7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.
WOW..I made the plunge and the view is great !!
Date of Review: Mar 30, 2008
The Bottom Line: If it fits your budget it is worth it..
Having a fair bit of experience with binoculars as a Forward Observer in the Marines and my years of hunting/bird watching I usually do opt for binos in the decent price range of $300-600(which is expensive enough). I've Had Steiner's, the upper end bushnels, and Zeiss models thru the years and could never bring myself to spend this much before..Finally broke down and WOW they are nice.. Regretfully my only pair of decent binos right now are my older Zeiss ClassiC Compacts 10x25 and a pair of 10x50 Bushell Legend porros, I love the Zeiss for bowhunting and the Bushnells work well for birding, so this isn't really fair comparison, but to give you the idea of the difference in clarity I will bring up something I just noticed.
I noticed my other binos had an ever so slight dullness to them compared to the EL's.. To describe this clarity difference I tell the following: I was playing with the EL's inside my house when I looked out the window screen , focusing on the trees in the backyard. The Swarovski view thru the screen looks almost like the clear unobstructed view thru the other binos that is the honest truth and the best way to describe the difference in clarity.
I was surprised since I have always been very happy with the other binos and considering the small Zeiss 10x25 objective maybe not a fair comparison, but what a difference..
One thing for anyone thinking about going with the 15x SLC ( I know I was once considering them since I have so many 10x binos and even have a cheaper pair of 15x pentax) It is no joke..These things are so incredible clear that even at 10x your heartbeat/pulse can jiggle the view you see, 15x would make the picture really jerky.. With the cheap binos this is just not so noticible, because their detail is not good enough to catch this..I use my Zeiss 10x25's all the time and never notice it too bad, but with the Swarovski I literally notice my pulse, the view is so perfect, so don't go to 15x unless you have a tripod.
My only real complaint is I personally don't like the eyecup protector set up..It is a hard plastic one-piece design. I would prefer some type of softer rubber, but that's just me.
Cabela's
