Thread: Zeiss Victory RF vs Swarovski EL Range TA

Looking for feedback on the Zeiss Victory RF binos. If someone has experience comparing them against the Swaro’s then even better.

Bit of background - I have a pair of Swarovski EL Range TA binos and they just don’t fit my face very well. I get shading in the outer edges of my view due to the shape of my face not suiting the way they are designed. I have to hold them in an awkward position to make it go away and have the full view be clear. Quite fustrating because that aside I do really like them.

Cheers

Can't help you on the binoculars mentioned but love my leica 3200s

After selling my old model ELs 18mths ago I took a serious look around at the different options available which boiled down very quickly to the Victory and EL offerings. Now I didn't have use of the various models in the field but it became apparent during my "shopping around" that if I went the RF route the Victory was a much nicer unit than the EL, it just felt nicer to use, more comfortable and a better image in my mind. I liken optics to rifles in that some just "come up" nicely and you know straight away if you're going to get along with a given instrument and the Victory definitely had the edge over the EL in that department.
I'd rather have a standalone rangefinder if a binocular gives anything away optically as a trade-off for having rangefinding function and the normal non rangefinding EL won out over everything I looked at for pure glass performance so that's the way I went. Leica didn't get a look in, in my mind they need to pick their game up massively as they're hedging their bets on their name and the Ultravids/Geovids/Noctivids are nothing remarkable compared to the Swaro and Zeiss offerings, they're nice enough units in their own regard but I just can't get along with them, they're never true to colour for my eyes and it annoys the crap out of me, the likes of the Vortex Razor, Delta Titanium, Nikon HG etc can hang with them easily in the glass department for half the cost.
At the end of the day it is all splitting straws type stuff and there is definitely that law of dimishing returns coming into play when you step up to the alphas but if you're prepared to throw down the dollars then you're doing the right thing by doing some due diligence. My opinion is you definitely won't lose anything by going to the Victory RF but optics can also be a personal thing and you'd be well pressed to go have a look at some.

Bit more background - I’ve had two pairs of Leica prior to the Swaros and did really like them. The last pair just let me down with failures in the rangefinder and my local also refuses to stock them these days due to poor warranty support for those issues that seem to be too common.

I have owned swarovski for over 20 years, having 2, 10x42 range finders during that time. about 18 months ago i decided to update my bino's and changed flavours and went with Leica's,
the 10x42, 2700R model, Worst mistake i could have done, the range finder struggled to get to 1200 m, (2700m is their rating) sent them back to supplier and he sent them back to manufacturer.
Arrived back in due course and i went on a 7 day trip with them, after checking them at home (seemed ok at the time) But they played up from the very first day, so back to the supplier they went
for a full refund.
went looking at bino's again at the local sports shops and narrowed it down to Swaro's and the Zeiss victory's, Nephew had a pair of swaro's, so i tracked down some victory's from a local shop, and went to the Invercargill estuary to compare the 2 pairs side by side.
there was an excavator working on other side of estuary about a km away, comparing the 2 side by side the victory's were better for MY eyes, i could read the contractors name on the side of the digger a lot clearer with the Zeiss than the swaro's.
my nephew didn't think there was much in it between the 2, The Zeiss range about twice as far than the swaro's. (had over 3200y on numerous occasions, rated at about 2500y).
So my advice to you would be, narrow it down to 2 brands and see if you can test them side by side to see which ones suit YOUR eye's, everyone's vision is different so i think it is important to do the testing side by side at the same time.
And do it out of the town or city as you need to compare them at over 1 km distance to get the true experience of each binocular, you won't get this looking 400y down a street in town.

Is anyone running a pair of GPO Rangeguide 2800 RF binos? How do they stack up? Seem to be quite appealing for the price point.

Just got back from an overnighter and my Swaro’s are really starting to annoy me so need to sort out what i’m gonna do.

Stagstalker I've been looking at a pair of those too. I'm a little bothered to see the 10x32s have just gone up in price by $500 at the local h&f though.

What did you end up going with @stagstalker ?

Did you get a chance to look through the GPO or GECO binos? I’m thinking about the GECO for a lightweight non RF option but I’ve been spoiled with using Leicas and sigs and don’t want to be too disappointed in the glass quality.

Originally Posted by stagstalker

Is anyone running a pair of GPO Rangeguide 2800 RF binos? How do they stack up? Seem to be quite appealing for the price point.

Just got back from an overnighter and my Swaro’s are really starting to annoy me so need to sort out what i’m gonna do.

First world problems have you tried the new Swarovski EL?.

Originally Posted by EmpireSafaris

First world problems have you tried the new Swarovski EL?.

Yes I have the new Swarovski EL?

Originally Posted by SPEARONZ

What did you end up going with @stagstalker ?

Did you get a chance to look through the GPO or GECO binos? I’m thinking about the GECO for a lightweight non RF option but I’ve been spoiled with using Leicas and sigs and don’t want to be too disappointed in the glass quality.

Still have the Swaros mate. Haven’t had the chance to look at the GPO’s. I did look at a pair of Zeiss and they fit my face ok but wasn’t that impressed with the focus dial.