Sig 12x42 ZULU6 Stabilizing binos review after field use

[Okanagan]

Wow! 

First serious use of the stabilizing binoculars was three days glassing for spring bear in Idaho recently. They are fabulous. With three pairs of experienced eyes glassing for game, my old eyes with the stabilizing binoculars spotted more than half of the game we saw.

My son was astounded.  For the past five years and more, I have almost NEVER spotted game before they have, and then often could not see it when they pointed it out.  My son said, "Dad, you are seeing game the way you did 20 years ago with regular binoculars!" 

My 25 year old grandson kept borrowing them and he is planning to buy a pair.  He will probably get the 16 power. 

Stabilizing binos restored to me the use of binoculars.  I have a bad thyroid tremor that has made it almost useless for me to use binoculars offhand. I am no expert on alpha glass but the Sig optics are very good, and my eyes did not notice any irregularities. 

Now for the negatives, which are annoying but well worth putting up with to get the fabulous vision advantage.

1.  Design and ergonomics of the Sig Zulu.  The binos do not hinge in the middle, so to adjust eyepieces to eyes, you have to lower the binos, individually move each eyepiece and then raise them to eyes again to see if you got it right for your eyes.  No big deal but slow and awkward to a man used to using binos for 60 years.

2.  Eyepiece covers are abominable, especially in dust and rain.  They are separate little caps not connected to the binos nor straps.  Terrible for field use and I will lose them.  I have already bought an aftermarket set of lens caps and attached them to the neck strap. The binos fit my grandson's Marsupial medium chest pouch, my next purchase.

3.  The screw on cap for the battery is a little dime sized disc not attached to the binos and I misplaced it the first time I changed the single AA battery.  Difficult to thread correctly, prone to get lost. I will try to order a spare to keep with the binos. Bad design for field use with cold fingers.  These design engineers seem to assume that we will be using the gear while sitting indoors at a white table top. 

4.  No tripod thread nor any other obvious way to attach the binos to a tripod.

NONE of these negative come close to outweighing the value of the superb visuals.