Swarovskis Vs. Leica

[Red Rabbit]

The Leica Duovids do not have a threaded hinge and come with a base and rubber strap mount, as seen in the post of the tripppler review. These work with many binos and seem stable to me.

The Swaros are threaded and have a machined adapter that fits between the tubes.

 

RR

[TREESTANDMAN]

Thanks for the review RR,

 

The downsides I could see to purchasing the 10+15 duovids is #1 price and #2 weight. If I get drawn for archery antelope, elk or turkey I'm not going to be needing anything over 10 power and I'll be wanting the lightest pair of bino's around my neck, (in my case nikon 10*42). The same thing while hunting coues using a tripod, I'd still prefer having small light binos attached to my neck/shoulder harness for quick easy use, and packing my 15*56's for longer, sitting tripod use.

 

The concept of the Duovids sounds attractive but it makes more sense to me to have 2 separate binos at less the price.

 

But I agree that if you can't go wrong whichever way you decide.

[Red Rabbit]

Advantages and disadvantages to both ways. For elk and turkey or treestand hunting, I would prefer to have a pair of lighter 8x or 10x alone. For antelope, I would still want the higher power of 15s or spotter along. For coues, would want 10 and 15 and spotter preferably.

 

Cost wise (new prices from BearBasin):

10+15 Duovids = $2500

15x Swaro @ $2000 plus 10x Swaro @ $1450 = $3450 total

 

Weight:

Leica Duovids - 45oz

Swaro 15s - 47oz

Swaro 10x50 - 41oz

10x42 - 27oz

 

I would highly recommend anyone look at the IPI Bino Manager over the Crooked Horn Harness, especially if carrying heavier Duovids, 10x50s, of 15s around the neck, or if you crawl/lean over and don't want the binos swinging out away from the body. The wider elastic neck strap also helps with the weight and gives less bounce.

 

Doug~RR

[elkhunter]

Doug-it was nice meeting you the other day, you got quite a collection in your home.

 

As for binoculars...*sigh* my opinion remains the same, the swaros gave me total comfort and leica was somewhere else

 

 

both binos will produce coues bucks, just depends on the person's prefrence on looks, durability, comfort, weight and $$

[Ron G.]

Does anyone have feedback related to the Leica Geovid line? If so, and your knowledge can also provide a comparison with Swarovski optics in general, please do so.

 

What is everyones choice for:

A smaller carry binocular ranging in 7 - 10x?

A larger glass at 15x?

Spotting scope?

Rangefinder?

 

Thanks and I hope this also helps Casey with decision.

Todd

 

I've only had the Geovids for a few months now. I bought the 8x42 geovids to complement my Swaro 15x56's. I originally had Nikon Monarch 10x42's. I often found the 10x was too shaky for me, especially after hard hiking or getting buck fever. The shakiness was probably accentuated by the lightness of the monarchs.

 

After doing a bunch of research and comparison shopping I decided on the 8x. So far, I am very happy with the 8x42 geovids. Only drawbacks is the range finder button is on the left side (makes it difficult to push while holding a bow in my left hand) and the size/weight. They are a bit heavier than my older Monarchs, but the same weight as my Monarchs and Bushnell rangefinder combined weight. There is a noticable improvement in optical quality over both the Monarch binos and my Bushnell rangefinder. If I only had 1 pair of binos, I would have probably gone with 10x geovids. So far, I haven't really missed the extra 2x, even on wide open javelina and bear hunts. For what I lose in magnification I gain in steadiness and FOV.

 

I picked the Swaro 15x56's over the other 15's based off of other's feedback, how they felt, optical quality, and tripod adaptability. I originally looked at the geovid 15's and the Minox 15's, but felt uncomfortable with the tripod mount on the Geovids and didn't like the eyecups and weight of the Minox.

 

I don't have a good spotting scope (yet), but plan on getting one that is lightweight and hopefully able to be used for digiscoping.

 

For a rangefinder, I really like the one incorporated in the Geovid. I've gotten ranges of 1300+ yards.

[JIM WHITE]

HEY GUY'S:

Just a quick bit of input on this thread. I make a small light weight tripod adapter for the Leica glass. The small cap on the front unscrews and my machined aluminum cap screws on and provides a 1/4 by 20 tapped hole on the front,then it uses the same post as the Swarovski adapter. I think Amanda sells it for about $35.00. I have spent a lot of time behind both the Leica Duovid and the Swarovski, I love them both. I agree though, that for my money I would go with Swarovski 15x56, then a smaller less expensive pair of 10 power to keep around your neck.

Thanks,

Jim White