A good 10x32 for around $500 or less? (1 Viewer)

black crow said:

When I first drifted out west from Mich. in about 75 I ended up in a tiny town of 400 called Gasquet Ca. Right at the forks of the Smith River which IMO and many others is the most beautiful undammed river in the US. Easy to see the bottom at 30-40 ft and holes that get to 100 ft deep. That town was 15 miles from Crescent City and the Redwoods on Hwy 199. It was pure accident I ended up there and for 9 months I just hiked and fished on the river. Then my money ran out and I moved to Seattle to follow a dream of studying Martial Arts with one of Bruce Lee's first students, James DeMile. Seattle was my first big city and I really loved it there for 11 years until I left and ended in my little town here right on the southern border of Oregon. If you ever get out this way you are invited to visit as long as you like dogs. And you must bring some of your favorite optics for me to look through.

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Wow, Gasquet sounds like a pretty place with the Smith River! And only 15 miles from the Redwoods! No wonder! Well, you sure got around to see some nice places, no doubt. Oh, not much chance of us getting out to the West Coast, but thanks for the invite-and yes, we like all critters, great and small! ; )

Hey, glad to hear the Meoptas arrived, but I can see you're having some reservations. Sometimes it takes a little while to bond with these things, sometimes not-no hurry, see how it goes. I had a pair of Meopros (not HD) in 6.5x that had a very light focuser too like that. It's good for tracking quick birds in flight, but it can take some getting used to.

Don't know why they appear higher in power, but I've felt that way too at times myself when comparing bins. Good luck with your trial-sometimes it's easier not to compare and just use them and see what happens how you get along. And have fun!

Yeah that's the plan, just use them now. I've learned to take a more cautious approach to new bins as in my "youthful" enthusiasm in the past I'd get all gaga and unrealistic about the pros, and then see the down sides once the placebo effect had worn off. In the past just because I had chosen them after a lot of research I had a certain bias and would defend the choice. I'm getting over that little ego barrier. I've lived long enough to see many a best idea become what it actually was. A not so hot idea. I have 30 days as I got them from SportOptics. It was my first buy from them and I will say they actually packed the binos well for shipment. Something I just don't see elsewhere. Of course they specialize in high end optics.

That's a smart way to look at it-cautious yet open to the possibilities! Good to hear Sport Optics actually packs their binoculars like they should be-so many do not, even those who deal in optics as a large part of their business.

Wishing you the best possible outcome for you!

I spent some hours evaluating these today. I'm going to state that overall the best value by far is the Celestron Trailmasters at $189. Anyone looking for a very good 10x32 in the $200 price range would do well to check these out. They give a more comfortable view and have a less noticeable drop off from the sweet spot which is as big or bigger than the Meopro and are a little less soft at the outer edges.

The Meopro wins in center resolution by just a bit. However that "bit" is worth something because when looking at the right thing I got that (wow) a couple of times than I don't quite get with the Celestron's. They are brighter and have just a little more FOV and I still get the impression they have more power than the Celestron's and I can't figure that out. I didn't think that the eyecups were too small really but they have a hard straight edge that felt less comfortable than the more rounded Celestron eye cup and they are a fair bit heavier and much larger. Overall I still think they are a good binocular and I may keep them but they aren't worth $250 more than the Celestron IMO. Not even close to be honest.
I'm going to give it another day or two and see how I feel.

OK final post on this. The more I use the Meopta the more I like it which is often the case beyond first impressions for me. That fast focus was unusual for me and I had trouble with it but now I'm more used to it it is fine and I might even grow to prefer it. The optics are really very good overall. It's kinda heavy compared to most of my other 32s but easy enough with a harness. So I've decided to keep it as I think it will continue to grow on me with continued use. The one thing I forgot to mention in relation to the Celestron I compared it to is I like the neutral color of the Meopta view. The Celestron is a little warm or something for my taste. Things look a little more natural color wise in the Meopro.

I think I'm done buying now for awhile and maybe for good at my age. I've got my bases covered and a backups for the sizes I like. It's been fun going on a hunt and a little buying spree like the "old daze" and connecting with this forum again. Not being much of an optics expert (understatement) I likely won't have much to say anymore which is kinda sad for me as I really think very highly of most of the posters here and enjoy much of the conversation. Nice folk that you are. Be well. -john

Edit: 52 Elk off my upper back deck this afternoon at around 2pm. First Elk I've seen this winter on the mountainside. Scoped them out in the Oberwerk 25x100s but first spotted them in the Meopro's when comparing them to the Swarovski binos.

Hello, goodbye!

black crow said:

OK final post on this. The more I use the Meopta the more I like it which is often the case beyond first impressions for me. That fast focus was unusual for me and I had trouble with it but now I'm more used to it it is fine and I might even grow to prefer it. The optics are really very good overall. It's kinda heavy compared to most of my other 32s but easy enough with a harness. So I've decided to keep it as I think it will continue to grow on me with continued use. The one thing I forgot to mention in relation to the Celestron I compared it to is I like the neutral color of the Meopta view. The Celestron is a little warm or something for my taste. Things look a little more natural color wise in the Meopro.

I think I'm done buying now for awhile and maybe for good at my age. I've got my bases covered and a backups for the sizes I like. It's been fun going on a hunt and a little buying spree like the "old daze" and connecting with this forum again. Not being much of an optics expert (understatement) I likely won't have much to say anymore which is kinda sad for me as I really think very highly of most of the posters here and enjoy much of the conversation. Nice folk that you are. Be well. -john

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Hey John!

Oh, no, no, you're not gettin' out of here that easy, mister, I can tell you that!!! Think you can come back here and make us like you again, and then just leave when you FEEL like it? No way! We enjoyed reading your posts as much as you did getting some help and comraderie along the way too.

If you're having a bad day, that's OK, we all have them, even the young'uns. If you're in pain, don't worry, just feel better and come back when you feel up to it. Stick around, seriously, we need your take on the world and the way you express it. Poke me if I'm wrong, guys, but I for one would miss you here. I could go on, but I won't out of respect for you-I will leave you alone for now.

By the way, if someone here pi**ed you off, then welcome to the big club, as this forum thing ain't a perfect world where you can read everyone's true meaning in just words. It happens all the time in forums, but I would rather misunderstand someone than to not have this kind of communication. For a loner, this is the way I like it-you can come and go at will, but you can't just say sayonara and expect us to sit still for that, can you, BC?!

It's nice to hear you've made your peace with the Meopta, and think it will serve you well, but I have a problem with the rest of your signoff! Anybody else care to tell Mr Crow here something too?

PS John, glad to see you edited your post, and had something else to say about what you observed. Otherwise...! ; )

I'm not saying I'm gone for good then lol. I'm saying I likely won't post much from here on out because I don't have much to say about optics now that I'm stocked up. I'm not the guy to be evaluating these fine optics. I really don't have the skills to make reliable evaluations, at least until I've owned a pair for several months. I jump to conclusions too easily about things I'm not that sure of and two weeks later I realize I was dead wrong about something I stated like gospel lol.

I like to dabble and be around the ones who can do a serious evaluation because I learn what to buy without having to do all the research myself. I wish I had more to contribute but from this point I'll just be talking about what I'm seeing in the binoculars and that's mostly just interesting to me and I go on and on about that because I don't know anyone (well one person slightly) here in town who gives a you know what about good binoculars or what you see in them. I'm glad to hear however I haven't got on anyones nerves. (yet) Nobody here has bugged me so that's not an issue. Maybe this site should have a lounge forum for small talk about binos day to day. I'd feel more comfortable talking somewhat off topic.

Anyway thanks for your support. I'm digging the Meopro more each day. The issue was never the quality of these fine binoculars but rather me getting used to using them. I put them head to head against the Swarovski's today and in the center I prefered the natural color of the Meopro and to my eyes I could see no difference in sharpness. Swarovski's are pretty sharp out to the edge however and the Meopro's aren't but that's the only advantage they have to these older model Swarovski's IMO.
I spent maybe half the day looking through several binoculars today and that was a fun day for me. And seeing all those elk in the sunny mountain side was really great because I didn't think I'd see them this year. I'm actually very impressed with the views in Oberwerk's 25x100s. They are about a $500 optic used for Astronomy but I love to use them on the hillsides because they do surprisingly well and you get some real close ups. I have seen people on Grizzly peak sharing a joint and that's got to be several miles?? from my deck.

Maybe we should do the Binocular forum meetup at my place this year? I have a great sound system and I have no house rules. lol. That would be cool to pass around all these amazing optics that all the great folk here have amassed. I'd never see many of them any other way.

So, as you see if you give me a reason to talk I will and I won't have said very much at all when it's over. Take care.

Glad to hear you will be sticking around and adding your spin to things when you have something to say. And that you had a good day besides viewing the world outside. We had a good snowstorm here, and I got to see some nice snowy pictures through my bins today, from the inside comfort of my bedroom!

I'm the same way too sometimes-it can take me a while to get used to something new, especially binoculars.

Oh, I don't think we have to get all technical just to talk about stuff here as long as it relates to bins in some way. But you're right, many forums have places like that, which I don't visit anyway. I'm not a talker, but I have a lot to learn about binoculars, so I stick around here and meet some good people in the process.

Enjoy your Meoptas, and let us know about how the selfie stick works for you.

You're not a talker? Guess again. lol.

Yeah, not a talker, but I do babble on when I'm typing simply because I have trouble using my words to get simple thoughts through! That's how my brain works, I'm afraid! ; )

But yeah, I'd rather be out in the woods, all alone, to any of this. But I try to be of help and support, the little I can do to contribute, anyway, because some of you here are pretty nice people. lol