Swarovski nl pure 12x42

[J7993]

Have str 80 spotter looking at binoculars nl pure12x42 , does anyone have any recommendations pros or cons for these binoculars?

 

[gnochi]

I have them. They have literally zero cons* if they’re in your budget.

• The FOV is absolutely massive - it’s wider than the FOV on the EL 10s, which also had a massive FOV. They have the same FOV as my dad’s 1980s Leica 7x42s.
• Color is damn near perfect. Chromatic aberration is minimal.
• Depth of field is very good, with a neat field flattening effect. It’s easy to put something in focus, and it’s really nice being able to ignore stuff that’s in between you and whatever you’re focused on, like leaves.
• Resolution is unbelievable. I could tell that a flying bird was pretty bedraggled, and I could read book titles from a couple hundred yards away. As far as I can tell, my eyes are the limiting factor there.
• Light transmission seems excellent.
• The (optional) forehead support makes a huge difference for handheld stability and long term comfort. Even without that, though, I had an easier time keeping a good image in the NL 12s than the EL 10s when I was handholding both side by side.
• It’s really easy to add the outdoorsman’s stud, if you want to go that route for tripods.

As the story goes, Swaro introduced the EL series binos about 20 years ago. A couple years ago, they got tired of waiting for someone else to finally do better, so they upstaged themselves.

That said - you do get a pretty good fraction of the performance with the Vortex Razors at lower cost, and Vortex/Leica/etc. have options with integrated rangefinders, and nobody ever said Leica didn’t make good glass, and… It’s just that the NL binos were obviously better than everything else in a side by side comparison. (Thanks, bored salesman at Cabela’s who entertained me for an hour but had no pricing flexibility.)

*They’re being dicks about a rifle scope patent, apparently, and a few other things. So there are corporate reasons to consider going elsewhere that I didn’t know about when I bought them.

 

[WeiserBucks]

NL 12s on a tripod are an amazing experience, that coming from a SLC 15x owner.

 

[redneckbmxer24]

I bought some in January and I absolutely love mine. Not much to add that hasn’t already been said but the ergonomics are incredible as well. The 6 position flush cups and diopter focus mechanism is also great. I also like that you can add the outdoorsmans stuf yourself and don’t have to send it off. I view is something like I’ve never experienced before, it’s hard to describe other than immersive.

Despite being 12’s, mine spend 95% of their use being hand held and they work wonderfully for that. Something that I’ve never experienced with any other 12x including the 12x50 EL’s I had.

 

[M4guru]

I had EL 10x42s as my primary binos and got the 12x NLs mostly out of curiosity (how much better could they possibly be, right?)

Man, the ergonomics and weight coupled with the FOV and image quality…they were worth every penny. And it is a lot of pennies.

Used on an Outdoorsman’s stud/pan head I can leave the 15x SLCs and/or spotter at home much more often. Handholding them with the head rest they’re as stable as the 10X ELs.

I keep the 10x ELs around as loaners, I ain’t going back.

 

[goinghunting]

Yep they are amazing. Went from SLC 10x42 HDs which cannot be beat for the money. Bought the NL 12s for my wife but she might have to use the SLCs