Shopping for new bins. (1 Viewer)

I had the pleasure/trauma of buying some new bins at the weekend. I was after a pair of 8x32's and was looking at the Swarovski EL, Leica Ultravid, Nikon HG and would have obviously looked at the Zeiss had it been available. I was primarily interested in the Nikon as it was considerably cheaper than the others but, having said that, money was not the main consideration.

I didn't like the Nikon. I found it quite bulky and uncomfortable and the focus wheel, whilst nice and smooth, was too quick. I'm no optics expert and dont know whether this means that the bins had a narrow DOF but i found it rather difficult to get the subject as sharp as possible and it became a rather hit and miss affair.

The Leica was small and comfortable however the focus wheel, as has been documented on this site in the past, was just awful, notchy and clicky.

The Swarovski, and bear in mind this was at the bottom of my short list before i actually tried anything, was supremely comfortable whilst being slightly bigger than the others. It was very light and the thumb cutaways underneath the barrels were just right. The focus wheel was smooth and quick and the bins appeared to have a huge DOF and FOV.

I've not mentioned the views yet and i dare say this is the most important aspect of buying bins. I wont/cant go into any depth as others on this site do it so much better than i could and are more knowledgeable. However i found, after an hour or so looking, that all three, in my eyes, gave a virtually identical view, all being extremely sharp. Oddly for some reason i found the Leica gave a quite 'cold' view and the Swarovski a rather 'warm' one which was much more pleasing to me.

Whilst i was there i tried the Zeiss 8x42 which felt, despite its price tag, quite cheap due to the materials from which the housing is made. I decided not to hang around for the new 8x32.

I'm now the proud owner of the EL and a very happy man. This just felt right and allowed me to get the steadiest, most pleasing, view and is a brilliant bit of kit.

As a caveat this is obviously just my opinion and to echo what has been said in the past 'Try before you buy'. Whats good for me isn't neccessarily for you.

Graeme.

Welcome to the Swaro club! I have 8.5x42 EL's (with the old "slow" focus that some so lament) and they are the best piece of equipment of any kind that I own. Just fabulous binocs; you spent your money well.

Best,
Bill

Graeme,
Well put. My personal preference is the 10x42 SLC, due to a combination of factors that just works for me. I share your opinion about the warm (I think of it as "soothing") view from the Swarovski line, and that extends to the 10x25 and 8x20 SLC pocket binocs too. Anyway, make sure to wear them out! And when you do Swarovski will put them back in good order.
elkcub

Graeme,

Congratulations on an excellent choice. I bought an 8x32 EL about a half year ago and have found them to be excellent. The wide field of view is especially useful, all the more so because it’s in-focus well toward the edge. Some wide angle bins have a problem keeping the center and edge in focus at the same time. Normally we center the bird, but not always. Last weekend I had a Hairy and Downy Woodpecker in the view, along with a Black-billed Magpie on a branch behind them. It was a pleasure to watch all three without having to move from one to the other. I’ve been meaning to do some depth of field comparisons one of these days, but I do believe the 8x32 EL has an above average DOF compared to the other four bins my wife and I regularly use. I’ve written previously about the EL’s ability to stand up to rough use (some might say abuse) and I can add that after wearing them outside of my coat this weekend for about three hours in 20 degree (Fahrenheit) temps, they functioned perfectly (no stiffening of the focus wheel, no internal fogging upon bringing them inside). I’ve had a chance to do a lot of comparisons to my Swift 8.5x44 roofs at dusk and at night and cannot see a difference in brightness.

I won’t say they’re perfect, but the few “complaints” I can come up with are obviously minor: The feel of the focus is excellent, but you can hear a spring in each barrel compressing. The sound of the spring compressing has been mentioned in other on-line reviews as a design characteristic but I’d call it a flaw. A coil spring made of square cross-section wire, or a dual rate spring, or a barrel-shaped spring (where the center of the spring is wider than the ends), or a combination of any of these would quiet the focus system for little or no additional cost.

The eyepiece rain guard is great. The objective covers are very good but I prefer see-through versions (I use hinged rifle scope covers on my Swift). The scope covers reduce the FOV a little and do add another layer of glass between you and the bird, but they can be used when closed for a quick look, and can be flipped open as quickly as the Swaro covers. See-throughs are especially great on salt water trips when you can’t avoid a face full of salt water from time to time. I keep them closed until they're too salted for good views and then pop them open to double my viewing time before cleanings in such conditions. Also, the Swaro covers are prone to coming off if you keep the bins inside your coat and often pull them out in a hurry. I had to back-track in 6 inches of snow last week to find one of them. I’ve been leaving the objective covers off if I’ll be wearing them around my neck lately, and mostly use them as lens protectors in the car.

Lastly, the plastic parts on the strap get brittle below freezing. I noticed one of the little plastic end holders broke recently while out hiking in sub-freezing weather. The plastic used by Minolta for camera straps has held up for me under similar use for over 25 years so I’ll convert these parts over as/if they break.

Low temp plastic, controlled compression coil springs, and see-through lens covers that don’t fall off are not too much to ask, but they don’t detract from the excellent view provided by these great bins. I only mention these little nit-picks in hopes Swarovski personnel visit this site and maybe will decide these little things might be worth upgrading.

I’m sure you’ll enjoy them for years - I don‘t think I‘ll be needing another set of 8 power bins during my lifetime.

Joe H

Joe,

Excellent suggestions, all! I also use hinged rifle scope covers (Butler Creek brand) on some of my binoculars, I would like to eventually replace all of the "built in" binocular covers on all my binoculars with these... they are just way too convenient! I have mine set up to "flip down" instead of flipping up, as they would normally mounted on a rifle scope. That way, the flipped covers don't obstruct the view over the top of the binoculars.

3 of my binoculars (2 pair of B&L Discoverers and my Pentax SP) have threaded barrels, I plan on purchasing a few sets of UV filters to screw into the objective ends. That way, if the binoculars are splashed, salt watered, or scratched somehow, it will only scratch a $10 filter instead of the binocular objective lenses. I wish all binocular manufacturers put threadings in the barrels... maybe something else the Swarovski people could add at very little cost in the future? Just a thought...

Best wishes,
Bawko

Good ideas Bawko,

I have the scope covers set up to open to the sides. The ones I use (brand unrecalled) have a hinge that dug into my chest when they were set to open downwards. I filed down the opening tabs a bit so they wouldn't accidentally get caught on clothing. I think being able to add filters would be a great idea. Not just UV, but polarizing as well. They would dim the view a bit and take a little time to adjust depending on the angle of the light. But when looking towards a light source or when viewing in haze, they'd be great. I hope Swarovski considers threaded barrels especially. The only possible negative I can see would be that the air between the filter and the objective lens might tend to fog when the rest of the bin would not. This could be reduced by anti-fogging products and by installing the filters in cool, non-humid conditions I suppose. One of these days I’ll have to post these suggestions to the Swaro web site.

In fact, I'm half-way tempted to start a new thread based on the EL's design history which incorporated birders' suggestions on what made a great birding bin. Now that the ELs have been out long enough for thousands or birders to log uncountable hours on them, it might be time to compile a list of suggested improvements. Certainly Swaovski took to heart the wide-spread unhappiness with the original 42mm's slow focus. I'm not familiar with Swaro's other models to make any suggestions for them. Do you think they'd listen?

Joe H