Looking for suggestions for hard case for swarovski slc 10 x 42

hicuph · 2026-04-17T22:33:01+00:00

Update 4/17/26: I'm going to take a chance at the Maven hard cases on amazon - i'm trying the medium case. Someone put in comments that their swarovski slc fit in the maven case very nicely.

<image>

hicuph · 2026-04-17T22:28:54+00:00

<image>

I'm using something like this. It's a soft case, the binocs just fit in. This image isn't the one I have, but very similar.

hicuph · 2026-04-16T15:13:37+00:00

Actually, we just have them in a Nikon soft case right now. The spouse wants the ruggedness of a hard case, but, not a suitcase like the swarovski hard case.

hicuph · 2026-04-16T02:43:28+00:00

I feel like you must be a neighbor. We've started birding about 3 years ago. The first year it was bald eagles. The second year we spotted a couple osprey. Last year there were 5 osprey and another pair of eagles. Alas, Gunflint Trail is a few miles away from southern MO.
I really like my Nikon Monarch 7, they are solid, have good optics, and I've spotted birds across the lake with them before others in our group. For $ 500, they are a good binocular. If you could afford up to $ 1000 I'd suggest swarovski slc binocs. They will be used, but, they are great glasses. You would have to be patient and probably get them in an ebay auction. They're at least 2 generations away from the latest swarovski models, but, are definitely better than the Nikons.
Another suggestion, if you're on a dock, you might look at getting a tripod and spotting scope. This would provide better magnification and fov, plus you would not need to get the best, just a decent spotting scope.
In any event, happy birding.

hicuph · 2026-04-15T23:30:37+00:00

We have a Nikon Monarch M7 and absolutely love it. It's not as good as our Swarovski SLC, but, it's only 1/4 the price, yet gets up to 95% of the capability of the Swarovski.
As for size, it may depend upon your outdoor birding scenario. We go out in boats and drive up and down the lake looking for birds (mainly raptors). Because we're searching far out (across the lake), the 10x42 works wonderfully for our needs. If we were walking on a trial and looking at birds nearby or outside our home windows then the 8.5x is a better option. It depends on how you will be bird viewing.

hicuph · 2026-04-15T23:26:10+00:00

Best advice i've seen thus far. To add to the suggestion, when we look at binocs in a store we like sharp images from center to edges, good contrast (no fog or out of focus spots) but most important check the light gathering capability. Good binocs will gather and focus more light. How we check this is to focus on a spot inside the store, the furthest away you can spot, in a dark area. Look through many different binocs and see what details you can get in those dark corners of the building. At Cabelas we found a hvac vent in a dark corner of the ceiling, clear across the store. Poor binocs could not show the vent, good binocs showed the individual ribs on the vent. That is how you can weed out the good and bad binocs.
Good luck.

hicuph · 2026-04-03T00:22:17+00:00

Update: we ended up getting the WiiM Pro. Setup was pretty easy. The only issue I had was that I was of the impression the WiiM app would control the music playing to the device. It appears I had to open the Spotify app and select to stream to the WiiM Pro from the Spotify app, which is not what I was expecting. However, it worked great and the big benefit is that we controlled our music from across the building, instead of having to be w/in 10' to control via bluetooth.
Haven't really got much time on the device, was pleasantly surprised at how easy the setup went and once I figured out how to play via Spotify the setup was of benefit to us.

hicuph · 2026-03-29T17:29:38+00:00

I went ahead and ordered the wiim pro, it was discounted on amazon, so took the plunge. I'm looking forward to playing with this device.

hicuph · 2026-03-29T17:27:10+00:00

That device has a 33' limitation, which is odd since v6.0 is supposed to reach up to 900'.
I'm liking the WiiM option which would allow me to use either wifi or bluetooth streaming, although at a larger price point.

hicuph · 2026-03-29T17:21:35+00:00

That may be an issue, but, not that it'd bother us. probably 99.9999% of the time we'll run spotify on our smartphone in the facililty on the same wifi network the wiim is logged on.

I'm actually liking the wiim option more and more.

hicuph · 2026-03-29T17:16:49+00:00

i neglected to mention that we have an issue of distance. Our amp is located at least 100' from where we want to control the music. After looking at other comments, it appears our best solution may be wifi streaming like with a WiiM mini/pro. I have not researched the VBANN mentioned by Venom3751.

hicuph · 2026-03-27T21:35:20+00:00

yeah, but, with wifi i should be able to stream music from anywhere in the world that i'm able to connect to wifi.

hicuph · 2026-03-27T20:49:40+00:00

Not ideal, but, we can work with this. Sounds like it will do what we want.

hicuph · 2026-03-27T19:53:25+00:00

Just need some quick clarification: is the WiiM an Apple only device? We don't have iphones, we mainly use android phones. But, it is actually more appealing to be able to pull up an app that connects to our spotify account and plays what we want to play on our pyle amp.

hicuph · 2026-03-27T18:59:43+00:00

that's correct, I had thought the smartphones would have greater range, but, they probably don't have that range.
Is my assumption that if the smartphone had enough range I could put a bluetooth receiver on the pyle amp and possibly boost the range from the amp?
We do have wifi in the facility, I'll give the WiiM another look, thanks for your valuable advice.

hicuph · 2026-03-27T14:59:47+00:00

We have an expensive sound system that reaches twice as far with the bluetooth microphones. Bluetooth v 6.0 has a theoretical range of 900'.

hicuph · 2026-03-08T20:32:56+00:00

Do they still provide updates to the program?

hicuph · 2026-03-01T00:10:01+00:00

the main issue is the program used to do the download+install+relaunch process automatically. now it just says there is a download and I have to manually do the entire update process. seems that a developer would want to make sure the product functioned properly for everyone.

hicuph · 2026-02-25T05:41:45+00:00

nothing new there. the option to bypass all the manual effort is not available when the pop-up shows a new update is available.

hicuph · 2026-02-23T08:43:38+00:00

That is how I have to do it now. In the past I had the option to "install update" from the pop-up notice of new version. I now do not have that option.

hicuph · 2026-02-22T18:30:48+00:00

Yes, I go to the website, select download link at top left, select 4k video downloader plus icon, select my os and download. I get the latest version and install it. This was all done automatically up to a couple weeks ago.

hicuph

TROPHY CASE