Posted by QuickReadAbout.com Staff in Swarovski Optics is an Austrian company that’s been in business for 50 years. They’ve won several awards for their binoculars, as have a few other popular companies in the same field of work. They also offer bags, cleaning kits, straps, tripod adapters, 2x doublers, suspenders, lens cleaners, lens cloths, and lens towelettes.
One of the most expensive pairs of binoculars Swarovski offers is the 10×42 El Binoculars, which cost $1900. With a high customer rating, these give people their money’s worth. They’re comfortable to the hands, lightweight at 1.7 lbs, waterproof, and have a lifetime warranty.
The El series are recommended for marine use, hunting, sporting events, and bird watching. They’re able to focus at 8 feet. The only drawback in this particular pair seems to be that they aren’t compact. They’re shipped with a zipper case, neck strap, lens caps, cleaning cloth, lapel pin, warranty registration form.
Swarovski offers a unique eyepiece doubler for the El Models, which creates a spotting scope. It costs $378 and brings details closer, allowing identification that goes beyond the reach of your binoculars. Avid bird watchers are especially fond of this idea. The bird watchers dominate the purchasing field of roof-prism binoculars along with hunters.
Stabilized binoculars, zoom binoculars, and those claiming to be focus-free are the least reliable of any brand as far as quality.
You’ve probably heard of opera glasses. These are really just low-power binoculars that allow people seated far from the stage to still obtain an acceptable view.
Digiscoping is taking photos through your scope with a camera, and it got Swarovski an award. The digiscope is a newer version of binoculars outstanding results as of yet under any other brand name. It just shows how Swarovski excels in quality with their optical equipment.
Founder Wilhelm Swarovski had a passion for nature and astronomy. His company is involved in many nature conservation projects. His Pentax Papilio Butterfly Binoculars is geared towards children (with adult supervision: at a price of $129—most Americans would opt to supervise their use) because of their unique focus distance of 1.6 feet. They weigh a mere 10.2 oz, have a worry-free lifetime warranty (only available through authorized USA dealers). Of course, many parents spend more on toys or gaming equipment that has no educational advantages.
Special application binoculars include those that offer Giant Zoom, waterproofing, image stabilization, and astronomy binoculars (the stars are a lot further away than most of us realize because we simply take them for granted and don’t really give them much thought).
While you may be shocked at the hefty price tag on most binoculars, you must realize also that much time, money, effort, and research is spent to perfect these products. Technological advancement does not come cheap. Swarovski did not get where they are without their own trials and errors. The making of good binoculars requires good staff, good equipment to produce the binoculars, customers willing to give your product a try, dealers willing to advertise and sell the products, and money.