I really like the 10k but the price is a little more than I want to spend right now. Found a pair of 3k bnib for $850 that I’m thinking pretty hard about though.
Sig Kilo 10k ABS
- Thread starter northshorelumber
- Start date
That stinks about the blue tint being so heavy, was hoping they would fix this. Original Bushnell DMR had heavy blue tint, DMR II had upgraded multi-coating and eliminated much of that blue tint, wish Sig would spec glass and MC that would help correct this as that hue gets really annoying in low light.
Damn I was going to use these for elk hunting. The blue tint is really that bad?
That blue tint is a deal killer for my uses. Seems the glass is no better than the BDX3000 or Vortex Fury AB, which are average at best. It makes no sense to me that a Chicom unit at almost $2k cannot have any better glass than that.
I’m color blind and have a hard time differentiating shades of colors, but the blue tint was obvious to me.
Are they any more blue than the 3k? I see a lot of complaints about the blue for the 3k, too, but it doesn't bother me much on mine.
Yes, they made the 3k look clear. Spent most of the match behind some 3k and I was surprise by the difference.
Photo stolen from @RS14. The photo was mostly likely mid morning with a little overcast but the sun was out.
Photo was taken Saturday earlyish (around 9am) morning. Very overcast with the sun up.
Photo was taken with me holding my phone up to the binos. I did a video as well through them on Sunday. Ill
Try and post that later.
The blue tint was so distracting to me that they immediately became a no go. Color is part of image quality. I really do not like the Sig 10k Blue's.
If I had any other way of sharing it with you I would. I can’t embed it directly into this sight sadly.Any video for those who don't do IG, FB, whatever...?
The tint looks terrible/strange/bad-for-cloudy-people
I'm still on the list for one though..
You should be able to just follow the link and watch the video though. Even without a account.
Well I'll know tomorrow, it seems to be a personal eye thing when it comes to optics
If anyone that’s Houston or south has one and wants, we can make a time to compare the laser against our vector 21.
Obviously a totally different weight class of laser, but on small or distant targets, I think it would be a good comparison to know the limitations of the sig. Since it seems to be the new heavyweight in the 905nm laser category.
Obviously a totally different weight class of laser, but on small or distant targets, I think it would be a good comparison to know the limitations of the sig. Since it seems to be the new heavyweight in the 905nm laser category.
Is it blue for better visibility on the internal screen? I have one on order,,, just don’t want to be disappointed when it shows 
Last edited:
The "blue" tint in the barrel is so you can see the readouts more clearly, supposedly. Funny that Leica, Zeiss, and Swaro don't need that. I hear the GPO bino/rf has much better glass than the Sig/Fury stuff as well but don't know personally if that's true. IMO, as I said previously, there's no good reason for a $2k unit to have schittty glass nowadays.
Besides the blue tint how is the "image quality" most specifically depth of field, CA, and edge to edge?
They’re probably all going to be recalled anyway. Hopefully they have it figured out by the 3rd generation.
For over 30 years I’ve avoided Sig products, yet here I am with the Kilo10k on the way.
I’m also thinking about starting a YouTube channel called “how not to do things” where I get impatient and fuck stuff up.
I’m also thinking about starting a YouTube channel called “how not to do things” where I get impatient and fuck stuff up.
Depth of field CA and edge to edge have all been good. It’s just blue and dark. In a normal match type setting I have zero complaints(might be a issue in some of the steel safari type matches) For a hunter or other field settings they might be to dark causing issues
I’ve been anti sig for quite some time. And basically everything sig I’ve touched in years has been very disappointing. But i do really like these. I just wish they were less blue.
I think that is more often the case, some can’t see CA, some cannot see the hue in different optics. I think our eyes are sensitive to different wavelengths of the spectrum leading to the “I love it and can’t see it” vs “I hate it and can’t get past it”. For me personally, I find neutral to warm more pleasing and yielding better detail to my eyes.
That's unfortunate, I say, after waiting since Sep 13. for the 10ks, with a supposed one month delay, and still not having them. As much as I'd prefer the readout on these to the Leica Geovid Pros, I'm starting to consider abandoning my place in line for those now that they have AB Elite as a possibility, built in. I'm just waiting to see a user manual to see how usability will be, especially for wind entry. From the reviews I've read, it's not great because you can only increment wind speed upwards, and have to go up to 50 units to go back down to 0. Hopefully they've implemented long press for more than single unit jumps.
The whole idea behind this swap for me (sold my old RFs last year) was to get away from a BT connected Kestrel powering all the ballistics for my RF, but I don't want Tasco lenses on binoculars, as that defeats their purpose in observation.
This is kinda where I'm at too. The Leica's seem to be ticking the most boxes right now but I want to see more real world reviews before going that direction.
So if you dont plan to use a Kestrel how do you intend to get the wind speed value to input into the Leica's (for example)? Interested as I feel like I need a Kestrel but without it I would be manually guesstimating (my wind reading ability would need improve a LOT) or I'd have to use something like a Weatherflow (cheaper than a Kestrel but it would still need to be there / connected which I sense you are trying to move away from)?.
By reading the wind. You don't shoot at animals with 20+ mph winds that are impossible to read/differentiate at any distance where wind matters. For PRS use when you're lugging around 25lb rifles 20 feet, carrying another Kestrel or whatever is a non-issue, so the value proposition is likely not there. I don't think the Leica binoculars are really directly targeting PRS use-cases.
Also, regarding wind, I don't know about you - but even at the longer distance steel ranges I shoot at, when there's wind, it's typically somewhat gusty and also not completely predictable at various distances downrange. Something like a Kestrel gets you into the ballpark, but the actual wind value ends up being a mix of everything going on between you and the target. It might be 10mph by my head, 15mph at 500m distance, and 5 at the target at 1700m, with slight direction skews all along depending on topology.
I used to rely on the Kestrel for wind, but kept having misses obviously due to wind calls, and started paying attention to conditions at various distances downrange through the scope. I very quickly realized where my misses were coming from, and short of having Kestrels deployed at various intervals down range with long-range wireless, measuring wind at my ear did almost as much harm as not measuring at all would have done, if not more so - since I was trusting the wind reading to be valid.
I am more concerned about the speed at which the binoculars pick up environmental changes, such as removal from a protective pouch near your body and being exposed to the environment - will it take 10 minutes to acclimate, or are the sensors more openly exposed? Weatherflow would be the solution here as someone had mentioned previously; you could just leave it exposed, and it'd handle wind for you too - but you're back to square one on the 'why' about having embedded AB Elite, since you'd be reliant on BT not breaking at the worst possible time, just as you would be using a Kestrel. I guess you'd just pull the binoculars out when you thought you were getting close to where you'd need to use them. It speaks towards perhaps sticking to caps vs. protective pouches.
Last edited:
This applies to big game, certainly. But not to vermin, like prairie dogs. Beyond the fact that they are pests, 20+ mph wind isn’t uncommon on ze prairie, so if I followed the above advice I probably wouldn’t shoot much lol
Haha, yeah, totally fair call-out. I definitely was too general in my statement. If you have a consistent wind in a big flat open plain across your entire shooting distance, something like a Kestrel is going to be a big win, especially trying to pop something as small as a prairie dog.
Anyone running a kestrel and shooting at any kind of distance knows that the kestrel will only pick up wind at your location. Seems obvious but I have shot ELR where wind was right to left at the muzzle, 1000 yards out it was going left to right, and then at the target at 1800 or whatever seemed to be going right to left again.
I will probably keep a kestrel on hunts and comps anyways, even if the PRO's work great at environmentals. I'll also ideally have a printed DOPE card as backup. Redundancy is a big deal. Bluetooth and batteries and electronics fail.
To me binoculars need to have good optics, next is rangefinder (very close to optics) and third is the firing solution. I was using my Sig 3K's at a match the other other day and was able to spot to 1000 yards just fine but looking through 18X Vortex UHD's or even 10X Swarovski SL's was a whole different experience. The level of detail and clarity is just cool. So far with the SIG's I haven't found a way to keep the Kestral with AB and the bino's connected all day without constantly turning both back on again. I'm hoping the on-board AB Elite will be a different experience in the PRO's moving forwards.
Unfortunately SIG dropped the ball not putting primo glass in the 10K's. It sounds like it's they're useable, have a great rangefinder, and the display is good. So I think it will work well for a lot of people, even without alpha glass. I just want it all!
I will probably keep a kestrel on hunts and comps anyways, even if the PRO's work great at environmentals. I'll also ideally have a printed DOPE card as backup. Redundancy is a big deal. Bluetooth and batteries and electronics fail.
To me binoculars need to have good optics, next is rangefinder (very close to optics) and third is the firing solution. I was using my Sig 3K's at a match the other other day and was able to spot to 1000 yards just fine but looking through 18X Vortex UHD's or even 10X Swarovski SL's was a whole different experience. The level of detail and clarity is just cool. So far with the SIG's I haven't found a way to keep the Kestral with AB and the bino's connected all day without constantly turning both back on again. I'm hoping the on-board AB Elite will be a different experience in the PRO's moving forwards.
Unfortunately SIG dropped the ball not putting primo glass in the 10K's. It sounds like it's they're useable, have a great rangefinder, and the display is good. So I think it will work well for a lot of people, even without alpha glass. I just want it all!
On that note, just ponied up for the Leica 15x LRF binos. My sample seems pretty spectacular, even though some people poo-poo them (“old generation” “image quality like Fury’s” etc).
I also currently own the regular Fury’s and side-by-side these Leicas blow them away. Haven’t yet used them in anger, but they appear to be as good as the Maven 18x b5 I demoed last year. And the Mavens were better side-by-side than Vortex UHD 18x.
But I have beginning cataracts, so keep that in mind. I’d think that really wouldn’t skew my impressions as I’m comparing stuff with the same eyes minutes apart, but hey, disclaimers. Might skew a comparison between the Maven and the Leicas, as that is based upon memory and was 8 months ago or so.
The Leica LRF in the binos is decent but basic. Not as advanced as the Fury. However, that’s all I need.
The auto brightness on the LED might become an issue (and surely would be in snowy conditions) but seems fine in other seasons.
I placed an order for the Sig a while back, I'm guessing I will not receive it. I don't think a company can charge your card 6 months after you order without re running the card. If not the Sig, then what LRF binos? What will give me the ballistics calculator or at least link to Kestrel that will give me an optic that I can use for hunting and standard range days.
I put hands on some at a match a few days ago. There's a slight blue color in them, but nothing that bothered me. Detail was fine. I could spot to 500 (longest we had at that range) without any issue. LRF seemed to be very accurate and easy to use.
So a couple cliff notes after messing with it for a couple minutes.
It's not that blue, especially in daylight. Is it noticeable looking for it, sure. But it doesn't stand out.
The wind mph is adjustable, up AND down on the same menu.
The compass and on board sensors lined up with my kestrel right next to it. And the compass auto calibrates.... Looking at you kestrel I spin in 3 circles.. lol
And above all, this thing gives you information FAST!
let me know if there's anything you want to know, I'm still just starting to mess with it.
It's not that blue, especially in daylight. Is it noticeable looking for it, sure. But it doesn't stand out.
The wind mph is adjustable, up AND down on the same menu.
The compass and on board sensors lined up with my kestrel right next to it. And the compass auto calibrates.... Looking at you kestrel I spin in 3 circles.. lol
And above all, this thing gives you information FAST!
let me know if there's anything you want to know, I'm still just starting to mess with it.
Sig rep told me if you press both buttons at the same time it’ll quick access the wind. Can you see if that works?
Slicker Bino Bandit - Blocks Glare, Improves Visual Acuity, and Reduces Eye Fatigue. Fits All Binoculars. Amazon product ASIN B0788TSTV6
Worth every penny
How quickly does it respond to environmental changes? If you don’t mind letting it acclimate inside to room temperature, checking humidity and temperature, then going outside and checking periodically until temperature and humidity match a kestrel/external reference, that’d be useful. The 3ks took a while, and I suspect these do too, but it would be neat to see. Thanks!
There’s a video review on it from Barbourcreek. 10 minutes or so. It’s better to just set it manually to what you know the outside temp is if your going from inside to outside and will potentially be shooting quickly.
Last edited:
Yes that is exactly what happens. First menu is adjust wind speed either up or down 1mph at a time, next screen is direction.
My Kilo10k finally shipped (or at least the label was created) so I imagine it'll arrive later this week. I'll stop by and leave a quick review once it comes in. I've had a lot of RFs, to include the newer Leicas (but not the Geovid Pro 32s) and the Revic, so I'll try to do a quick comparison re: ranging and glass quality.
It’s amazing how many people have the 10k’s on back order and Sig is not fulfilling the orders either through them directly or their distributors. Instead they are selling direct to the public. Let’s you know what Sig thinks of their customers and what their priority is.
