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Swarovski Habicht 8x30 W (built in 2009) (1 Viewer)

black crow said:
If anyone checked out that review I posted in the OP. He seems to really think the addiction of sunshades to the front objective lenses dramatically improved performance of the Swaro. Any thoughts?
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With the objectives close to the barrel end, any type of extension should assist in reducing flaring and glare. Although I've not seen issues with my Habichts, when the right situation comes up, I'll be looking for some custom tissue rolls on the ends! ;)

Ted
 
Yeah that author said he wasn't taking them out without the shields anymore and there's a pic of several of his swarovski bins with the shields. He was having some constructed out of metal for them. I still think I'm going to own a pair of these. They just sound too good for the money not to own or at least try out.
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
The result for the Habicht is a unusual bright image with perfect color reproduction as well as waterproof instruments despite some shortcomings which are discussed here over and over.
Gijs van Ginkel
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In my recent Porro Review, I found I was able to resolve details with greater ease through the little Habichts. At 80 meters, I could discern and read an Arial Black lower case 8mm typeface, but as much as I tried, the EII, although appearing very sharp, wasn't quite there. Considering sample variations, my quick assumptions may be off base, but it's all I could go by at that time.

Still enjoyed the EII FOV and its immediate relaxed viewing ease, but the Habicht, with its brutally sharp on-axis resolution and weather proofing remains my go to porro!

Ted
 
I bought 2 pair and both were identical as far as I could tell so I'll bet you had a good sample and one day maybe sooner maybe later I'll see. Thanks for the info.
 
proudpapa56 said:
Just a heads-up, I don't think the vendor, "Bush Wear", on Amazon, is in the U.S. Very possible they are gray market, and/or could make for sticky warranty or return issues. That's the only pair I saw listed. Any U.S. dealer should have them listed for $1159.00.
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I contacted the seller and got this response.

Thank you for contacting BushWear

Firstly we are based in the United Kingdom, Scotland to be more accurate. So it would be shipping overseas if I'm reading this right as your based in the United States.

I'm not sure which pair you looking at exactly so it make it a little harder to comment on the pricing. If you can link to the exact product then I can be more helpful on that front.

We are a verified swarovski seller and you can verify that with swarovski if you have any concerns.

With warranty. Though you would have a warranty with us the binocular themselves would be on warranty with swarovski themselves. As there warranty is directly link to the serial number on the binoculars and not the date of purchase. And there lifetime warranty is 35 years from the year the binoculars were made. And we know as one of there customers there after care service is second to none.

As for returns. As your order would be through Amazon, you would have to follow amazon terms in regards to returns, so that is governed and controlled by Amazon.

I hope that helps answer some of the questions.

Kind Regards
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I'm glad they responded. So if you did purchase from them, the warranty would be with Swarovski U.K. Swarovski Optik North America would not be in the loop.
 
I'm not sure if that means the warranty would be with Swaro in the UK? They didn't actually say that but maybe I'll ask. If it is I have that same problem with my Nikon EII. It's too bad because they have a really good price on them. I'm going to stick with my EII for now at least.

Edit: I'm almost certain the warranty service would be in UK. I've found them on Ebay for $955. I'm not buying however. Someday maybe but for now it's EII 8x and 10x for this bino boy.
 
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Well if it's optically what they say and I do believe it then comparatively it is not overpriced at all. It's just that the EII is way underpriced IMO. I say that after owning a $2000 Swaro and currently owning a $1200 Kowa. The EII surpases the Kowa optically and IMO is just about as good as the Swaro was.
 
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More info on the Swaro's from Amazon

Alisdair Troup (BushWear)

Apr 17, 06:39 BST

Hi John,

Thank you for taking the time to get in touch with BushWear.

The Swarovski warranty is worldwide, so you would not need to return them to Europe, they can be handled in the US.

I hope this helps and if there is anything else I can help with, please do not hesitate to get back in touch.

Alisdair
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dries1 said:
The Habicht is nice to look at and way over priced, I will take the EIIs all day every day.
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I wouldn't. First of all, the Nikon SE is better optically. A shame they stopped making it, apart form the field of view it's quite a bit better than the EII.

Secondly both the SE and the EII aren't waterproof. And in my neck of the woods that's an important difference.

Hermann
 
dries1 said:
The Habicht is nice to look at and way over priced, I will take the EIIs all day every day.

Andy W.
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I really don't know how you can seriously say that? Optically they compare with $2600 Zeiss Victory 10x42 bins. They are waterproofed unlike the EII. What exactly is overpriced? Had you said the EII are underpriced I would have readily agreed.
 
Allbinos has a review of the Nikon 8x30 EII and has ranked it 9th in its ranking of 31 binoculars in the 8x32 category. It also has a light transmission analysis of it at the end of the review. The rater also calls them "one of my favorite binoculars."

https://www.allbinos.com/270-binoculars_review-Nikon_8x30E_II.html

Allbinos has not rated the Swarovski 8x30 Habicht.

Allbinos does rank the Swarovski 10x40 W Habicht 36th out of 85 binoculars in the 10x42 category. There is no analysis of its transmission. The low rating is mostly because of its "old" construction but the rater really likes it very much otherwise.

https://www.allbinos.com/112-binoculars_review-Swarovski_Habicht_10x40_W.html

Bob
 
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I read that review and was sad to see the 8x30 Habicht not reviewed, which seemed a little odd to me considering their reputation for being one of the best if not the best 8x 30-32 binoculars porro or roof. It's really frustrating when you can see them doing your perfect match up and then they just ignore one if the contenders lol.

Still the EII get a nice endorsement from them.
 
black crow, post54,
There is a test report of the Habicht 8x30 both the civilan as well as the military version on the WEB-site of House of Outdoor, go to VERREKIJKERS and further to VERREKIJKERS TESTEN EN VERGELIJKEN and you will see a list of test reports. It is in Dutch but numbers and graphs are not different for English and Dutch reading persons. Transmission spectra are added as well. I never do a ranking, since the risk is that it is too much coupled to personal taste I am afraid.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
black crow said:
I read that review and was sad to see the 8x30 Habicht not reviewed, which seemed a little odd to me considering their reputation for being one of the best if not the best 8x 30-32 binoculars porro or roof. It's really frustrating when you can see them doing your perfect match up and then they just ignore one if the contenders lol.

Still the EII get a nice endorsement from them.
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The 8x30 Habicht would probably have received a rating similar to the one that the 10x40 Habicht got. There doesn't seem to be any reason why it would have been much higher or much lower as they both have the same construction and optics and the same merits and same faults. Also the same reviewer who raved about the 10x40 despite its faults reviewed the Nikon 8x30 EII.

https://www.allbinos.com/112-binoculars_review-Swarovski_Habicht_10x40_W.html

Bob
 
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BC

Regarding the EII, it is under-priced, I paid less than $430 new from japan, very good price/ performance ratio. The EII is more user friendly to ME than the Habicht, I do not care if it is not water proof, I never got out when it rains, and If I go out with the possibility of rain I have other glass in for that. I apologize if I offended.

Hermann,

I agree with you regarding the SE, it provides better resolution than the EII, but a smaller FOV. IF I lived where you did, a water proof glass would be more important, but I do not, so the EII is part of what I use here in the eastern US.

Andy W.
 
You didn't offend me lol. I just disagreed with what you said is all. I don't take offense over inanimate objects that you look thorough.;)
 
ceasar said:
The 8x30 Habicht would probably have received a rating similar to the one that the 10x40 Habicht got. There doesn't seem to be any reason why it would have been much higher or much lower as they both have the same construction and optics and the same merits and same faults. Also the same reviewer who raved about the 10x40 despite its faults reviewed the Nikon 8x30 EII.

https://www.allbinos.com/112-binoculars_review-Swarovski_Habicht_10x40_W.html

Bob
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OK well the EII did a little better in it's overall rating so I don't quite know what to make of that. I would have thought the Habicht would have rated higher than the EII. Maybe adding a Habicht to my EII is redundant. Outside of waterproofing. Each has strong points but overall they are similar enough. Would you say that's true?
 
BC,

I didn't say say that the Nikon 8x30 EII did a little better in Allbinos ratings in my post #56. I posited that the 8x30 Habicht would get a rating similar to the one they gave to the 10x40 Habicht.

Note that in their 10x42 ratings Albinos did not rate the Nikon 10x35 EII as it did the 10x40 Habicht so the same rating questions also exist with those two binoculars.

I have never had the opportunity to use any of the Habichts so I don't know how I would get on with their eye cups. Those eye cups have always been my big question. I have no problems using the eye cups on my E IIs.

You are going to have one of each of these 8x30s to compare and you can come to your own conclusion about them based on your personal comparison. I'm very interested in the results of your side by side comparison.

I've never had the opportunity to use one of the Habichts so I don't know how I would get along with their eye cups. I have no problem with the eye cups on my E IIs.

Bob
 
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