, 8 and 12X. I am also interested in the Meopta 12X50 on a tripod for astro at the house and for migration in the fall. I have the 7X42 B1 and the 8X42 also and truly enjoying them. The 8X32 did not fit my eye sockets properly, but the views were great.They are a great product with very good value. Right now I am enjoying the 10X50 UV and appreciation of a large aperture.

A.W.
 
Chris

Here is where I go out with a 32mm rather than a 42 or bigger:
When carrying a lot of photo gear, camera and 2 or 3 lenses.
When expecting to be scrambling over rocks and crags and bogs and I will want to tuck the binos safely inside my jacket.
When I am going to be lying down a lot to examine small flowers, inter-tidal marine life in rock pools, and to take photos in that position.
When going shopping for groceries on holiday and I don't want a big pair of binos swinging about.
When walking through our local estate on my way to countryside and farmland and not wanting to alarm neighbours who might suspect me of peering into their houses with my binos, so again they go easily under my jacket.
On holiday, if its too wet to be out walking, we drive around from place to place with our binos round our necks and stop to look around. 32s are ideal for this rather than bigger binos, and this also applies for the hundreds of miles driving through Scotland to our holiday destinations. A 32 around my neck while driving for 9 or 10 hours is fine and they don't get in the way like 42s.

A 32 partnering a bigger bino gives you 'carrying' choices as well as optical ones.

Lee
 
That is a nice combo, 8 and 12X. I am also interested in the Meopta 12X50 on a tripod for astro at the house and for migration in the fall. I have the 7X42 B1 and the 8X42 also and truly enjoying them. The 8X32 did not fit my eye sockets properly, but the views were great.They are a great product with very good value. Right now I am enjoying the 10X50 UV and appreciation of a large aperture.

A.W.
Pity about the 8x32 eyesocket problem. I got my meostars 'new other' at secondhand prices so both had minor problems. They were not too costly but even so one had to go back. I would like to try duovid, out of my class but bet the 10X50 UV is nice!

Chris
 
:t:
Chris

Here is where I go out with a 32mm rather than a 42 or bigger:
When carrying a lot of photo gear, camera and 2 or 3 lenses.
When expecting to be scrambling over rocks and crags and bogs and I will want to tuck the binos safely inside my jacket.
When I am going to be lying down a lot to examine small flowers, inter-tidal marine life in rock pools, and to take photos in that position.
When going shopping for groceries on holiday and I don't want a big pair of binos swinging about.
When walking through our local estate on my way to countryside and farmland and not wanting to alarm neighbours who might suspect me of peering into their houses with my binos, so again they go easily under my jacket.
On holiday, if its too wet to be out walking, we drive around from place to place with our binos round our necks and stop to look around. 32s are ideal for this rather than bigger binos, and this also applies for the hundreds of miles driving through Scotland to our holiday destinations. A 32 around my neck while driving for 9 or 10 hours is fine and they don't get in the way like 42s.

A 32 partnering a bigger bino gives you 'carrying' choices as well as optical ones.

Lee
Lee

That is an excellent list of good reasons, thanks so much. You guys certainly get around and wish I could say the same - can only dream of scrambling over rocks and crags and bogs and driving for 9 or 10 hours to Scotland. It was 20 years ago that we last tried that but only got half way and settled for the Lake District. These days I take the car to the common which is half a mile away, then trek as far as a bench!

Come to think of it might need the Meostar 8x32 after all, in case something's spotted on the way back from Tesco.

Chris
 
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:t:Lee

That is an excellent list of good reasons, thanks so much. You guys certainly get around and wish I could say the same - can only dream of scrambling over rocks and crags and bogs and driving for 9 or 10 hours to Scotland. It was 20 years ago that we last tried that but only got half way and settled for the Lake District. These days I take the car to the common which is half a mile away, then trek as far as a bench!

Come to think of it might need the Meostar 8x32 after all, in case something's spotted on the way back from Tesco.

Chris

Hi Chris

When I go for a local walk I go through a housing estate to an old bridle track that is actually an old drovers sunken track. It goes through open fields around the estate and gives some nice views of places where rooks, jackdaws and woodpigeons forage and has the usual finches and tits in the hedgerows. Across the fields to the south I saw a fox a few weeks ago as it squeezed through a hedge to flop down in the sunshine on the other side, watched amiably by some sheep.

My companion on these walks is often the Meopta. Its a pleasure to use and tucks into my jacket as I walk through the estate.

Last year on the Isle of Uist for 3 weeks, as an experiment I took only 32s and I didn't feel deprived at all. Some might say I was depraved rather than deprived but I am used to that :-O

I really recommend having a 32 available and I can see myself drifting more towards this more compact size in future years.

Lee
 
Hi Chris

When I go for a local walk I go through a housing estate to an old bridle track that is actually an old drovers sunken track. It goes through open fields around the estate and gives some nice views of places where rooks, jackdaws and woodpigeons forage and has the usual finches and tits in the hedgerows. Across the fields to the south I saw a fox a few weeks ago as it squeezed through a hedge to flop down in the sunshine on the other side, watched amiably by some sheep.

My companion on these walks is often the Meopta. Its a pleasure to use and tucks into my jacket as I walk through the estate.

Last year on the Isle of Uist for 3 weeks, as an experiment I took only 32s and I didn't feel deprived at all. Some might say I was depraved rather than deprived but I am used to that :-O

I really recommend having a 32 available and I can see myself drifting more towards this more compact size in future years.

Lee
Lee

You do make a very good case and agree that the 8x32 provides a very pleasant experience, the relatively short eye relief matching my glasses perfectly as with 12x50, to allow the image to fill the view.

Great to see a fox behaving like that. We used to have a tin pig shed on the edge of a field, next to an old badger set occupied by foxes. You could lie on its roof and watch the cubs mucking about right below.

Chris
 
How marvellous Chris. I was chuffed to bits to watch the fox a couple of fields away. A few weeks before Christmas I dropped off my bro in law at a hospital for a routine visit and had to queue to get off the site in my car. Crowds of people also queued to cross the road through the queue of cars that was in and waiting with them was a fox, sitting down and when the traffic/pedestrian lights changed it stood up and crossed the road with everybody. Nobody took any notice of it and to be frank it was badly affected by mange so had lost a lot of fur. But it was still amazing to see it sitting and waiting to cross the road. Foxes can recover from mange so I hope this one did. The one in the field was in fabulous condition.

Lee
 
Let's hope it had been receiving treatment at the dermatology dept. but mange is a horrible disease.

Chris
 
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Lee

This has got me wondering about Meostar B1 32mm again, or even Zeiss FL 32mm.

Would go for 10x and a new pair this time but no great reductions showing at the moment. Also noted that ER for Meostar 10x is sometimes mentioned as 13mm or 15mm. However it's "16.3mm" for 10x32 cf. "15.5mm" for 8x32 on both meopta and Viking websites.

In practice ER for the 8x32 was just sufficient for me, so 13 or even 15 might not be enough, while the larger figure of "16.3" might seem less likely to be correct for 10x32...am I muddling something up or is that right?
 
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Lee

This has got me wondering about Meostar B1 32mm again, or even Zeiss FL 32mm.

Would go for 10x and a new pair this time but no great reductions showing at the moment. Also noted that ER for Meostar 10x is sometimes mentioned as 13mm or 15mm. However it's "16.3mm" for 10x32 cf. "15.5mm" for 8x32 on both meopta and Viking websites.

In practice ER for the 8x32 was just sufficient for me, so 13 or even 15 might not be enough, while the larger figure of "16.3" might seem less likely to be correct for 10x32...am I muddling something up or is that right?

Chris
The eye relief figure is an optical concept being the height of the exit pupil above the top eyepiece lens. It doesn't take into account the amount of this distance 'lost' inside the eyecup. So you can only use the ER figure as a rough guide not as a definitive statement. You don't mention if you wear spectacles but if you do thats another complicating factor and face shapes and eyes that bulge at one extreme or are sunken at the other extreme mean that ER figures are for some folks a very rough guide indeed.

You need to try them out.

I would be hard pressed to choose between the FL and the MeoStar 8x32s but if threatened would favour the Zeiss for absolute performance. Put value for money into the equation and the Meopta wins.

Lee
 
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