Buying binos sucks

[FREAK]

AFAIK NF is made in japan.

I think the Czech factory I was referring to makes most of meoptas product line as well as the spotting scopes for NF. It’s really good glass. Rockslide does some reviews on them comparing them against a lot of the other euro glass and they perform very well for the price. I assume Meopta uses the same glass in their high end binos but I could be wrong. I think you’re right though regarding NF’s rifle scopes.

 

[howl]

There are so few choices with eye relief long enough for eyeglasses, choosing is easy. I'd rather too many choices,l.

 

[BuskaRooskie]

Get Mavin you won't be disappointed.

I’ve been curious about Maven but my concern is they’ll be similar to Vortex… vortex sucks haha what brand do they compare to as far as quality? The price seems reasonable from what I’ve seen and I like that they’re not in retail other then I can’t just go look at them…like Kuiu but optics

 

[Forkyfinder]

I’ve been curious about Maven but my concern is they’ll be similar to Vortex… vortex sucks haha what brand do they compare to as far as quality? The price seems reasonable from what I’ve seen and I like that they’re not in retail other then I can’t just go look at them…like Kuiu but optics

The reality is that most of these optics companies are packagers of vendors in other countries.

If youre curious about maven - using them for a hunting trip (buy/use/return) is awesome. Did that with a spotter to try and also see how much id use one. Wife bought it a few months later for a christmas gift.

 

[BRI]

Reach out to @schmalts and get his recommendation. I got a pair of Meopta from him and the glass is really fantastic for the price.

 

[Ought Six]

Swarovski, you’ll never have to wonder again.

 

[pabearhunter]

HMmm have you thought about going to sports store and looking thru all of them ????? Then deciding which one is better for you !

 

[SCliving Outdoors]

Maven B.2 . Fantastic binos. The only binos I've ever looked through that were better were swaros and they were barely better. They also have awesome customer service and a great warranty.

 

[Fire_9]

I've been really impressed with the Meoptas that I've looked through and can be found for under 1k used. The one pair of mavens I looked through seemed to have a blue tint if I remember right and preferred the Meoptas

 

[schmalts]

AFAIK NF is made in japan.

NF scopes has scopes made in both USA and Japan. The ATACR series is 100% USA to meet government contract rules. The rest is a mix and can come through as either, but both are identical accept for where assembled. The 82mm spotter is the only product made in Meopta factory and is a screaming deal. For whatever reason I can get those much cheaper than the actual Meopta branded version of the identical spotter. I have an angled body version in stock if anyone is interested.

 

[Stone_Ice_1]

I bought a pair of mid range Meoptas 2 years ago and have been very happy with them.

I would be too afraid to get and use something like swaros. After spending all that money on something like that, I would be afraid to take them with me all the time in fear of losing them at some point.

 

[PRO MO]

swaro is the best, but i recently got a screaming deal on some sig 16x with the image stabilization, and man those are sweet for looking at detail. They are no where near the glass of my swaros but for getting detail through higher magnification and image stabilization, i've been very impressed.

 

[WNC2500]

I bought maven 15's and love them. My hunting partner runs swaro ELs and BTX.

They all stay put away unless I'm glassing one spot for over an hour now that I've bought Sig Zulu6 stabilizing binos. Game changers.

Multiple guys have reported that they stopped carrying their Swaro NLs. Sounds insane until you try them in the field.

@Chingon , what is the story on people not using their NL's? Is it that they say the Zulu are better? I looked through a pair of Maven 18x56 on my oryx hunt and was impressed. They were rather lightweight.

 

[rjthehunter]

Another vote for Mavens. I have the B6 10x50. They're amazing for the price.

 

[shannerdrake]

Since we are on the topic, do any of you know anything about German Precision Optics or Bresser Pirsch binos?

I see Costco has them from time to time for what seems like amazing deals. I’ve only ever found info about them on birding sights.

I have a nice set of Meoptas but have been looking for a backup set to keep in the truck and use as loaners.

One day I’m going to save my pennies and get Swaros then my Meoptas will be my backups. But until then…

 

[Chingon]

@Chingon , what is the story on people not using their NL's? Is it that they say the Zulu are better? I looked through a pair of Maven 18x56 on my oryx hunt and was impressed. They were rather lightweight.

Depends on your style of hunt. If you're sitting in one location for more than an hour, alpha glass on a tripod is better.

However, many people like me rarely sit still that long. I'm driving around in my SXS or hiking through wooded ridges. With the Zulus you get 90% of the benefit as alphas on a tripod immediately.

Come around a corner - pop out the Sigs and glass at 16X completely steady within 2 seconds. Boom, clear. I would be 5 minutes into glassing by the time my partner got his BDX setup ready.

At the margins of performance his Swaro 95mm BTX setup was only marginally more effective than my 16X Zulu HDs. I spotted a goat shaped cactus at around 1100-1400yds. Couldn't quite tell if it was an animal or not. With the BTX setup you could just BARELY tell it was a cactus. Not exactly worth $5k more imo when I was doing that freehand.

Caveats: low light isn't great and field of view is limited with Zulus. Also my buddy gets motion sickness and the image stabilization did not agree with him. He was weirdly rocking back and forth when looking through them and couldn't get used to them. YMMV

I would have bet $1000 that Alpha glass on a tripod would mop the floor with these sub $1k binos. They don't.

 

[manitou1]

Meopta was pretty affordable for the quality, I haven’t looked at their pricing lately. From my understanding it’s Czech glass made in the same factory as NF optics.

I’m trying to save up for some NL pures.

They have gone up about 30% the last few years.

 

[BMountaineer]

I assume they're still making Steiners. Couldn't swing that other "S" brand when I was younger. But it's 20 years later, and I can afford them now.....but no need. Am happy with German engineering.

 

[Boarmaster]

I made the big suck in 2004/5 when I coughed up the cash for my swaro ELs. Sucked then but has been a great experience owning them since and never spending or thinking about another set of binos since. I’m sure the update versions are better but I been 100 % satisfied the last 18 years with mine. While my buddies chased every new midrange that promised to be almost as good a swaros for less money.
I may upgrade to a newer version . If I do decide to upgrade I will probably consider used. Or not. LOL.

 

[noharleyyet]

Tier two glass has come light years since my days of 50 dollar Simmons...