Swarovski are excellent binoculars i certainly do not dispute this, however they are SO overpriced and there's almost a "Swarovski snobbery" where if you don't have them you've gone for 2nd best
I agree with this. I think Swaro make optics that are adequate for their intended purpose and their customer service seems to be second to none but I don't think they make the best glass by any means. When I see the effort they go to when it comes to marketing then I wonder how much of the purchase price of Swaros goes on glass and how much goes on marketing to tell you that you are buying the best?
On the other hand this marketing creates significant perceived value and so buying Swaros will never be a bad call, especially if you can buy second hand and let someone else take the big hit, as you will always have glass that is up to the job and you will always get most or all of your money back. There is no doubt that the full Swaro package is one of the best around.
As I've said before it would be interesting to see some scientific testing of binos and scopes to actually measure performance rather than a subjective review with, usually, a full page advert from the manufacturer on the next page. I suspect that of all the manufacturers Swaro might have the most to fear from such a test in purely optical terms though there is no question that their full package of customer care, brand image and optics must always put them among the top 5. However, maybe I'm wrong and the thing with decent scientific measurement of something is that it usually turns up a few surprises.
I'd also love to know what a given set of binoculars actually cost to manufacture in terms of component costs, for all I know some of the mid-range or even lower priced binos might actually cost more to make than some of the big names if you count just the component cost rather than the other overheads. It would be interesting to see how having this information to hand might skew people's views on the "best" binocular.
The other big question for stalkers is just how good we need the glass to be. There are always people who, quite reasonably, want "the best" of everything but I think the truth is that most stalkers can get by with something less than the best and I believe that a lot of optics, viewed both as top level and even mid-tier, are "adequate" for the purposes that we need them for. It then comes down the the company involved as to how they wish to position their "adequate" glass on the market so some will sell on lower cost while others might sell on features or customer service or perceived value and these things are often a big deciding factor for the customer.
Maybe as stalkers instead of aiming to spend the most we should be aiming to spend the least cash that will get us something adequate to do our jobs. For the recreational stalker this approach would make a lot more sense and would save us a lot of cash which we could spend on stalking, though for some people it may remove a lot of the fun and pleasure they get from having nice stuff. It would be interesting, if we were to take this approach, to see what the "standard" stalking binocular might be, and how much it might cost.
