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Should I sell the Noctivid 8x42, replace with the new Swarovski 8x42 NL Pure? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter spiralcoil
- Start date
UTGrad
Well-known member
Although it makes perfect sense to try before you buy, having a retailer with the big 3 available to view can be difficult. I am enjoying this thread because I am considering the Noctovids vs the SFs and NLs. Optica Exotica guy on You Tube really heaps on the praise for the colors, sharpness and 3D image of the Noctovids.
How is the low light performance?
How is the low light performance?
Woen
Well-known member
Well I can only speak from experience with the Noctivid in low light conditions. It's quite impressing, was watching some roe deer at sunset and I could see a lot of details even in very low light conditions. Only comparison at that moment was a swaro CL 8*25.
I did compare the Noctivid with the SF and the Swarovski EL. The Noctivid gave me personally the best colours, least glare and no strange lights/colours on the edges. Especially on a clouded day these differences were very clear to me.
UTGrad, notice you are posting in the leica section...... Notice most are saying you need to go try for yourself, and/but most posting here favor Leica's. Comments like "personally best colors" often appear with leica fans. Do you like to see the image with some sort of color bias? Most posters in the Swaro section or even Zeiss, (especially with their new SFLs), will talk about neutral, natural colors. Those folks preferring stuff to look like mother nature intended when peering through binos. Which would you prefer?
I absolutely agree with the dilemma of finding a retailer with all 3 to try, especially in anything resembling the setting you expect to eventually encounter. For example, the local Leica dealer, here in Walnut Creek has a lovely store, beautifully built out with custom cabinetry and stuff displayed for best effect. BUT, its on the second floor in downtown and the only viewing you can do is through a dirty window!
So its good luck with the oft posted try before you buy. Hopefully you are reading comments in the other sections. The input from all this is often contradictory. Most of us have made our choice, spent our money and tend to defend it. It takes awhile to get your hands on 1 or 2 or 3 of the choices, see what you see and compare that with posts to learn who speaks to your experience.
Its all fun, methinks.
I absolutely agree with the dilemma of finding a retailer with all 3 to try, especially in anything resembling the setting you expect to eventually encounter. For example, the local Leica dealer, here in Walnut Creek has a lovely store, beautifully built out with custom cabinetry and stuff displayed for best effect. BUT, its on the second floor in downtown and the only viewing you can do is through a dirty window!
So its good luck with the oft posted try before you buy. Hopefully you are reading comments in the other sections. The input from all this is often contradictory. Most of us have made our choice, spent our money and tend to defend it. It takes awhile to get your hands on 1 or 2 or 3 of the choices, see what you see and compare that with posts to learn who speaks to your experience.
Its all fun, methinks.
UTGrad
Well-known member
Yes it’s a challenge to find a retailer with all 3 alphas here in Nashville, Tennessee. We do have Bass Pro Shops, which is a very large outdoor retailer but I don’t think they have all 3.
Woen
Well-known member
Something else to take into account, a local retailer with a few brands but not all would make me buy one of those brands. They can take care of any warranty or maintenance issues. If there wasn't a Leica option here I would've bought a Zeiss or a Swarovski. They are all good. Very good.
That is my experience with those big guys, to. I visited an outdoor writer friend in Johnson City, Jonesboro for several years. Tennessee's kind of a treasure.
UTGrad
Well-known member
Yes it’s a very beautiful state, especially the terrain, flora and fauna. My in-laws are Colombian and they say Tennessee’s hills and mountains plus rich vegetation remind them of Colombia.
james holdsworth
Consulting Biologist
Try an HT, Noctivid view with no CA
You are correct. I live down 65 from you in Athens, AL. The emphasis around here is the $70 t0 $500 binocular, that's about it. Cabela's has a few here and there but overall not much selection. The GOOD news is....of the three you are considering there's not a bad choice. I can tell you they are equally "sharp" and light transmission is practically the same. I like all three but if I'm being honest the SF and NL are both a more modern and more thought out design.
UTGrad
Well-known member
Yep I’m in Franklin, TN which has a few exits right off 65. Howdy neighbor!
I’m leaning more towards the NL Pure 8x42 for the tremendous 9.1 viewing angle. That along with the larger exit pupil will suit my needs.
Howdy!
The NL is actually THE one I'd get. I've got the NL 8X32 and I really like it.
I go up to Radnor Lake every once in a while. That's a great birding spot!
UTGrad
Well-known member
I enjoy birding while on tree stand during deer season. I love being out in nature.
Elpha8888
Well-known member
When I first got the NL if I'm completely honest I was expecting the fov to be wider, I was a little let down in that regard, having said that these are the finest bins I have looked through and the only binocular where I have had the sensation of not looking through a binocular which was really special moment. They are the complete package.
This has always happened to me when I enter a bino store. First they say it should be your choise. Than you picked the bino that suits you the best and than they talk you into a Swaro.
Test the binos thouroughly paticulary in situations you plan to use your bino. Take special care when you plan to use it at dawn or dusk. Not all bino's perform well at low and bright sun.
spiralcoil
Well-known member
In a recent whale-watching trip on an inflatable-boat, really appreciated the Leica Noctivid 8x42 optical design, while the boat was in high speed moving skimming through the ocean, I could see no rolling effect at all in the NV, everything in the binoculars views, seabirds, distance ocean views, coastal lines, islands details, fishing boats... was clear, normal and stable! Under the same high speed situation, I wonder what would the viewing feeling be with the Swarovski 8x42 NL?
hopster
Well-known member
Did you like the fact that CA was almost absent by comparison though? This is the main thing that stopped me getting a NV and buying a second hand HT instead (which is also lovely and will be even lovelier when the dust has been removed from the left telescope). I found that if I didn't fix my eyes in exactly the right place I would get very fine lime green and magenta lines on contrast edges, even in the centre. This was even on the 8x which is meant to suffer less from it but it might have been an early one. Is there any evidence that CA has improved over the years of NV production? I would probably want the 10x anyway but that is rumoured to be worse.
John M Robinson
Well-known member
With your sensitivity to CA I really don’t think any Leica will suit you. Like Grandpa Tom pointed out earlier, this is a Leica forum, composed mostly of Leica fans. That not to say they aren’t honest and objective, it just means we’ve kind of filtered out the users for whom CA is a big issue. Me personally, I can see it if I look for it in my 8x42 Ultravid BRs, but it disappears when I center the image and it’s only there on high contrast things, which is rare for me.
