Swaro EL Rangfinder Binocs - User Opinions

[captacademy]

I have these new Swaro EL RFB and would not buy them again. I just finished an antelope hunt and had trouble ranging goats. The weather was overcast with light rain off and on. I had my Swaro 8X30's with me and I was able to range with them, but not the RFB! That was an actual side by side test on a hunt. The RFB work good during a somewhat bright day, but not with cloud cover. Also, both had a bit of troublr ranging antelope in the brushy flats.

I just posted the hunt titled NM Antelope if you want to see the photo's.

I will be looking at the new Terrapin RF.

 

[NZ Longranger]

Guys,
There seems to be some variability between some of the new EL Range units if what you are saying is correct. I can only comment on the 3 units I've tested, and other than one being capable of slightly more range than the others, about 2100 yards verses 1900 yards, there has been no issues with any of them.
Any rangefinder bino is going to be compromise of some sort. The Vectronix will no doubt range further, but aren't in the same league optically. You will have to decide which is most important, and if you really want both in the same unit I s'pose.
For our walkabout longrange hunting out to 1200 yards or so which covers 95% or what we do, we have found the EL Range units we have to be the best.
For more static longrange hunting where you're not so limited in what you can carry, the specialist rangefinders are no doubt better at pure ranging.

Bill, it sounds like you have a warranty issue there, and I'd definitely be sending them back. The TBR feature only works to 1000 yards, beyond that it just displays the line of sight range.
And CA, if your old 8x30 Swaro is ranging further than your EL Range, it sounds like its faulty too. It seems to me that someone in the US needs to talk to your USA Swarovski agent about these variability issues. You pay too much for them to put up with a faulty product!
Greg

 

[cummins cowboy]

my leica gevoid HD's don't range with my buddies non HD leicas dispite mine being rated for 100 more yards. however they do range fine at distances below 500 and get sparadic readings on stuff to 900 or so, they just don't get the consistent readings as far as my buddies non HD leica's its something most people would never figure out if they didn't compare. mine are at leica right now and they claim they just need culminating alignment. we will see if that fixes it. I warned them I would be comparing them to a known working pair of geovids. so I suspect swaro might not be the only company with variable RF units.

 

[captacademy]

Both my Swaro's, 8x30's and 10x42's RFB are good in the mountainous terrian, but not very accurate on flat terrian. The RFB did not work well at all in the cloudy weather. Both will range past 1600 in good weather. A guy hunting with me had the new Bushnell ARC 1600's and he was not able to get consistent readings in the flat terrian either, as a result we missed the first shot at an antelope this weekend.

Cummins cowboy, my brother has the Leica Geviods, non-HD and he can't range very well past 500-600 yards either. I had a new Leica 1200 years back and took it on an antelope hunt and was unable to range any antelope at distant. I sent them back and bought the new Swaro 8X30's which were better, but still not great for any distance on flat terrian.

I want to research and see if the Vectronix's PLRF05 is much better in flat terrain at distance. I am more concerned with accuracy. I have a few pairs of Swaro Bino's EL's.