BINOCULAR REVIEW: Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 vs Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42

I wanted to see if the Zeiss Victory's were worth the extra $1500 compared to the Conquest HD's. I bought a pair of each and head to Arizona for a week to hunt Coues deer. If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to hit me up.

insta: @mindful_hunter

[fmbga]

Mirrors my own experience. I have some more info too, especially about the Conquest HD eyecups. One, you're not alone, quite a few people have a problem with those. It's not insurmountable though! Those eyecups are different - softer, and there's an extended version that offers a little more space between eye and ocular. But they are also a little tricky out of the box.
As an aside, Zeiss has real customer service where you can talk to live people who actually know what they are talking about! And if you own a Zeiss optic and any of your accessories (eyecups, neck straps, lens caps, etc.) gives up the ghost, you can call them and they will send you a replacement. May not ALL be free - a new carrying case may cost you $20 or so - but I believe eyecups are indeed free. Used to be anyway, these days everything seems to be more expensive, so who knows...
So let's say you despaired over your old eyecups and got them stuck. or unstuck, or plain old broken. They send you new ones. What do you do?
One, take the old eyecups off. Unscrew and remove them as you would the lid of a jar.
Two, screw on the new eyecup as far as it will easily go, then add one little twist with some extra force. No need to crank it to the max, you just want to get it stuck firmly enough so it doesn't immediately unscrew on you when you try to extend it.
Three: here is where the magic happens. You need to wear in your new eyecup first! Grab the eyecup near the top (if you grab it near the bottom, its flexible lower lip will rub against the housing and you'll make your job harder). Twist it out and back in as far as it will go without forcing anything. The eyecup will probably only extend one stop at first. But repeat the in and out a bunch of times, and soon you'll get to the second click stop, and finally to the third one. Once it's worn in, it will work well. It's beyond me why Zeiss doesn''t invest the few seconds this takes.

Hope this helps!

[jackstraughan]

Great video. I’ve just got the conquest HD 8x42 for deer stalking. I’ve upgraded from vortex diamondback HD. Zeiss blows vortex out of the water!! Super happy with my new binos

[gslater]

Great job. One of the best, most practical reviews I've seen.

[kevinsteele]

3:15 - I've never had a problem with my 8x32 Conquest eyecups coming off. The fact they they do, enables cleaning, separate to cleaning of the optics (but this might be true of many other makes of bins).

[andrewhansen]

I have two pairs of Conquest 10x42 HD's. Zeiss sent me new eyecups for the ones that cracked and of charge. There are two different eyecups you can get, a two position cup and a three position cup. The inner plastic of the eyecup assembly seems brittle and maybe that's why they are cracking on installation. There may be a trick to installing a new set of cups. Just warm the new eyecups up in hot water before immediately screwing them on to the binocular tube. Squeeze the new and hot eyecup firmly and screw them on finger tight. That warmth may allow the new cups to flex a bit on install, keeping the inner plastic from cracking. My latest set of eyecups haven't failed in three years +.

[mmulvill]

Nice review, find your candor refreshing (Too many advertiser or sponsored reviews). Unfortunately for a lot of folks, we're not able to do a side-by-side field test before buying, so I really enjoyed your observations. Great glass is a wonderful thing, but sometimes the cost makes you have to compromise for less. Your review influenced my purchase of a pair of Conquest HD 8x32's for general purpose traveling optics. Thanks.

[danieljames]

Eye relief is so important to me. I'm so pleased you wear glasses. I've been looking for the best binoculars as I need eye relief due to my glasses. On the strength of this vlog, I'm purchasing the Zeiss Victory 10x42. Thank you for this incredible vlog. Loved it.

[ykdickybill]

I have the Conquest 10x42 for around 5 years now. When I bought them I did direct comparison with Victory’s for an hour or so as the light started to fall. I could tell absolutely no difference whatsoever so bought the Conquests. If I could have seen any advantage with the victory’s I would have paid the extra. I’m 55 now and my eyes are not as good as they were when I was 40.
I am on my second set of eyecups though which have broken twice in that they split lengthways. Both times the eyecups were replaced by my Zeiss dealer free of charge. The replacement eyecups however have been improved over the first ones.

[bonehead]

Thank you for being the only video I have found who compared the zeiss conquest HDs glass to the razor hds I’ve been debating the difference both are almost the same price. You may have convinced me to go with the zeiss.

[GM-bqzo]

Have the eye cups been improved on the victory sf compared to a few years ago? I think they were cheaper quality? Thanks

[InCountry]

Very good no BS review. AND you're one of the very few that notice the slightly forward weight bias of the Victory SF. One reason Zeiss stayed with the shorter Schmidt Pechan prism.
I have the newest Victory SF and the eye cups do get some time to understand

[rey]

One thing about the highest end binoculars they are an investment, you will be satisfied longer. They may be the last pair you ever buy. I am still using a pair of Leica 8 X 42 Ultravids. They subsequently came out with Ultravid Plus and then the Noctivid. I am still very happy with my Ultravids. I am in the market for a pair of 10 X 42 so this video was of great interest. No more $2000+ binoculars for me. I like the open bridge designs. The weight of the binocs is of major interest to me.

[mariumrajah]

Victory SF are probably the best binoculars I ever looked through
Bloody Excellent
Swarovski NL Pure
Lieca Noctivids
Carl Z victory
All three are the best I’ve ever looked through but Victory’s just had a touch more bang Pop images..
Any of the above will do the job but EVERYONE to themselves..

[andrewhansen]

I've compared the Zeiss Victory 8x42 binos with my two pairs of Zeiss 10x42 Conquest binos and the clarity seems equal in both models. Maybe a longer use period would have flushed out the benefits of the Victory binos?

[hawksclaws]

Great review. The eye cup info is great. I don’t need a lot of eye relief, but that would piss me off if I did.

[charltonlwalker]

Am I the only one that prefers my eye cups turned all the way in to get the widest FOV? I anchor the eye piece into my brow and get a steady, wide FOV.

I’ve owned both. Sold the Victorys to pocket the $1500 and build a Tikka 6.5 PRC. I don’t feel like I lose much going back to the Conquest.

[smau]

Great comparison. Wish there was wider selection of brands compared like this. Real target for the highest end binos are European hunters who can leagally hunt at night. With high quality binoculars you can count points in poorer light and the differences are much more dramatic than in daylight. On a dark night it might mean you can make the ID 5 or 15 minutes later after sunset, but in the wintertime with snow on ground, it can mean you can sit in moonlight 2 days later into vaning moon. Obviously that requires then high quality optics on rifle to make the shot but if you can ID the animal with binoculars, as you always should, then rifle scope doesn't need to provide all the detail to make the shot.

[garybenson]

Great review.

I retired last year and treated myself to an alpha glass as an upgrade on my Zeiss Terra ED. I’m not a fan of field flatterers so that ruled out the Swarovski and a choice between the Victory SF and the Noctivids. Choose the Leica as I got them for £400 less than the Zeiss, both are fantastic and would have been happy with either.

[ntzoert]

Image stabilised bins outperform any non I S binoculars in detail perception (thus identification) and relaxed viewing .

[darrencady]

A good, honest review. I own a pair of the first gen 10x30 Conquest which I bought new in 2004. For a 10 times 30mm binocular they are superb and I never thought I would ever use anything better. I thought I had optical perfection with these. That is until I recently bought a pair of 10x42 Victory FL. The increased brightness and clarity is real as is the lack of colour fringing. They are the very best binos I have ever used. I know today's Zeiss's Victory SF are better. (I've never looked through a pair!) Point being that top end glass is expensive for reasons in that you are getting the best and the best costs more. Sometimes these improvements are not always immediately obvious and some may not perceive any difference optically between mid and high end under certain conditions but under others the difference glaringly obvious!
Many thanks for a staight-up, honest, no holds barred review.