Steiner Discovery Binoculars

wizzo · #1 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 08:26 PM

Do any of you guys have any experience of Steiner's 'Discovery 8x44' Bino's. I was wondering how they compare. to the Leica's and Swavorski's, considering the not so inconsiderable price difference. Everyone keeps telling me that the Swavorski's can't be bettered Thanks

Cellarman · #2 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 09:30 PM

All the Steiners I've looked through have a colour cast. We get the rep round regularly, but don't rate them enough to stock them. Swarovski ELs are without a doubt the best binoculars available today, but at what price? The new EL model, which will be available around the middle of January, have a SRP of £1745 for the 8.5x42 and £1815 for the 10x42.

If you want a reasonably priced pair of good quality binoculars, have a look at the Hawke 8x43 ED model which sells for around £300.

freefeet · #3 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cellarman

If you want a reasonably priced pair of good quality binoculars, have a look at the Hawke 8x43 ED model which sells for around £300.

I got a brand new pair for £219 off eBay in February.

For the money.... WOW! Excellent value!

wizzo · #4 (**permalink**) 27-10-2009, 11:40 PM

Thanks again folks. When you say the 'new EL's' - were the original ones cheaper? £1750.00 is rather steep. The 'Hawks' sound a better comprimise. Having never owned a decent pair of bino's it's easy to get carried away. The niggling thing is that, I'll probably never be in a position to afford the expensive ones again. I'm such a spend thrift!! Ok, deep breath....(note to self) sleep on this one.

Cellarman · #5 (**permalink**) 28-10-2009, 08:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wizzo

Thanks again folks. When you say the 'new EL's' - were the original ones cheaper? £1750.00 is rather steep. The 'Hawks' sound a better comprimise. Having never owned a decent pair of bino's it's easy to get carried away. The niggling thing is that, I'll probably never be in a position to afford the expensive ones again. I'm such a spend thrift!! Ok, deep breath....(note to self) sleep on this one.

Swarovski have been steadily increasing the price of the ELs in preparation for the introduction of the new ones. I guess the idea was to make the difference in price to be less of a jump. At the beginning of this year, they were around the £900 mark, but by July, they had increased to £1400 ish. Now Swaorovski say that the increase is due to the difference in the Pound against the Euro and had 3 price increases this year, but I don't believe that the Pound dropped by 18% in June, because that's how much they increased their prices that time!

wizzo · #6 (**permalink**) 28-10-2009, 02:43 PM

That's almost word for word what a dealer in Bristol told me this morning. They bought up about a dozen pairs of the Swavorski bino's and are selling them for about £1200.00. They said that the new 'HD' models just don't justify the price increase. It's that kind of thing that puts me off of certain manufactures, no matter how good their optics are. Back to the drawing board

Gill Catton · #7 (**permalink**) 28-10-2009, 02:56 PM

A £300 pair of binoculars will be fine, I had a pair of deltas which were about that much and they have been brilliant for about 7 years until I dropped them into a river (but that was hardly their fault!)

I don't think I could ever justify spending £17500 on bins, maybe on a scope or a camera or maybe if the binoculars hovered by themselves and followed you around or something so you don't have to carry them

freefeet · #8 (**permalink**) 28-10-2009, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

A £300 pair of binoculars will be fine, I had a pair of deltas which were about that much and they have been brilliant for about 7 years until I dropped them into a river (but that was hardly their fault!)

The Hawke ED's are waterproof. Not that i plan testing them in a river though.

I would agree about the £300 pair being fine. I can't imagine for a moment that spending £1500 on a pair will make my binocular viewing experiences 5 times as good as they currently are.

wizzo · #9 (**permalink**) 29-10-2009, 10:45 PM

Thanks Gill and Freefeet! The Hawks you mention keep cropping up time after time and I've yet to hear anything negative about them. Now then......what am I going to spend the excess money on..........