Thread: What Binoculars are you using?

I've gone through about 6 pairs of highend euro binos over the past 3 years @Ryan_Songhurst lol, but I've now settled for a pair of 50 year old Zeiss 6x30 porros. At the top end, I don't think glass quality has changed much throughout the years. Coatings and waterproofing have improved substantially, but build quality has been dropping like a stone. Even in the $3k plus range - they feel cheap compared to the older stuff which were made like swiss watches.

Every model has its niggles, no matter how much you spend. And my current old farts, while offering more field of view, and a more 3 dimensional image, aren't as impervious to weather.

I've had a Zeiss Victory FL which had the plastic logo fall off. Leica Geovid HD B with a squeaky hinge. Had a Swaro EL 8.5x42 with quite a lot of ghosting (image goes hazy) in bright light conditions (whereas Leica and Zeiss have better stray light control).

Nothing's perfect.

If I was going to do it again, I'd buy a pair of brand new Swarovski Habicht 10x42's. They're freakin amazing image quality wise and the build quality is fantastic. Better than any roof prism bino I've looked through. $1500 rrp. However, they lag behind in ergonomics and won't suit people who wear glasses (not enough eye relief).