Rangefinding Binos

[jooger17]

I’ve done about as much research on this as I can on my own and can’t choose between Swaro, Leica, or Zeiss. I currently have a pair of Swaro EL’s and they’ve been the best glass I’ve ever owned. That said I have zero experience with Leica and next to zero with Zeiss. It’s a pretty heavy investment so I want to make the right decision. Three things come into play in my decision. They are all 3 great glass, I already know that. 1 being most important and 3 being least important.

1. Best low light clarity
2. Overall weight
3. Ranging capabilities in the field.

These will be used equal parts bow and rifle hunting. I’m looking for guys that have real life experience with these and their opinions. Thanks.

[TX03RUBI]

The Swaro will have very slightly better glass and lowlight capability, but the Leica rangefinder will blow the Swaro out of the water. Personally for me I’ll take the slightly worse glass to have the rangefinding ability of the Leicas.

[BIG BONE]

I’ve had the EL Range 10x42’s for a while. Great low light binos, arguably the best. They are heavier than non ranging binos but I’ve never even think about that. 33-1500 yards. Most my ranging is 35-600. I always have them on me. I pretty much only bow hunt and I take them with me but I have a normal rangefinder that does my shorter distances. When we are riding around and we come up on pigs/deer whatever that we want to stalk they come in real handy. On decent moon nights I use these binos to range hogs. I have zero experience with the others you mentioned. Also, I will add there customer service is awesome. I just sent mine in to get a free cleaning. Should be getting them back right before season anyway now. Good luck on whatever you get. Sure they are all great.

[jooger17]

The Swaro will have very slightly better glass and lowlight capability, but the Leica rangefinder will blow the Swaro out of the water. Personally for me I’ll take the slightly worse glass to have the rangefinding ability of the Leicas.

Can you elaborate on Leica range finder blowing swaro’s out of the water?

[junkmanhunter]

I have a pair of Leica's and a pair of Swarovski, both are 10×42. I have taken them both to New Mexico, and Mexico to compare them side by side at long ranges and true hunting conditions. It was splitting hairs to me.

I personally like the Swarovski better. I think they are clearer and slightly better range finder.
Pluses are customer service is second to none. They are tough, have been dropped a couple of times. Very clear and bright.

Negatives: cost is high. I know you pay for quality.

Leica's, I like them, but they have a different shade of clear to them. My son likes them better than the Swarovski, he says the Swarovski are too bright and give him a headache after looking through them all day.

Leica's customer service is poor at best. Google them and you will see.

They cost less than Swarovski
I find them to be just a durable, have been dropped too. Range finder works great.

If I was on a budget, I would go with Leica's with no hesitation. Like I said earlier, I think it is splitting hairs.

If you can afford the $1000 more for Swarovski I would go that route.

I personally don't think you can go wrong either way.

If you're in the DFW area, I would be more than happy to let you look through them both and test a pair in the woods.

Just my opinion here.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[ColinR]

Love my Leica HD-B with the built in ballistic calculator. Only downfall is you can only have 1 custom load entered at a time. Swarovski doesn’t even offer a ballistic calculator that you can enter your own custom load at least they didn’t when I bought mine a couple years ago.

[tmurray]

If used for bow hunting just know that you won’t be able to range inside 33 yards with the swaros. Leica would be my choice.

[Ttechhunter]

Also, the range button is on the right side with the leicas, whereas it’s on the left with the Swarovski.

[TX03RUBI]

Can you elaborate on Leica range finder blowing swaro’s out of the water?

The Swaros can’t touch the newest version of the HDB, or even the version before that. They’re about inline with the HDB 2200, but I wouldn’t waste my money on those either. The newer 2700 and 3000s are much more capable units.

[jooger17]

I have a pair of Leica's and a pair of Swarovski, both are 10×42. I have taken them both to New Mexico, and Mexico to compare them side by side at long ranges and true hunting conditions. It was splitting hairs to me.

I personally like the Swarovski better. I think they are clearer and slightly better range finder.
Pluses are customer service is second to none. They are tough, have been dropped a couple of times. Very clear and bright.

Negatives: cost is high. I know you pay for quality.

Leica's, I like them, but they have a different shade of clear to them. My son likes them better than the Swarovski, he says the Swarovski are too bright and give him a headache after looking through them all day.

Leica's customer service is poor at best. Google them and you will see.

They cost less than Swarovski
I find them to be just a durable, have been dropped too. Range finder works great.

If I was on a budget, I would go with Leica's with no hesitation. Like I said earlier, I think it is splitting hairs.

If you can afford the $1000 more for Swarovski I would go that route.

I personally don't think you can go wrong either way.

If you're in the DFW area, I would be more than happy to let you look through them both and test a pair in the woods.

Just my opinion here.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

This is the kind of info I was looking for. Side by side comparison. I was leaning towards Swaro anyways because my EL’s are fantastic and the customer service is even better. Bright wins for me. If they’re too bright during the day I can always throw on a pair of shades, but you can make something brighter at dawn and dusk. Thanks for the info amigo

[Bowhuntamistad]

I couldn’t decide either. So I went with standard ELs and a Leica rangefinder

[TX03RUBI]

Basically Leica wins the range finder department easily, and Swarovski wins the optical department by a little bit. Swarovski also takes customer service department handily from all reports. I’ve never had to find that out for either.

[twdjr]

From the research I've done, the Swarovski EL range doesn't use the better HD glass as the EL and SLC binoculars. The reports I've found were it would drive the price up considerably higher. On the Swarovski site it doesn't specify which glass it uses in the EL range.