Small but Mighty: SWAROVSKI OPTIK EL Range Binoculars Review

Regular watchers of my YouTube channel (The Deercast) will recall that last summer I carried out an experiment looking at whether the objective lens size of a rifle scope really made that much difference in real-world scenarios.

In the experiment we had two identical scopes from the same manufacturer, but one with a 50mm objective lens and the other with a 42mm objective lens. At last light a friend and I looked through both scopes to see if the image in the scope with the 50mm objective lens was noticeably brighter to the human eye.

Interestingly, we both concluded that if there was a difference between the two scopes we couldn’t see it. Just to be clear, I’m not saying there isn’t a difference, but that under those circumstances at typical hunting distances we just couldn’t see it with the human eye.

Despite the results of my experiment from last year, I was still sceptical when the 8x32 EL Range binoculars arrived on my doorstep from SWAROVSKI OPTIK. I was doubtful for two reasons – first, I thought a 32mm objective lens would be a step too far on the size spectrum and would result in a dim sight picture at first and last light.

The second reason was because I’m used to deer stalking with binoculars with a higher magnification (usually ten), and these particular units ‘only’ had a magnification of eight. Perhaps my scepticism was also encouraged by the fact that the 8x32 EL Range binoculars feel impossibly small – they literally fit in the palm of my hand and only weigh 674g. So I suspect I was subconsciously not expecting very much from something so small.

Field testing SWAROVSKI OPTIK EL Range 8x32

Eager to prove my doubts correct, the day the EL Ranges arrived I took them out in the evening on a Fallow stalk. At this time of year (April) I find that whilst the evenings are drawing out the Fallow still emerge just as darkness is setting in and you’re about to give up hope. It's also very challenging stalking because the females are now out of season so you have to be able to clearly distinguish the males from the females in order to take a shot.

As I parked up I removed my usual set of binoculars from my binocular harness and replaced them with the 8x32 EL Ranges. Immediately there was a clear difference – my usual set weighs over 1kg and is 17cm long and 13cm wide. The EL Ranges in stark comparison are 14.5cm long, 12.5cm wide and less than 75% of the weight of my usual set. These tiny differences are noticeable when you’re in the field and you’re carrying something around for hours or potentially days.

In typical male fashion I hadn’t bothered reading the instruction manual for the EL Ranges, so hadn’t uploaded my ballistic profile to the binoculars, so the ballistic corrections the binoculars were suggesting were wrong, but the rangefinder itself worked flawlessly giving me prompt and clear readings each time I asked.

I’d pretty much given up all hope of seeing a Fallow that evening until I noticed a large group of 40 starting to emerge from the edge of a conifer plantation. The group was 175m away initially which I was able to reduce to 150m before setting myself up for a shot. I wasn’t able to sneak in any further as the group was grazing directly towards me and any further movement would probably have given my presence away.

This, I thought, is where the ‘low’ magnification and small objective lens of the 8x32 EL Ranges will let me down. I started scanning through the group of Fallow to see if I could pick out a suitable Pricket. Then, clear as anything, I noticed a yearling Fallow with the beginnings of spikes, covered in velvet, on its head. I must admit I was impressed at the clarity as it was now 20.35 and light was fading fast. A few moments later and the whole event was over and I was stood over a lovely little Fallow that would be perfect for summer BBQs.

Now that the EL Ranges had proven themselves I set about reading the instruction manual and setting them up with my correct ballistic profile. Call me old fashioned, but I'm always dubious of anything that boasts Bluetooth connectivity.

However, I've tested a set of SWAROVSKI OPTIK EL Range binoculars before and didn’t experience any problems. The same was true of this set which paired with my phone effortlessly. They seem to have removed the small button that was on the underside of the old EL Ranges that you used to have to press to activate Bluetooth. On these units there are two buttons on the bridge, which when both pressed activate Bluetooth.

On the SWAROVSKI OPTIK app you can enter up to three ballistic profiles which can be exported to the binoculars. You can choose between an impressive lineup of factory ammunition data, or if you’re a nerd like me, you can upload home-loaded ammunition data. Something I did find fairly frustrating was that app only offers you the ability to select a SWAROVSKI OPTIK scope, so if you have a non-Swarovski scope you’ll need to pick one that closely matches yours and hope that the turret adjustments are similar.

Once you’ve entered details about your scope, sight height, ammunition and weather conditions the app calculates your drops and communicates these to the binoculars. Then when you range something the binoculars can be instructed to tell you the distance, or the distance and either the correction required in minutes of angle, miliradian, cm, inches or clicks.

If you don’t want the correction required you could either have the angle of the shot, the direction or the corrected shooting distance. What I’d really like to see appear on the App is the ability to verify the ballistic data the App has calculated and manually adjust it if required. For example, if you already know how much your bullet drops at 200m it would be useful to check if the Swarovski app agrees, and if not, manually correct it.

The app offers you a huge amount of customisation, allowing you to alter the brightness of the display, distance measurements (yards or meters), temperature units (Celcius or Fahrenheit), air pressure units (hPa or inHg) and which button on the bridge you’d like to use for ranging a target. In the app is where you’ll also find the ‘Tracking Assistant’ function that allows you to essentially SatNav to a point you’ve recently ranged.

Once you’ve used the rangefinder to measure a distance simply go into the SWAROVSKI OPTIK app, sync the unit and you’ll find that point stored in the app. You can then choose to view it on a map or use a compass feature to direct you to that point. It is a very useful feature, especially if you aren’t going to walk directly towards a deer you’ve shot or if you need to climb down from a highseat and are therefore likely to get disorientated. I tested it on the Fallow yearling I shot and found it helpful in low light conditions.

The binoculars themselves come in the usual SWAROVSKI OPTIK green with a lightly textured finish over the body which makes them nice to handle in wet conditions. At the end of each ocular lens is a metal clip for lens covers to clip on, which is a neat solution. Focus adjustments are made as you’d expect with a focus wheel on the bridge and individual eye focus wheels on each ocular lens. In the box you’ll receive an instruction manual, neck strap, soap and brush, lens covers (front and rear), carry case and a tool for opening the battery compartment.

The price for the 8x32 EL Range units is £2,710. If you stepped up to the 10x32 EL Range unit the price only increases by £90, which I think is an investment I'd make purely because I’m used to a slightly higher magnification in my binoculars.

Overall, despite their size, I found the 8x32 EL Range units to be a very capable pair of binoculars that may have just changed my opinion on bigger being better!

Explore the compete SWAROVSKI OPTIC suite of rangefinder binoculars