Swaro's

[ltdann]

So I'm thinking of upgrading, again. This will be my fourth upgrade in about 10 yrs. I've beening looking at the the swaro's 10x 50 SLC's and am pretty much sold on the quality. It's the price that chokes me up some.

Are they REALLY worth it?

Your thoughts please.

 

[Arrowslinger]

Without a doubt, YES!! I feel Swaro's are the best and if my 10x42 SLC's where to break today, i'd start saving to buy another pair.

 

[Applbit]

Absolutely... ans AS if your swaros broke you could just send them in for repair or a new pair. Swaro certainly treats their customers right.

 

[ltdann]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Applbit @ Oct 6 2008, 08:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Absolutely... ans AS if your swaros broke you could just send them in for repair or a new pair. Swaro certainly treats their customers right.[/b]

I consider myself to be a slightly better than average hunter, but I noticed that folks (men and women) that I consider excellent hunters almost all carry Swaro's. They always seem to come back with bigger and better animals. Now you guys tell me they repair and/or replace? Jeez, decisions, decisions.

 

[DEERSLAM]

Swaro's are AWESOME!
I own 3 Swaro bino's and a spotter and absolutely love them!
Quality and customer service are the best. My Dad dropped his 8x30's and broke a lense. He sent them back to Swarovski and they fixed them free of charge, no questions asked. Doesn't get ant better than that.

 

[SDHNTR]

I'll group Swaros, Leica and top end Zeiss together. They are all comparable. I have Leica Ultravid binos and love them. Well worth the old girlfriend I lost when I bought them. Of course it could have been the Zeiss Diascope that I bought shortly thereafter too. They are worth it over those long legs and that is hard for me to say! The glass on the spotting scope is impeccable. Because of that, I looked through a pair of Zeiss binos with the FL coating and they knocked my socks off. Better than Swaros to my eyes. Try 'em all out, you can't go wrong. It sounds like you are looking to stop upgrading. If that is the case go Swaro, Lecia or Zeiss and be done with it.

If pennies are really tight the Cabelas Euro binocs are very good for the money. I have no experience with them but I also hear excellent reviews from the Vortex Vipers.

 

[ltdann]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (SDHNTR @ Oct 7 2008, 07:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I'll group Swaros, Leica and top end Zeiss together. They are all comparable. I have Leica Ultravid binos and love them. Well worth the old girlfriend I lost when I bought them. Of course it could have been the Zeiss Diascope that I bought shortly thereafter too. They are worth it over those long legs and that is hard for me to say! The glass on the spotting scope is impeccable. Because of that, I looked through a pair of Zeiss binos with the FL coating and they knocked my socks off. Better than Swaros to my eyes. Try 'em all out, you can't go wrong. It sounds like you are looking to stop upgrading. If that is the case go Swaro, Lecia or Zeiss and be done with it.

If pennies are really tight the Cabelas Euro binocs are very good for the money. I have no experience with them but I also hear excellent reviews from the Vortex Vipers.[/b]

Money's always tight! LOL. In reality, I'm just frugal. The wife calls it tightfisted cheapskate and it's a big chunk out of the secret hunting budget.

Yep, I just want to stop buying binos, use them for a few seasons and then decide "there must be something better". I like the swaro's but the cost makes me hesitate. For that money, I can do a buffalo hunt in colorado and I wouldn't need good binos for that.

Whatever I decide, I'll take them to the Spring POR at Tejon, thats for sure.

 

[Applbit]

A little story about Swaro customer service.

I used to work at a sporting goods store and a gentleman came in one day with a old pair of swaro binos(dont even know what they were) but they were in really rough shape and he asked if we could send them in for him.

I told him i wasnt sure what swaro would be able to do for him since they were so old and so beat up. Well i sent them in and about 2 weeks later a brand new pair of EL's showed up for the him. Swaro said that since they didnt have any parts to repair the old ones and since they were the top of the line ones back in the day that they just replaced them with the current top of the line model.

Id say that is a pretty good deal!!!

 

[ltdann]

Wow, you do get what you pay for! Great story.

 

[Arrowslinger]

Applbit, great comments on the Swaro warranty. One of the guys in our hunting party a few weeks ago had some older SLC's, he was at a gun store and was looking for a part that fell off of'em, the guy behind the counter said "lets just send'em in", they did and when the glass came back, they were fully recoated, cleaned, and looked like new glass. I always forget about the great warranty, which is a HUGE selling feature and another reason to buy'em.

I'll also second what Nate said, the Leica glass is great, i'm not a huge Zeiss fan, but you can't go wrong with any of these.

 

[betelgeuse]

I have a set of 10 x 42 Kahles which have been very good to me.

Kahles is owned by the same company as Swarovski, they are around $800-850.

I dropped them on the driveway out of my truck one day and freaked, picked them up and they still work great.

The Swaros are great binos no doubt.

 

[Coues]

I used to think that there wasn't much difference between the mid level glass the true top end models. Then I bought some Swarovski 15's because the deal was too good to pass up (Brand new in the box with USA warranty for $1600). The difference is unbelievable.

 

[Speckmisser]

If Swaro had a range-finding binocular, that's what I'd own. Since they don't, I have the Leica.

I spent a long time trying to convince myself that, while the high dollar stuff is worth it, I just couldn't afford it. But honestly, when you're talking this kind of quality, you really can't afford not to.

Definitely worth it. It won't make you a better hunter, but it will definitely make you better equipped.

 

[Applbit]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arrowslinger @ Oct 8 2008, 02:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

Applbit, great comments on the Swaro warranty. One of the guys in our hunting party a few weeks ago had some older SLC's, he was at a gun store and was looking for a part that fell off of'em, the guy behind the counter said "lets just send'em in", they did and when the glass came back, they were fully recoated, cleaned, and looked like new glass. I always forget about the great warranty, which is a HUGE selling feature and another reason to buy'em.

I'll also second what Nate said, the Leica glass is great, i'm not a huge Zeiss fan, but you can't go wrong with any of these.[/b]

Thats another thing i learned working at the local sporting goods store. No matter what you send your swaros in for they go through a huge checklist(like 200 and some pt checklist) and fully recoat everything with the latest lense coatings and check that everything is 100% before sending them back to you. Even if it is just for a eye cup or something.

 

[ltdann]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Applbit @ Oct 9 2008, 07:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Arrowslinger @ Oct 8 2008, 02:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Applbit, great comments on the Swaro warranty. One of the guys in our hunting party a few weeks ago had some older SLC's, he was at a gun store and was looking for a part that fell off of'em, the guy behind the counter said "lets just send'em in", they did and when the glass came back, they were fully recoated, cleaned, and looked like new glass. I always forget about the great warranty, which is a HUGE selling feature and another reason to buy'em.

I'll also second what Nate said, the Leica glass is great, i'm not a huge Zeiss fan, but you can't go wrong with any of these.[/b]

Thats another thing i learned working at the local sporting goods store. No matter what you send your swaros in for they go through a huge checklist(like 200 and some pt checklist) and fully recoat everything with the latest lense coatings and check that everything is 100% before sending them back to you. Even if it is just for a eye cup or something.
[/b][/quote]

You guys are getting me excited. I'm half way there. I was thinking of ordering them online from cabela's to save on the tax. That still puts me about april. I'm pretty sure I'm giving up my big spring hunt for these bino's.

 

[Applbit]

When i first got mine i knew they were great glass, but was questioning if they were 2 grand good. Then one day i picked up my old binos again. I felt like i was looking through a thick haze, any doubt was then gone. With the old ones i always wondered if i was missing something when i was glassing(usually was!). Now if i dont see it, it just isnt there.

Another thing to remember when you first get your swaros is to make sure you have them focused correctly. I often found myself looking at something at say 50yds and then tried to look at something at 300yds but never turned the focus knob because the picture i was getting with the out of focus swaros was still better then my old pentax's focused.

 

[dw33]

I worked in a sporting goods shop one summer while in college and looked through the binoculars that were in the case. The Zeiss did not really impress me that much over my own binoculars, but the Swaros were a whole different ballgame. I use Steiners now, but will eventually own some Swaros.

 

[Applbit]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (dw33 @ Oct 23 2008, 03:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I worked in a sporting goods shop one summer while in college and looked through the binoculars that were in the case. The Zeiss did not really impress me that much over my own binoculars, but the Swaros were a whole different ballgame. I use Steiners now, but will eventually own some Swaros.[/b]

I did the same thing at the sporting goods store i used to work at. What i found most interesting was if you did a comparison of binos at say noon when light was abundant some of the cheap 3-400 dollar binos actually looked brighter/clearer than the swaros but do the same an hour after sunset and the swaros were hands down better then anything else in the store including zeiss.

 

[Crockett]

Several years ago I got a really good deal on a pair of 7x42 SLC's. I've been using them ever since but have found them to be pretty heavy, so I've bought the Bino Buddy from Cabela's. Makes the weight un-noticeable.

Last year I bought a pair of Leupold Cascades in 10x40 because my son was going to be hunting with me and I only had the SLC's. The Leupold Cascades seemed to be really good bino's for the money, so I bought them. I gave my son the Leupold's to carry and I used the SLC's.

This year I hunted alone and decided that since the Leupold's were lighter, I'd use them. I'd been hunting for most of the week with the Leupold's when I decided to carry the SLC's for the day. The first time I lifted them to my eyes was when I realized how much better the SLC's actually were! There's really no comparison. The level of detail was much better with the 7x SLC's over the 10x Leupolds!

One other thing -- several years ago I was stalking an open spot before daylight because I'd seen deer there previously. I got to the spot where I'd planned to sit and still couldn't really see the field. I brought the SLC's up and was actually able to see the whole field through them as if there was plenty of light. Taking the SLC's down, I still couldn't make the field out. My SLC's are amazing and one of the best purchases I've ever made for hunting!

Crockett

 

[ltdann]

Well folks. I'll be in Phoenix in a coupla weeks and plan on making a stop at cabela's to take one final look at the new SLC 10x50's. I finally rec'd my stimulus check a few days ago and that put me ahead of schedule on the penny pinching.

After all your glowing comments, my intent is handle them one more time and the order a set online from cabelas. As I understand it, since CA doesn't have a cabelas, I won't be charged sales tax and can save a bit of money.

Thanks for all the help.