Poll: will you buy Swarovski AX Visio? (3 Viewers)

[Canip]

Here is a to-do-list to "make" a cheap "alternative" to the AX Visio if the nice new Swarovski is outside your budget. Unfortunately, in the process you will have to give up a few things that the Visio has

Starting with the Visio,

• remove one of the two tubes to get a monocular design
• replace the analog eyepiece with a digital finder screen
• replace the objective with a photo lens
• you don’t need a compass, so leave that utility away
• you also don’t need the “discover/share” function, so that functionality is also gone
• to identify birds and other wildlife, load the Merlin app, the Swarovski Outdoor app and the Swarovski Wildlife Id app onto your smartphone
• loead the Canon Camera Connect app to your smartphone

What you get with the above steps is something like the Canon Powershot Zoom. Usable as monocular for observations, can shoot photos and videos; it has a very useful optical zoom, 400mm equivalent (this is where smartphones alone are usually not so great) , and a - not very useful - digital zoom on top, lets you view your photos on the finder screen, connects easily with your smartphone via the Canon Camera Connect app, lets you download photos and videos to your smartphone so that, using the Merlin and other identification apps, you can identify wildlife.

Of course, the camera is not great, but it is sufficiently good for the purpose. See for yourself.

Costs around $ 200. Not as nice as the Visio, but usable with some compromises. Below are 3 pics taken with the Powershot Zoom (I had to reduce the quality a bit due to BF size restrictions), followed by the respective output of the identification apps.

EDIT: just for those guys complaining about the weight of the Visio: the Canon weighs 143g on my kitchen scale.

Canip

 

[Mike Crawley]

not for me Canip (but nor is the AX) - I wouldn’t count a bird as being seen if I only saw it on a screen

 

[Bentley03]

I gather (from a chat I had yesterday), that demand is currently outstripping supply of the AX Visio, with dealers having no 'stock' units to sell and unable to say when they will receive stock. Any incoming stock, therefore, is already reserved or presold.

Assuming (or if) this is the same across all dealers, Swarovski were seemingly unprepared for the level of 'positive' interest, or the number of people who would be ready to commit to this investment.

Join the queue...

 

[mbb]

I gather (from a chat I had yesterday), that demand is currently outstripping supply of the AX Visio, with dealers having no 'stock' units to sell and unable to say when they will receive stock. Any incoming stock, therefore, is already reserved or presold.

Assuming (or if) this is the same across all dealers, Swarovski were seemingly unprepared for the level of 'positive' interest, or the number of people who would be ready to commit to this investment.

Join the queue...

Swarovski has been having a shortage of supply for all or most of their new products over the past years. (Curio, ATC, ...).
Thus either their market section has a problem estimating demand, or their production section has a problem producing the volume, or they don't care that much about that problem, or it's some part of their strategy (e.g. creating rareness or avoiding risk of unsold stock), or some combination...
(This reply doesn't mean that I don't like some of their old or recent product, though I'm not interested in this latest one.)

 

[chill6x6]

Here is a to-do-list to "make" a cheap "alternative" to the AX Visio if the nice new Swarovski is outside your budget. Unfortunately, in the process you will have to give up a few things that the Visio has

Starting with the Visio,

• remove one of the two tubes to get a monocular design
• replace the analog eyepiece with a digital finder screen
• replace the objective with a photo lens
• you don’t need a compass, so leave that utility away
• you also don’t need the “discover/share” function, so that functionality is also gone
• to identify birds and other wildlife, load the Merlin app, the Swarovski Outdoor app and the Swarovski Wildlife Id app onto your smartphone
• loead the Canon Camera Connect app to your smartphone

What you get with the above steps is something like the Canon Powershot Zoom. Usable as monocular for observations, can shoot photos and videos; it has a very useful optical zoom, 400mm equivalent (this is where smartphones alone are usually not so great) , and a - not very useful - digital zoom on top, lets you view your photos on the finder screen, connects easily with your smartphone via the Canon Camera Connect app, lets you download photos and videos to your smartphone so that, using the Merlin and other identification apps, you can identify wildlife.

Of course, the camera is not great, but it is sufficiently good for the purpose. See for yourself.

Costs around $ 200. Not as nice as the Visio, but usable with some compromises. Below are 3 pics taken with the Powershot Zoom (I had to reduce the quality a bit due to BF size restrictions), followed by the respective output of the identification apps.

EDIT: just for those guys complaining about the weight of the Visio: the Canon weighs 143g on my kitchen scale.

Canip

That's pretty neat!

 

[etudiant]

I gather (from a chat I had yesterday), that demand is currently outstripping supply of the AX Visio, with dealers having no 'stock' units to sell and unable to say when they will receive stock. Any incoming stock, therefore, is already reserved or presold.

Assuming (or if) this is the same across all dealers, Swarovski were seemingly unprepared for the level of 'positive' interest, or the number of people who would be ready to commit to this investment.

Join the queue...

Certainly the case here in NYC as well, B&H, the well known optics retailer, has none even for display, plus the local Swaro sales rep does not know when there will be any.
It may be that as with the Apple Vision Pro, marketers were surprised by the willingness of consumers to pay up for new capabilities. There are lots of people whose net worth has increased tremendously, as the stock market has tripled over the last 15 years.

 

[Ignatius]

Alternatively, Swarovski announced this new toy with only a small production run in hand to gauge response, and now they have to pull up their socks to meet the apparent demand.

 

[Maljunulo]

Alternatively, Swarovski announced this new toy with only a small production run in hand to gauge response, and now they have to pull up their socks to meet the apparent demand.

That would seem a wise course to me.

If it landed with a thud, it wouldn't be good to have warehouses full of them, would it?

 

[Ignatius]

Not at those prices.

 

[Prestdj]

over 20 years ago on a long drive home i thought wouldnt it be good if binoculars could actually id the bird! but i now think its a silly idea imo, for me the joy of birding is just finding birds yourself.
as i did back in the 80's, i borrowed my dads binoculars and went walking around the local footpaths i soon went from thinking all there was sparrows,crows and starlings.with a book given for my 13th birthday i was off, yes i carried it around........the happiness i got from finding my own birds was immense. i ended up doing a lot of twitching in 80's-2000's but my best days birding was always about finding birds.
everyones different but me personally i would buy a good pair of binoculars a field guide and just enjoy but i reckon ai wont be as good as experiance

 

[Hermann]

Here is a to-do-list to "make" a cheap "alternative" to the AX Visio if the nice new Swarovski is outside your budget. [snip]

What you get with the above steps is something like the Canon Powershot Zoom. Usable as monocular for observations, can shoot photos and videos; it has a very useful optical zoom, 400mm equivalent (this is where smartphones alone are usually not so great) , and a - not very useful - digital zoom on top, lets you view your photos on the finder screen, connects easily with your smartphone via the Canon Camera Connect app, lets you download photos and videos to your smartphone so that, using the Merlin and other identification apps, you can identify wildlife.

Of course, the camera is not great, but it is sufficiently good for the purpose. See for yourself.

Costs around $ 200. Not as nice as the Visio, but usable with some compromises. Below are 3 pics taken with the Powershot Zoom (I had to reduce the quality a bit due to BF size restrictions), followed by the respective output of the identification apps.

EDIT: just for those guys complaining about the weight of the Visio: the Canon weighs 143g on my kitchen scale.

Well, I fooled around with the Canon Powershot last autumn. I found the optical quality unacceptable. Also the AF didn't work reliably. Not just in one unit, in two units.

I trust the camera of the Visio has got better optical quality ... 😁

Hermann

 

[Maljunulo]

Note based on a lifetime of experience.

“If it costs less, it probably isn’t as good.”
Me 2024

 

[etudiant]

Alternatively, Swarovski announced this new toy with only a small production run in hand to gauge response, and now they have to pull up their socks to meet the apparent demand.

You are surely quite right, Swaro is not a firm that likes gambles. Just the development cost were probably gamble enough.
That said, it appears that Apple is seeing strong demand for its technically very aggressive Vision Pro and yet they still have good availability. The firm's multi billion cash hoard allowed them the luxury of a substantial inventory at launch.

 

[Owene]

I’m not at all interested in the Ai/id app side of things but i do think the ability to take a record short of quick views you get with binoculars (assuming some swaro style level of clarity) would almost be worth it to stop me having to carry a bridge camera.

The id bit gets the attention and brings the sneers but almost every birder I see has a camera as well as bins. It’s not going to produce top level photos but there must be other people like me who don’t care about the quality as much as having one they’ve taken themselves of a species.

Cutting the number of optics taken out (and bought) is a massive thing

I’m not really in the market though so I’ll continue with swaro bins and bridge camera

 

[Canip]

Well, I fooled around with the Canon Powershot last autumn. I found the optical quality unacceptable. Also the AF didn't work reliably. Not just in one unit, in two units.

I trust the camera of the Visio has got better optical quality ... 😁

Hermann

Yes of course the camera of the Canon is awful, esp. if you compare it to a „real“ camera, but that was not my point. It is sufficient for the purpose (quick shots for record or ID). Name another device at this price level with the same functionalities (including simplicity of use) that performs better.
And: yes, of course the camera of the Visio is much better, as you could confirm yourself after seeing Dyrlege‘s photo … but my Leica is worlds better. So the Visio will hardly become the „camera of the year“, but why would it need to be? As far as I could test, it performs as advertised, so fulfills it purpose.

 

[GreenRooky]

Is the average tech geek interested in going on nature hikes to identify species, when he can sit on a couch with a VR headset? (And remember, AX doesn't even find anything by itself...)

I am still waiting for a VR birding game, if you haven't used VR you might think that sounds ludicrous but there are a couple of very popular fishing games, where people mainly just enjoy sitting in nature and landscapes they don't have access to

 

[Richard D]

I’m not at all interested in the Ai/id app side of things but i do think the ability to take a record short of quick views you get with binoculars (assuming some swaro style level of clarity) would almost be worth it to stop me having to carry a bridge camera.

The id bit gets the attention and brings the sneers but almost every birder I see has a camera as well as bins. It’s not going to produce top level photos but there must be other people like me who don’t care about the quality as much as having one they’ve taken themselves of a species.

Cutting the number of optics taken out (and bought) is a massive thing

I’m not really in the market though so I’ll continue with swaro bins and bridge camera

Yes, it's the camera rather than the id side that interests me. The ability to get a record shot for iNaturalist or similar would be handy - switching bins for camera leads to a fair few 'it got away' moments. Beyond my budget at the moment but it's an interesting development.

 

[james holdsworth]

Yes, it's the camera rather than the id side that interests me. The ability to get a record shot for iNaturalist or similar would be handy - switching bins for camera leads to a fair few 'it got away' moments. Beyond my budget at the moment but it's an interesting development.

Same here…I love the idea of being able to snap a pic or video as I watch something, but this device is overdone with tech I don’t want or need and the photo aspect is the starter version of what I’m willing to wait for.

Ditch Merlin and the electronic exotica, add IS and more magnification and I’d be all in.

 

[etudiant]

I am still waiting for a VR birding game, if you haven't used VR you might think that sounds ludicrous but there are a couple of very popular fishing games, where people mainly just enjoy sitting in nature and landscapes they don't have access to

Great idea!
It could be coming soon with the Apple VisionPro, which has good audio and excellent 3D visuals.
Apple was (is?) involved with the firm that built the Collins guide, so there is corporate recognition that birders are a good market.

 

[Canip]

So if I see it right, 2 out of the 7 who voted for the Visio got theirs. Did the other 5 get cold feet or are they just waiting for theirs to come?