Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42?

[wilkup]

Looking for opinions on how good this optic is compared to others in the price range for my only high country backpacking optics. They'd be mounted on a tripod for glassing at distance.
Thoughts?
Not enough magnafication?
Other options?

 

[jeffreykooken]

Both me and my dad bought these bino's. Really good glass. The problem is the eye cups. They will not extend out without unscrewing the entire eye cup out of the bino. Really cheap! I called Zeiss, and they sent me 2 sets of cups to try. Of those, I was able to match a pair that would extend. I have used these for three years now, and one side has gotten tight again. The plastic cup assembly has a detent that hangs up on itself somehow. If you get it set, dont move it. Believe me, this is top quality glass, but the eye cup problem is worthy of China made $50 dollar bino's, not $1000 dollar German made stuff. I have never been so frustrated with any other piece of hunting gear that I have ever owned, or borrowed. Jeff.

 

[wilkup]

Both me and my dad bought these bino's. Really good glass. The problem is the eye cups. They will not extend out without unscrewing the entire eye cup out of the bino. Really cheap! I called Zeiss, and they sent me 2 sets of cups to try. Of those, I was able to match a pair that would extend. I have used these for three years now, and one side has gotten tight again. The plastic cup assembly has a detent that hangs up on itself somehow. If you get it set, dont move it. Believe me, this is top quality glass, but the eye cup problem is worthy of China made $50 dollar bino's, not $1000 dollar German made stuff. I have never been so frustrated with any other piece of hunting gear that I have ever owned, or borrowed. Jeff.

To summarize:
Top shelf glass
Excellent customer service
$#!tty eye cups

Would you recommend them as a mountain/backpacking/ultralight optic?
I'd also like to know if the replacement cups lasted a full 3 years...

Thanks for the response =)

 

[jeffreykooken]

I dont recommend the Zeiss, because of the eye cups. And I havent heard that this problem has been fixed at the corperate level. I guess if you could handle the bino's that you would purchase, you could try the eye cups. If they work, your golden. If not, try a different pair. Not so easy over the internet. Also, they are heavy as compared to my Vortex Viper 10x42 NON- HD bino's. The Zeiss are a little brighter than the Viper, but by my eyes, not by much. The Vortex have a threaded hole at the front hinge, for a mount. The Zeiss have a cap that doesnt come off, at least I cant get it off to see if the thread is there. The Vortex has a awesome warranty, but Zeiss is limited. I inherited my dads Zeiss bino's, so now I have 2 pairs. I will always use these, but left to do it over again, it wouldnt be Zeiss. Jeff

 

[jeffreykooken]

In 2009, I borrowed a pair of 10x42 Swarovski bino's for a hunt. Great glass, but the eye cups had no detent. They would move on their own. I think our optics shouldnt be a source of frustration, especially in the field. I honestly never had a single problem with my Vortex bino's. Try them all if you can. I paid around $500 for the Vipers, $1000 for the Zeiss, and would have paid $1500+ for the Swaro's. Jeff

 

[wilkup]

Just got a chance to play with the Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42 and compare them with the Vortex Viper HD 10x42, 12x50, 15x50 and was surprised by how solid the Vipers compared =) The Ziess glass was barely perceptibly better to my eye but the Vipers were much lighter and the eye cups were SO much better!
May be going Vortex even though my previous experience with their scopes hasn't been the greatest. Wish me luck...?

 

[jeffreykooken]

Good luck for sure. I think the vortex will be a good choice this time. JK

 

[jrock]

I haven't looked through the zeiss binos but I have a HD5 5x25x50 scope and love it. I just spent the evening looking through some 10x42 swaros, razors, vipers, and zen rays and quality in that order. Vipers were great for the price and product but they were no $1000+ glass. My ziess scope would compare to the razors. It would suck to pay for top notch glass and get bad eye cups. Not worth it. Everything has to be perfect at that price point.

 

[excaliber]

Last year I decided to look for a new set of 10X42 binoculars. I didn't want to spend alpha money so I decided to look at the mid Tier models.

I looked at the Vortex Razors and the lower tier Vipers, Cabelas Euro HD's made by Meopta and the Zeiss Conquest.
I spent a couple nights right before dusk looking at these binos.

It didn't take but a few minutes at low light the first night to eliminate the Vortex Vipers. They are not even remotely close to the others and they shouldn't be considering price. I just wanted to see what all the talk was about. I was wanting something much better than them.

I then looked through the Razors and the Cabelas HD and Zeiss Conquests. Now we were on to something. The salesman was pretty patient and I had him hand them back to me as I kept changing up.

The Razors were nice but to me they did not have the edge to edge clarity of the Cabelas HD and the Razors just did not seem as sharp as the Cabelas HD's. The Cabelas binos were better in really low light by a bit.
I liked the ergonomics of the Razors better but I felt that the Euro HD's were just a bit nicer overall.
The Cabelas HD's had a bit warmer color which really stood out compared to the Zeiss binos.

The Zeiss was the most natural colored and I thought the sharpest from edge to edge. What I did not like was the small focus band that was hard to find at first. I thought it was a bit odd. I had read about the eye cup issues and fit but they fit me just fine.

At near dark the Conquests stood out from the Razors and were right on par if not a slight bit better than the Cabelas HD's. I liked the Zeiss ergonomics over the Cabelas HD's as they were a bit fat in my hands.

I went home and thought about things. The next night I came back and tried all three again.

I decided the Razors were out. Now it was a steady back and forth with two focused binos.

I spent a bit of time with the same salesman again and he was really patient once again. These were two really nice pairs of binos.

After looking at them till dark I realized the Zeiss had everything I wanted as they were at the top in edge to edge clarity and offered the most natural color. In low light they are super clear and sharp. The glass is just top notch.

The Cabelas HD's were 1199.00 and the Zeiss were 999.00.

Cabelas was having a card holder club offer which gave me 150.00 back in club points on the Zeiss Conquest HD's so it was a no brainer to me.

I bought the Zeiss. They have been everything I wanted so far.

After hunting with a friend last year and looking through his Razors at low light side by side with mine over the duration of my Elk hunt, I'm glad I made the right decision.

Zeiss sent me some longer eyepieces but I have not used them yet. With the eye cups all the way extended they work perfect for me.

I did buy a set of Vortex obj lens covers as they were much nicer than the cheesy ones Zeiss included with them.

 

[Sully2]

Ive got them and wouldnt take anything for them. I have no problems with the eyecups..!!

 

[Rifleman513]

Excalibur seems to be pretty close to what I found however I ended up going with a pair of Meopta 12x50s. The other model I looked at were the Leica Trinovids 10x42. They were marked down and I could have got them for close to the price of the others. Personally I chose the Meoptas based on how they looked to my eyes and it was between these and the Leicas. I couldn't tell much difference between the two other than the warmer color of the Meoptas. I ultimately decided I wanted to try 12s so I went with the Meoptas. Best thing is just spend as much time trying out your top contenders and see which ones feel best in your hands and seem best to your eyes.

 

[wilkup]

Do you couple them up with a spotting scope of just run the binos? I'm wondering if the 10x will give me enough mag and clarity to pick out animals at 1,000+. I don't need to do any field judging cuz I won't shoot big game over 650 yards and know I can see fine from that close.
Also, do you run yours in a harness, tripod, or both?

Last year I decided to look for a new set of 10X42 binoculars. I didn't want to spend alpha money so I decided to look at the mid Tier models.

I looked at the Vortex Razors and the lower tier Vipers, Cabelas Euro HD's made by Meopta and the Zeiss Conquest.
I spent a couple nights right before dusk looking at these binos.

It didn't take but a few minutes at low light the first night to eliminate the Vortex Vipers. They are not even remotely close to the others and they shouldn't be considering price. I just wanted to see what all the talk was about. I was wanting something much better than them.

I then looked through the Razors and the Cabelas HD and Zeiss Conquests. Now we were on to something. The salesman was pretty patient and I had him hand them back to me as I kept changing up.

The Razors were nice but to me they did not have the edge to edge clarity of the Cabelas HD and the Razors just did not seem as sharp as the Cabelas HD's. The Cabelas binos were better in really low light by a bit.
I liked the ergonomics of the Razors better but I felt that the Euro HD's were just a bit nicer overall.
The Cabelas HD's had a bit warmer color which really stood out compared to the Zeiss binos.

The Zeiss was the most natural colored and I thought the sharpest from edge to edge. What I did not like was the small focus band that was hard to find at first. I thought it was a bit odd. I had read about the eye cup issues and fit but they fit me just fine.

At near dark the Conquests stood out from the Razors and were right on par if not a slight bit better than the Cabelas HD's. I liked the Zeiss ergonomics over the Cabelas HD's as they were a bit fat in my hands.

I went home and thought about things. The next night I came back and tried all three again.

I decided the Razors were out. Now it was a steady back and forth with two focused binos.

I spent a bit of time with the same salesman again and he was really patient once again. These were two really nice pairs of binos.

After looking at them till dark I realized the Zeiss had everything I wanted as they were at the top in edge to edge clarity and offered the most natural color. In low light they are super clear and sharp. The glass is just top notch.

The Cabelas HD's were 1199.00 and the Zeiss were 999.00.

Cabelas was having a card holder club offer which gave me 150.00 back in club points on the Zeiss Conquest HD's so it was a no brainer to me.

I bought the Zeiss. They have been everything I wanted so far.

After hunting with a friend last year and looking through his Razors at low light side by side with mine over the duration of my Elk hunt, I'm glad I made the right decision.

Zeiss sent me some longer eyepieces but I have not used them yet. With the eye cups all the way extended they work perfect for me.

I did buy a set of Vortex obj lens covers as they were much nicer than the cheesy ones Zeiss included with them.

 

[excaliber]

Do you couple them up with a spotting scope of just run the binos? I'm wondering if the 10x will give me enough mag and clarity to pick out animals at 1,000+. I don't need to do any field judging cuz I won't shoot big game over 650 yards and know I can see fine from that close.
Also, do you run yours in a harness, tripod, or both?

I'm getting older(55) and my eyes seem to have fallen off the last few years.

This year I had trouble distinguishing antler size at distances over 1500 yards. My rangefinder got out to 1100 yards but these elk were a bit past that.
I could tell it/ they were 6 point bulls after some watching but other than that I could not tell mass, pt length etc.

At 1000 yards I had no trouble picking out animals at all and I'm sure it would be the same with most other 10x42's. 1000 yards isn't that far for a bino.

I carry them across the chest with a bino harness. I do not use a tripod as I find they are pretty easy to steady when sitting elbows on knees..

 

[wilkup]

Anybody else using a set of 10x42s as their do-it-all set of optics for hunting, whether it be dark timber, open plains, or high mountain?
I really like the Zeiss and with all the hands on experimenting I've been doing, will key likely be goi g that direction.