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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

New released Swaro CL Companion 8x30 B (5 Viewers)

All,

Had the binoculars out and was viewing after sunset in the dark when the street lights and porch lights were on. Of the 4 binoculars, I wasn't able to see anymore or less when using the x32 or the x30. However, I was able to see a little bit more when using the Leica x42. My preference on this criteria is the Leica.

CG
 
All,

Had the binoculars out and was viewing after sunset in the dark when the street lights and porch lights were on. Of the 4 binoculars, I wasn't able to see anymore or less when using the x32 or the x30. However, I was able to see a little bit more when using the Leica x42. My preference on this criteria is the Leica.

CG

CG:

It seems your thoughts and ideas are all over the place, on how to
rate binoculars.

Welcome to the club.

Don't worry, we won't hold it against you. ;)

Jerry
 
Had the binoculars out viewing around the neighborhood, an environment rich with perpendicular and parallel lines: horizontal and vertical siding, rectangular windows and doors, mullions and muntins and panels, brick coursing, fence picket and rail, and so on. Of the 4 the swarovski had the least pin cushion distortion. It was similar to the Zeiss but a smidgen less. The Leica and Maven a noticeable step to being more traditional in this regard. I tend to prefer less pincushion in the man made environment and more in the non man made environment; on this criteria my preference seems to be conditional. So, no winner here.

CG
 
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Hi All,

First hike of the season and took the CL 8x30's along. Had the strap on and the binocular dangling about my neck. About 3 miles and only used them a couple of times. Not much to report here....

Second hike of the season and took the CL 8x30's along. This time w/o strap and carried them in the outer pocket of my day pack; this is my preferred way to hike with binoculars. Went 10.5 miles mostly on dry/wet trails, but did have to use trail crampons for about 2.5 miles at higher elevations where the trails were still covered in snow. Had the binoculars out on 3 occasions for about 15 to 20 minutes per occasion. 1st viewing was of 200+ head of elk from 30 to 80 yards laying/grazing in a large valley. Lighting conditions must have been pretty difficult as there was a haze that blew in from Arizona forest fires and some snow covered areas were still on the ground and reflecting light. Was amused by a Magpie that perched atop the head of a cow which she didn't seem to mind the company. Views were showing considerable glare and CA off axis and not so far off axis. Didn't have anything on hand to compare it to, but suspect other glass wouldn't be much different. 2nd viewing was of a group of four bulls with antler starting back and covered in velvet. Pretty much the same here but the haze was more distracting than anything. Third viewing was at a higher elevation lake and watched a Stellar Jay, Barn Swallow, and Crow among aspen trees with rippled water and lily pad just starting to poke thru the surface. These views were brilliant... the blues, blacks, and yellow color of the birds and the white grey black of the aspen trunks and branches and the unfocused rippled water as backdrop... if there was only a button to take a picture! Only complaint I have here is the view seemed flat and lacked 3D quality.... otherwise really nice views.

Well that is a typical hiking scenario for me. Walk a lot and view little but for a longer period of time (probably resting and catching my breath). My preference is to haul the extra size and weight of the x30/32 format and enjoy their comfort of use and forgo the pocket models.

On the down side unfortunately, the hinge end cap detached while I was using the binocular but was lucky enough to notice and was able to find the piece to reattach later. If you are wondering what it looks like under the end cap... well here's a pic.

CG
 

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I've been receiving this question from a few people. They are all very good binoculars!!!

Choosing which is best ... well there is no standout. You need to look at it as they are all very good with their own set of qualities (positive and negative). At times one will shine a bit more than the others, or shine a bit less - and it is always changing which one it is.

Your personal preferences will be the biggest deciding factor among them.

CG
 
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These sound quite amazing. I currently have a 10x42 SLC which I enjoy but have been hoping to find something smaller and with faster focusing for warbler seasons. Has anyone tried both and what would I be missing if I switched to the 10x30? I’m assuming detail in lower light but how noticeable would the difference be?

I bought my wife a conquest 8x32 hd a few years ago and was always extremely happy with the super sharp view except for the very cold dead colors which I couldn’t deal with. I’m hoping that this would be as good as the zeiss but with the nice swaro colors.
 
These sound quite amazing. I currently have a 10x42 SLC which I enjoy but have been hoping to find something smaller and with faster focusing for warbler seasons. Has anyone tried both and what would I be missing if I switched to the 10x30? I’m assuming detail in lower light but how noticeable would the difference be?

I bought my wife a conquest 8x32 hd a few years ago and was always extremely happy with the super sharp view except for the very cold dead colors which I couldn’t deal with. I’m hoping that this would be as good as the zeiss but with the nice swaro colors.



I don't think that switching to a 10x30 will help you as much as switching to an 8 power binocular will.

Keep your 10x42 SLC and get the Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 B instead of another 10 power binocular. I have the Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 B and it is a remarkably good binocular! By far the best 8x30/32 I have ever used! It is very sharp and its colors are first rate.

You will get greater Depth of Field and a wider Field of View using an 8x42 or an 8x30/32 for warbler season. As a result, your focusing will be more efficient when you are following the warblers through the foliage.

Bob
 
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These sound quite amazing. I currently have a 10x42 SLC which I enjoy but have been hoping to find something smaller and with faster focusing for warbler seasons. Has anyone tried both and what would I be missing if I switched to the 10x30? I’m assuming detail in lower light but how noticeable would the difference be?

I bought my wife a conquest 8x32 hd a few years ago and was always extremely happy with the super sharp view except for the very cold dead colors which I couldn’t deal with. I’m hoping that this would be as good as the zeiss but with the nice swaro colors.

Weird, I find the Conquest a bit on the warm side, colour-wise, a bit creamy whites but I'd never call the view cold, not even close.
 
Weird, I find the Conquest a bit on the warm side, colour-wise, a bit creamy whites but I'd never call the view cold, not even close.

There must be quite a sample variation in the conquests because mine are nowhere near warm. Zeiss camera lenses are also very similar in that they tend to be on the cool side of neutral. I have read that they tend to favor blue light in their coatings because it increases the sense of brightness. Tvs I’m ahowrooms also bump up blue light levels to make th screens seem brighter, which consumers seem to like.

The only zeiss I’ve ever used that did not have a cool cast is an 8x32 terra that I bought for my father in law. It had a slightly warm cast and amazing optics for the price.
 
I don't think that switching to a 10x30 will help you as much as switching to an 8 power binocular will.

Keep your 10x42 SLC and get the Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 B instead of another 10 power binocular. I have the Swarovski CL Companion 8x30 B and it is a remarkably good binocular! By far the best 8x30/32 I have ever used! It is very sharp and its colors are first rate.

You will get greater Depth of Field and a wider Field of View using an 8x42 or an 8x30/32 for warbler season. As a result, your focusing will be more efficient when you are following the warblers through the foliage.

Bob

Yes I realize that an 8x42/30 would give me a wider fov over a 10x but I enjoy the extra magnification. I can’t justify 2 alphas for myself. I’m just curious if the seemingly magic 10x30 cl b is as easy to the eye as a 10x42 SLC? The SLC has a very slow focusing mechanism.
 
These binos are what they are, and they are small, but not TOO small. I replaced a set of 8x20 swarovski pockets because I didn't care for their dual hinges, they were a little difficult to keep steady, and their FOV wasn't quite holding their ground for my line of work. So in comes the CL companion 8x30's. I was looking for small/light single hinge binos as I backpack them to work daily. I got the wild nature bag because it looked the most compact. It fits into a pocket inside my backpack and the bag itself stays there. I just zip the top of the bag open and remove the binos while the bag stays in place in my pack. The setup is working perfect for me so far.

These new CL companions may be just a tad small to be primary binos for some folks' taste. I have average size hands that measure 8 inches from base of wrist to tip of middle finger and 3.75 inches from side to side of my palm; I usually wear a US medium size glove. When I have these 8x CL's in my viewing configuration of no strap connected and interpupillary distance of 2.5 inches I most often find myself using one hand to hold then. My single hand wraps around over half of the entire frame. It's hard to explain without a picture, but my thumb crosses under one whole barrel and my thumb tip rests in the thumb grove of the opposite barrel. Similarly on top of the frame, my index finger lays completely over the focus wheel until the wheel rests in the first joint of my finger. My middle finger wraps over the hinge while my ring finger and pinky wrap around the single barrel. The frame fits very snug and secure in my hand, but to move the focus wheel I need to lift my index finger, thus making my single hand grip not quite as secure.

At first I thought everything seemed a little stiff; the hinge, the eye cups and the focus knob. Maybe I have gotten used to them or loosened everything up a bit, but nothing is over stiff after a month of daily use. I am glad that the focus knob is the size that it is, any smaller would make it difficult to spin with one finger tip being at the torque that it is. Now it is "just right" I'd say.

I cannot complain about the diopter on thees as many people have. I leave it at zero for all the viewing I do and it just simply hasn't been a nuisance at all. Why do people need to change the diopter often? Does their +/- difference change that much when viewing at multiple distances?

I do not wear correction glasses but often wear sunglasses. The eye cups closed makes a good eye relief for my glasses, but I need to extend the interpupillary diastance to about 2.7 inches. Without glasses and the eye cups extended makes for perfect eye relief with the eye cups just very lightly pressed into my eye socket. I have literally zero blackout issues with these binos, and being as small as they are it is surprising.

Optically they are crystal clear. FOV is on par with what I needed for my line of work. Often at work there are pairs of Steiner, Fujinon and/or Nikon mariner 7x50's available. (I don't like using them for fear of contracting pink eye). The CL Companions outperform them in every way besides FOV size, but the edges of the x50's are all grainy it seems. In overcast situations the swaros really shine with much better color and true sharpness throughout, whereas the others seem to become more and more gray, lacking color contrasts.

With these new CL Companion 8x30's I got what I needed and that was a small, rugged, single hinge bino that gets packed around and used A LOT! In no way is this a complaint, but their size is just a tad small, then again, that's what I needed. But if I'm replacing these in 10 years, I might look into a set of 8x32 EL's. I think I'd like their hinged exit pupil covers and of course their ergonomics. Not much need for better glass than these companions to be honest. They are as good as it gets IMO, or at least as good as it needs to be. I don't think the 5 extra oz of weight on the EL's would slow me down since I hardly never use the neck strap. Mostly I'll need to consider if the EL double price can be afforded when the time comes and it it's worth the ergonomics and swinging exit covers.

For now, I am ecstatic with these sleek little companions.
 
Blackout seems greater in 10x rather than 8x

I tried the original version CL 8x30 and I got blackout. I also tried the Nikon Monarch 7 in 8x30 and got blackout.
Same with Opticron BGA 6x32.

Will try the new CL in 8x30 and see how it goes 😀

I tested both 8x and 10x at an RSPB equipment day at the weekend and found the 10x gave me some blackout and the 8x felt like it was on the verge of doing so, but a minor shift in eye position (I wear spectacles) or pulling out the eye cups a fraction kept it at bay. I guess this is always a potential problem for the poor sighted - oh and by the way it always amuses me how no specatacles wearer ever talks about the quality fo the lenses on their nose ;)

The 10x worked really well looking into dark foliage I found and gave a crisp image, but alas, I think the shake to distant viewing was probably a bit much for sea watching on a breezy cliffside mid February. I was also mindful of some glare at times. However that might be the fixed testing position I had to look from.
 
it always amuses me how no specatacles wearer ever talks about the quality fo the lenses on their nose ;)

That’s probably because you have not asked anyone here. I do find that the modern spectacle lenses derived from the Punktal lense design to be quite a step up, especially if your prescription is fairly high. (Marketed as “free form single vision”)

Are you able to hand hold other 10x bins in poor conditions? I sure can’t
 
Has someone compared the companion vs rhe new zeiss victory pocket 8x25 ?

I'm wondering this too. Can the 8x25 really offer a relaxed 8x30 type view other than in low light?

I ask this as I'm seeking a very small bin to complement my SFs. I didn't get on with the Companion at all. Not enough eye relief for glasses, rough focus ( I always seem to have bad luck with Swarovski focusers) utterly perverse diopter design and a strange clippy neck strap system that comes undone on the move so you almost drop your bins and break them, not kidding.
 
I'm wondering this too. Can the 8x25 really offer a relaxed 8x30 type view other than in low light?

I ask this as I'm seeking a very small bin to complement my SFs. I didn't get on with the Companion at all. Not enough eye relief for glasses, rough focus ( I always seem to have bad luck with Swarovski focusers) utterly perverse diopter design and a strange clippy neck strap system that comes undone on the move so you almost drop your bins and break them, not kidding.

Hi Mulli

Didn't you mean 'other than in bright light'?

If by relaxed view you mean ease of lining the bins up with your eyes then I find with the Pockets that after I have been using 32s it takes about 5 minutes of use to get me used to how to place them. I don't find them difficult it this respect but I do need those few minutes 'practice' after using 32mm bins which are a little more forgiving as regards the EP but only by just under 1mm.

Personally I would prefer a 32mm as a constant companion but the Pockets are great performers and I am not surprised quite a few people on here have said that they could use them all the time.

Lee
 
Hi Lee and thanks for the advice.You got me confused now! Definitely mean other than low light as I wouldn't expect an 8x25 to compare to an 8x30 in low light.

I don't need an 8x32 as I have a couple, am looking for something smaller but have always disliked x25s. All the favourable reports of the victory pockets have me intrigued though. Smallest bin Ive used and enjoy using is the Bushnell 7x26, mine is knackered now though. Guess I'm just gonna have to order some victory pockets and see for myself, nowhere near me sells them.
To be honest I was not overly impressed by the view from the companion 8x30s even if the eye relief etc.was right for me. My blue sky 2 and 7x36 Sightmark seemed a little sharper to me.
 
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