Binocular Design- Help Needed

[AIODesign]

Hello, I am representing a design team currently working on new binoculars suited for hunters. If you have experience using hunting binoculars you could help give us valuable insight into any of the following:

- What are issues/complaints you have had with previous binoculars?
- What are positive features/experiences you have had with hunting binoculars?
- What conditions (terrain, weather, light) do you often use binoculars in?
- What price point do you look for in binoculars?
- Have you broken or damaged binoculars, if so how?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated and will be considered in the future design, thanks!

[Ravin R10 man]

Low light conditions mostly, make them compact enough to carry while hunting, easy to focus with gloves on

[Rhino]

First of all I'm one of those kind of hunters that prefers to use the best I can afford.  I justify it by how much it cost me per year for the time I expect to use them.  I have 2 Swarovski binoculars...10x50 SLC's I bought ~25 years ago and 10x42 EL's I've had for about 5 years now.  I bought the EL's to lighten my load bowhunting.  I'm 63 now and hope I have at least another 15 years of bowhunting left to go.

- What are issues/complaints you have had with previous binoculars?  Multiple issues & complaints with cheaper binocs before I bought my 1st Swarovski binocs.  The only issues I've had with the Swarvoski 10x50's is weight as I got older and one of the eye pieces was cranked where it wouldn't spin it back out.  That was last year.  Sent to Swarovski to fix them.  With the EL's, the eyepieces unscrew too easily.  I lost one during the 1st year I had them.  Also, the adjustment for focusing the right eye to match the left uses the same focus knob by popping out.  It pops out way too easy causing me to have to readjust it while hunting.  More often then not it happens while I'm in the stand.  My old 10x50's don't do that...never had that issue with them.  It's been so long since I used cheap binocs I can't recall all the issues I had.  It was certainly enough for me to invest in high quality binocs & quit wasting money on cheap ones.

- What are positive features/experiences you have had with hunting binoculars?  Excellent low light visibility with both of my Swarovski binocs.  It's important to be able to positively ID the details of a buck in low light...not just see a shape.  Great field of view with them too.  Weather has never been a problem with them either except for needing to dry lenses in rainy conditions.  I actually prefer the 10x50 SLC's over the 10X42 EL's for viewing but they are a bit on the heavy side for bowhunting.  Also...lifetime warranty is important.

- What conditions (terrain, weather, light) do you often use binoculars in?  All the conditions you could possibly imagine but IMHO...low light visibility is the most important.

- What price point do you look for in binoculars?  Like I said earlier...total price is not a concern to me.  Price over the life of use is!  For example...If I expect to use excellent, high end binocs hunting for 25 years that cost $2,000, the cost per year is $80.  That's less than I'd spend for groceries & drinks during a weekend hunting trip.  Swarvoski binocs have a lifetime warranty so if I have an issue, I know I can get it fixed.  

- Have you broken or damaged binoculars, if so how?  Sure have...numerous cheap ones until I bought my 1st Swarvoski binocs.  How...prisms getting knocked out of alignment...internal fogging...just to name a couple.  Hunting conditions are hard on equipment.  I don't recall ever having cheaper binocs that I didn't have an issue within a few years.  That's one reason I quit buying them & took the attitude of investing in high end binocs with a cost/year jsutificcation.  They also have all had (by comparison) poor low light capability. 

Edited September 10, 2017 by Rhino