Optik El Swarovision Binoculars, 8.5x42mm

I recently upgraded from a pair of Nikon Monarchs. Let me start by saying that I was absolutely pleased with my Monarchs and the customer service I received from Nikon. I cracked the eye cups on my first pair and I had condensation inside the housing that I couldn't remove. Nikon replaced the Monarchs free of charge. Now, onto my review of these Swarovski Binoculars. Being a fairly recent college graduate, it took me some time to save up for these Swarovski binoculars. Once I purchased them, I immediately new it was worth the large sum of money spent on them. The first time I used these binoculars, my eyes hurt a little bit. I quickly realized that it was due to the large amount of light that was coming through that I wasn't quite used to from my old trusty monarchs. The pain quickly subsided and I was treated to the best clarity and brightness that I have ever experienced looking through binoculars. I instantly fell in love with these. Where these truly shine, no pun intended, is in the low light conditions of early morning and twilight. The brightness that these binoculars omit help make the difference from seeing a LBJ (little brown jobby) versus seeing all the details required for identification. Overall, look forward to using these for the rest of my life and hope to be able to pass them down onto my son someday.

meh. I've had a different, smaller pair of swarovski's for 15 years - which I LOVE!!!! I waNted to splurge on something to use only during migration when I'm willing to carry something a bit heavier for the slight improvement in light and field of view. But, I'm not too excited by these. The eye relief thing just falls off - frequently. I switch back and forth between wearing contacts or glasses or sunglasses constantly, so I'm always needing to adjust the eye relief - but on these, whenever I go to adjust this, it just screws off the whole eye piece. It can be quite difficult to get the eye relief to adjust and NOT screw off the piece. I even returned the first paiR, thinking I'd got a bad pair. Nope, second pair is the same. And, it's not just hard to adjust - I've just had the whole eye piece fall off several times. So far, only inside the case or once inside my car but one of these days it's going to fall off on the ground and I'm not going to notice until I've walked away. For this price, I really expect something made better - my 15 year old pair is more reliable. Because of swarovski's reputation, I wonder if the seller is selling an odd lot? Not sure it's worth the risk.

I read a lot about both of these binoculars online but could not decide until I looked through both of the binoculars. I believe people don’t want to try new products or want to stick with trusted products which have proven history. Here I my honest review on these two binoculars: Glass: Victory Ht wins hands down. Swarovski El is not nearly as bright. The colors are way better with Zeiss and that 3D pop gives you out of the world experience. People will tell you that there is very slight difference between the two as both are top notch products. But let me tell you compare these binoculars in the night the difference is very obvious!!! I read online that swarovski has better sharpness but with my 20/20 vision I could not verify that. Build quality: Both products have outstanding build quality but Swarovski is a bit higher. Diopter and eye pieces are better in Swarovski. Focus is easier to use with Zeiss and is faster than Swarovski. Accessories: Swarovski comes with way better accessories in the box. Zeiss case feels very cheap. Customer Service: I called both the companies and as usual the reps did not know what they were saying. They had no tech knowledge about their own products. I could never get straight answers. Zeiss have really rude customer reps. Swarovski customer service is little better. What did I end up with: I bought Swarovski just because it is a proven product and Zeiss victory is relatively new. But I am not completely happy with my choice. I like the glass on Zeiss way better than Swarovski. I will buy Zeiss victory in few years when the design is finally perfected and has proven track record.

I was unsure whether to get these or the Leica Ultravid or the Zeiss Victory counterparts. I was able to compare the Swarovski and Zeiss in a store, but the Leica was hard to find (only one desler in Boston area). It took Leica's 800 number a week to return my inquiry to their tech service person regarding what appeared to be their distinctive coatings, so I eliminated Leica based on poor distribution (at least in the Massachusetts market) and poor customer support. As between the Swarovski EL Swarovision versus the (less expensive) Zeiss Victory, I felt the two were a near optical tie. But, I subjectively preferred the Zeiss for their grey external body color versus the Swarovski green and I liked the Zeiss image color vividness and the snappy focus better than the Swarovski's seemingly more shallow depth of field. And, I disliked the Swarovski double-hinge "appearance". However, the tie-breaker, for me, was the excellent Swarovski field of view for their 8.5 versus the Zeiss 8 power's field of view (how does Swarovski do that?), and I preferred the Swarovski warranty over the Zeiss warranty. (I have trouble hand-holding a 10 power and I don't care for their smaller field of view.) Having used the Swarovsky EL Swarovision 8.5 x 42 for a couple of weeks, I'm glad I selected them. The ergonomics of being able to use only one hand to hold them is incredibly convenient. Difficult to assess until you use them. And the brightness in extremely dim light is also quite impressive. I believe I made the best choice. Not inexpensive, but truly excellent value.

Trotz des hohen Anschaffungspreises muss ich sagen das dieses Glas jeden einzelnen Cent wert ist!! Der Werbeslogan "see the unseen" könnte treffender nicht gewählt sein. Das Bild ist absolut plastisch, kontrastreich und besitzt eine unglaubliche hohe Schärfe bis in die Randbereiche. Auch die Farben werden absolut natürlich wiedergegeben. Wenn man das Erste mal durch dieses Glas schaut ist der erste Gedanke "Wow" und das schöne ist, dieser Effekt stellt sich jedes Mal wieder aufs Neue ein!! Die Benutzung macht einfach nur Spaß, was auch an der tollen Ergonomie liegt. Es ist ein Glas fürs Leben mit 30 Jahren Garantie. Diese Tatsache relativiert auch etwas den hohen Anschaffungspreis. Ich kann es nur empfehlen und denke sogar ernsthaft über die zusätzliche Anschaffung des EL 10 x 50 Swarovision nach, da ich nicht wüsste wie der Hersteller diese Perfektion bei einem möglichen Nachfolgerglas noch übertreffen könnte. Ich bin Jäger und finde die Dämmerungseigenschaften des 8,5x42 absolut ausreichend. Die mögliche zusätzliche Anschaffung des 10 x 50 könnte ich dann nur mit meiner Begeisterung für diese Technologie von Swarovski an sich begründen. Für meinen Einsatz ist das 8,5 x 42 wie gesagt absolut ausreichend. Bei regelmäßigem Nachtansitz würde ich dann vielleicht doch das 10 x 50 vorziehen.

Nach langen hin und her überlegen habe ich mir das 8,5/42 nun endlich gekauft.Das Fernglas hat eine spitzen Optik und ist für mich das viele Geld auch wert.Zwischendurch konnte ich ein Nikon Fernglas( 8/42) testen das auch eine sehr gute Bewertung bei Amazon hat.Allerdings war ich von der optischen Qualität sowie der Funktion enttäuscht.Man muß allerdings auch sagen das dieses auch sehr viel günstiger ist.Fazit ,lieber länger sparen und man hat später auch mehr Freude an dem Fernglas .Sehr positiv war auch der Versand durch Photo Porst Neuwied,sehr gut verpackt und innerhalb von 48St.geliefert.

Nachdem ich mich vor dem Kauf heftig erkundigt habe in Fachgeschäften, als auch beim Forum der Jäger viel die Wahl unter Leica, Swarovski und Zeiss Victory. Endete dann absolut bei Swarovski EL Baureihe. Das Teil ist der Hammer, gegenüber meinem alten von Tasco. Eine Konturenschärfe und brillianz ohne Farbverfälschung, - der absolute Hammer.