thisdudeisgood
The Dude Abides
Hello
I had a chance today to go out for 4 hours with my new Meopta Meostar B1 7x42 Binoculars and put them through their paces. -6 degrees freezing cold 1hr before sunrise. What follows is some personal opinions of my first impressions and hope they are of use to someone on the forum considering buying a pair of these.
BUILD QUALITY:
First impressions on build quality are very good with a few small exceptions.
They fit very well in the hand with a very nice stable balance and the hinge for inter pupil distance was smooth with a nice resistance moving well although I did notice that the very thick rubber armour was catching slightly on the hinge if you pressed down on the rubber while operating the hinge raising the rubber up slightly as it moved over the round hinge, also the green rubber armour can be slightly depressed both sides of the focussing barrel by pushing it down with a finger, it’s as if there is a small gap between the green rubber armour and the hard body underneath, a small observation and not a major problem but I feel the rubber armour could be better fitting in this area. Over the rest of the body the armour is snugly fitted to the aluminium chassis. Don’t let this observation put you off as it is minor and can’t be noticed when using the binocular in the field but it is a fact (well on my model anyway). Also the small Meopta insignia (sticker) on the top of the binocular was not completely stuck down on my example being ever so slightly raised at the edge.
The Focus barrel was also smooth and well designed with no play and just the correct resistance for my taste. The dioptre adjustment however is non lockable and sits closer to the face than the focus barrel but it is separated from it by a hard non moving plastic ring. So setting dioptre is just the same as focusing and works well although I suppose the possibility of moving the setting by accident does exist compared to for example locking dioptres on the eyepiece of other makes. The focusing barrel is wide enough that in practice during the 4 hour outing I did not accidentally move the dioptre setting even with thick gloves on and also the dioptre ring is slightly click type graduated and does not rotate as freely as the focus barrel so altogether this is a well designed and secure mechanism in my opinion.
The twist up eyecups were also to my liking and there was no danger of them being pushed in by accident while applying the rainguard. Just up or down, not stop click and similar in design to a Trinovid. I don’t wear glasses so I can’t say very much about eye relief only that I was able to obtain a perfect view instantly and every time I raised the binocular to my eye bang! A big perfect view that needed no adjustment of my head.
The rainguards and objective covers are of rubber and I felt worked well although I did feel the rainguard operated better when attached to the strap on both sides and slid up and down as opposed to only attached at the left or right, once attached it didn’t pop off by accident when attached to both straps. The objective covers are held on by friction rings and give a reasonable grip to the objective barrels. I lost one in the dark before sunrise and only found it again by retracing my steps about a mile....a small miracle! When I got home I realised that if you push the rings further down the barrel away from the objective lenses the grip gets snugger and far more secure, if you have the rings right up at the objective edge they may get lost as mine did. The fit of the round rubber covers into the objectives is good and secure and have a small tab for popping them open which again works well.
The strap lugs are slightly recessed and of a hard plastic, the strap is 4cm approx 1.5” wide and of a neoprene type outer with anti slip type inside fabric and a circular Meopta logo sewn into the centre on the outside, it also has a fabric strip sewn along the outside edges to give a neat finish. As the strap nears the lugs it joins to a nylon strap attached by a faux leather tab with a rivet saying Meopta on it. The straps are adjusted by a silvery colour metal buckle which I don’t like. Overall the strap is perfectly functional but I was rather disappointed with it, I thought I was going to be getting the strap you see on the Meopta website, the big chunky number with the square shaped air cells, this strap I have is just average!! The carry bag on my example is green nylon, not wool or felt and does the job just fine. Snug fit to the binoculars button lock. I don’t use the carry bag with my binoculars anyway so cannot comment any more. It looks fine to me.
The eye and objective lenses look very big and generous and have a solid look to them, bluish / purplish coatings and looking inside the tube the black finish to the barrels is superb and everything looks very neat and exact.
The binocular can be attached to a tripod.
In my box there was no from to register the binocular only the warranty card and binocular booklet. I contacted a chap named Jon at Marchwood ( the UK Importer for Meopta )and he is sending me one in the post, very helpful with great communication about 3 emails in the one day! ) Any Meostar purchased after 01/12/2010 qualifies for the new 30yr Meopta warranty which is generous.
So thats about it for my first impressions of the build quality. Overall I would say that I am pleased with the build quality and happy to own these binoculars, although my example was not built as well with a Leica Trinovid I once owned but it was £200 cheaper. Also the entire package presentation etc was not as classy as Leica. That is another of my small observations and probably meaningless.
THE VIEW:
I went out in the dark so I could judge twilight performance then full daylight. ( I tripped over a frozen horse shit and that’s when the Objective cover came off!!! That’s where I found it on the way back) Like I say -6 degrees celsius and freezing with a clear sky. I purchased 7x42 mainly for Owling and I have lots of Woodcock nearby also. I walked through open pasture, closed woodland edge, enclosed woodland and open shoreline.
I would use the word superb to explain the optical performance of these binoculars. Never having used a 7x before I am now a convert as to my eyes the -1 magnification was not even noticeable but the view was noticeably more relaxed wider and brighter than an 8x in my opinion. I am very glad I purchased these as they are a joy to look through. These binoculars are tremendous for the purpose which I purchased them for and am delighted with the image quality.
I was able to pick out Brown hares at about 80yrds that I could not even see with my naked eye in the near darkness. The detail and brightness was far superior to the naked eye, revealing detail like wood grain / frost crystals etc otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The light transmission properties of the coatings must be very high.
The view through these is what you would call ‘walk in’ being hugely bright, relaxed, effortless and the wide wide field was sharp almost to the edge. In this respect the edge sharpness was superior to any other binoculars I’ve owned to date. The depth of field is also superb and only very minor adjustments to focus were required, again in this respect the depth of field is superior to any binocular I’ve ever owned. Also Meopta state a close focus of 2.9m or thereabouts, to my eyes I could focus them to 1.9m using a tape measure and still having binocular field.
Meopta also don’t advertise the Meostar as having any easy clean or anti mist lense coatings but I had no trouble with these misting up despite the freezing temperatures. I am pretty fat and give off a fair bit of heat..Ha! I have had this problem with other binoculars before and in higher temperatures but not these. I’m happy with these coatings.
Panning around was very smooth also with no globe effect and the flatness of the image brought a smile to my face, as the twilight turned to daylight the tack sharp image and superior contrast told me that these are indeed very high quality glass. I had 5 Woodcock overall and had no trouble following them in flight against a twilight sky. Also getting onto Dunnocks, Coal Tits & Blue Tits in thick woods was effortless. A Grey Wagtail in streamside foliage and a Single Redwing in a Yew in half darkness was also bang on. Target acquisition was first time every time!! Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and Lapwing on the shore were also razor sharp with that greenish sheen from the Lapwings lovely.
In the conditions this morning I found the colours to be very true to life indeed and could personally discern no hint of a warm tone. To my eyes the white frost just looked white. Also in the conditions this morning I couldn’t really see any CA at all and even when it got relatively bright I though it to be very small and insignificant for my purposes.
I don’t doubt that more expensive binoculars using ED or FL Glass may give better contrast (although I have never looked through any ED or FL glass) but I feel that these 7x42 Meoptas give me an image quality at least on a par with a pair of Leica Trinovid 10x32BN I once owned ( obviously the Meopta being far brighter ) and the Meopta image is far superior in all respects in comparison to a pair of Pentax DCF SP 8x32 that I currently own and that are in the same price range (although the Pentax has no build quality issues other than a duff rainguard).
In summation I would say that to date these are my favourite Binoculars and I have no regrets about purchasing them. They are a pleasure to use and having used 8x and 10x binoculars before I now think 7x is an ideal format for me. I can find no fault with the image and can’t find anything critical to say about it at all although I am no optics buff. It is superb. There are a few tiny wee minor niggles with the build quality of my example in my opinion but with a 30yr guarantee and the very reasonable price tag I am still happy. For the price it is now my opinion that you won’t match them for all round image quality and I agree with others in these forums who’s advice I followed about these Meoptas .
I would love to own a pair of Zeiss Victory 7x42FL Lotutec in Green and I was saving for them, but at a price of around £800 more than this Meopta I am asking myself can it be Justified?!?
I had a chance today to go out for 4 hours with my new Meopta Meostar B1 7x42 Binoculars and put them through their paces. -6 degrees freezing cold 1hr before sunrise. What follows is some personal opinions of my first impressions and hope they are of use to someone on the forum considering buying a pair of these.
BUILD QUALITY:
First impressions on build quality are very good with a few small exceptions.
They fit very well in the hand with a very nice stable balance and the hinge for inter pupil distance was smooth with a nice resistance moving well although I did notice that the very thick rubber armour was catching slightly on the hinge if you pressed down on the rubber while operating the hinge raising the rubber up slightly as it moved over the round hinge, also the green rubber armour can be slightly depressed both sides of the focussing barrel by pushing it down with a finger, it’s as if there is a small gap between the green rubber armour and the hard body underneath, a small observation and not a major problem but I feel the rubber armour could be better fitting in this area. Over the rest of the body the armour is snugly fitted to the aluminium chassis. Don’t let this observation put you off as it is minor and can’t be noticed when using the binocular in the field but it is a fact (well on my model anyway). Also the small Meopta insignia (sticker) on the top of the binocular was not completely stuck down on my example being ever so slightly raised at the edge.
The Focus barrel was also smooth and well designed with no play and just the correct resistance for my taste. The dioptre adjustment however is non lockable and sits closer to the face than the focus barrel but it is separated from it by a hard non moving plastic ring. So setting dioptre is just the same as focusing and works well although I suppose the possibility of moving the setting by accident does exist compared to for example locking dioptres on the eyepiece of other makes. The focusing barrel is wide enough that in practice during the 4 hour outing I did not accidentally move the dioptre setting even with thick gloves on and also the dioptre ring is slightly click type graduated and does not rotate as freely as the focus barrel so altogether this is a well designed and secure mechanism in my opinion.
The twist up eyecups were also to my liking and there was no danger of them being pushed in by accident while applying the rainguard. Just up or down, not stop click and similar in design to a Trinovid. I don’t wear glasses so I can’t say very much about eye relief only that I was able to obtain a perfect view instantly and every time I raised the binocular to my eye bang! A big perfect view that needed no adjustment of my head.
The rainguards and objective covers are of rubber and I felt worked well although I did feel the rainguard operated better when attached to the strap on both sides and slid up and down as opposed to only attached at the left or right, once attached it didn’t pop off by accident when attached to both straps. The objective covers are held on by friction rings and give a reasonable grip to the objective barrels. I lost one in the dark before sunrise and only found it again by retracing my steps about a mile....a small miracle! When I got home I realised that if you push the rings further down the barrel away from the objective lenses the grip gets snugger and far more secure, if you have the rings right up at the objective edge they may get lost as mine did. The fit of the round rubber covers into the objectives is good and secure and have a small tab for popping them open which again works well.
The strap lugs are slightly recessed and of a hard plastic, the strap is 4cm approx 1.5” wide and of a neoprene type outer with anti slip type inside fabric and a circular Meopta logo sewn into the centre on the outside, it also has a fabric strip sewn along the outside edges to give a neat finish. As the strap nears the lugs it joins to a nylon strap attached by a faux leather tab with a rivet saying Meopta on it. The straps are adjusted by a silvery colour metal buckle which I don’t like. Overall the strap is perfectly functional but I was rather disappointed with it, I thought I was going to be getting the strap you see on the Meopta website, the big chunky number with the square shaped air cells, this strap I have is just average!! The carry bag on my example is green nylon, not wool or felt and does the job just fine. Snug fit to the binoculars button lock. I don’t use the carry bag with my binoculars anyway so cannot comment any more. It looks fine to me.
The eye and objective lenses look very big and generous and have a solid look to them, bluish / purplish coatings and looking inside the tube the black finish to the barrels is superb and everything looks very neat and exact.
The binocular can be attached to a tripod.
In my box there was no from to register the binocular only the warranty card and binocular booklet. I contacted a chap named Jon at Marchwood ( the UK Importer for Meopta )and he is sending me one in the post, very helpful with great communication about 3 emails in the one day! ) Any Meostar purchased after 01/12/2010 qualifies for the new 30yr Meopta warranty which is generous.
So thats about it for my first impressions of the build quality. Overall I would say that I am pleased with the build quality and happy to own these binoculars, although my example was not built as well with a Leica Trinovid I once owned but it was £200 cheaper. Also the entire package presentation etc was not as classy as Leica. That is another of my small observations and probably meaningless.
THE VIEW:
I went out in the dark so I could judge twilight performance then full daylight. ( I tripped over a frozen horse shit and that’s when the Objective cover came off!!! That’s where I found it on the way back) Like I say -6 degrees celsius and freezing with a clear sky. I purchased 7x42 mainly for Owling and I have lots of Woodcock nearby also. I walked through open pasture, closed woodland edge, enclosed woodland and open shoreline.
I would use the word superb to explain the optical performance of these binoculars. Never having used a 7x before I am now a convert as to my eyes the -1 magnification was not even noticeable but the view was noticeably more relaxed wider and brighter than an 8x in my opinion. I am very glad I purchased these as they are a joy to look through. These binoculars are tremendous for the purpose which I purchased them for and am delighted with the image quality.
I was able to pick out Brown hares at about 80yrds that I could not even see with my naked eye in the near darkness. The detail and brightness was far superior to the naked eye, revealing detail like wood grain / frost crystals etc otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The light transmission properties of the coatings must be very high.
The view through these is what you would call ‘walk in’ being hugely bright, relaxed, effortless and the wide wide field was sharp almost to the edge. In this respect the edge sharpness was superior to any other binoculars I’ve owned to date. The depth of field is also superb and only very minor adjustments to focus were required, again in this respect the depth of field is superior to any binocular I’ve ever owned. Also Meopta state a close focus of 2.9m or thereabouts, to my eyes I could focus them to 1.9m using a tape measure and still having binocular field.
Meopta also don’t advertise the Meostar as having any easy clean or anti mist lense coatings but I had no trouble with these misting up despite the freezing temperatures. I am pretty fat and give off a fair bit of heat..Ha! I have had this problem with other binoculars before and in higher temperatures but not these. I’m happy with these coatings.
Panning around was very smooth also with no globe effect and the flatness of the image brought a smile to my face, as the twilight turned to daylight the tack sharp image and superior contrast told me that these are indeed very high quality glass. I had 5 Woodcock overall and had no trouble following them in flight against a twilight sky. Also getting onto Dunnocks, Coal Tits & Blue Tits in thick woods was effortless. A Grey Wagtail in streamside foliage and a Single Redwing in a Yew in half darkness was also bang on. Target acquisition was first time every time!! Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and Lapwing on the shore were also razor sharp with that greenish sheen from the Lapwings lovely.
In the conditions this morning I found the colours to be very true to life indeed and could personally discern no hint of a warm tone. To my eyes the white frost just looked white. Also in the conditions this morning I couldn’t really see any CA at all and even when it got relatively bright I though it to be very small and insignificant for my purposes.
I don’t doubt that more expensive binoculars using ED or FL Glass may give better contrast (although I have never looked through any ED or FL glass) but I feel that these 7x42 Meoptas give me an image quality at least on a par with a pair of Leica Trinovid 10x32BN I once owned ( obviously the Meopta being far brighter ) and the Meopta image is far superior in all respects in comparison to a pair of Pentax DCF SP 8x32 that I currently own and that are in the same price range (although the Pentax has no build quality issues other than a duff rainguard).
In summation I would say that to date these are my favourite Binoculars and I have no regrets about purchasing them. They are a pleasure to use and having used 8x and 10x binoculars before I now think 7x is an ideal format for me. I can find no fault with the image and can’t find anything critical to say about it at all although I am no optics buff. It is superb. There are a few tiny wee minor niggles with the build quality of my example in my opinion but with a 30yr guarantee and the very reasonable price tag I am still happy. For the price it is now my opinion that you won’t match them for all round image quality and I agree with others in these forums who’s advice I followed about these Meoptas .
I would love to own a pair of Zeiss Victory 7x42FL Lotutec in Green and I was saving for them, but at a price of around £800 more than this Meopta I am asking myself can it be Justified?!?
