2020 must have been a great for R&D, because the new product announcements just keep rolling in. The lastest is from Swarovski Optik and Kahles, here's the down and dirty on what we know so far about their new products for 2021.
The first is the new CL Pocket Bino that is due to arrive in February. The CL Pocket will continue to be available in 8x25 and 10x25 and will features better ergonomics as well as an improved focus mechanism, hinge and rubber armor. The starting price for the new CL Pocket binos will be $859.00.
Next up is a Gen 2 version of the dS 5-25x52 laser rangefinding hunting scope will be available in April. With this they took their groundbreaking scope and made it even better! The ocular housing has been streamlined a bit and several upgrades to the user interface and app. There are now 6 programmable reticles along with a cant indicator and 3 lines of programmable data like TOF, energy, remaining FPS etc. shown in the field of view (if you want them there at all). For improved ballistic solutions you can now use G1 or G7 ballistic coefficients and the app even has a truing feature!
Khales is expanding the K525i offerings with a new DLR version that'll start shipping in March. DLR stands for Dynamic Long Range and will be available in SKMR4 with LH or RH windage adjustments. They have widened the FOV on this version by 8%, added LARGER numbers on the turrets netting in 10 Mils per revolution now to give a turrets a better feel and visibility. The DLR version still gives 29 Mils of travel and now includes the throw lever and parallax spinner.
The biggest announcement is a brand new EL Range with Tracking Assistant. These will be arriving in February and initially available in green and 8x42 or 10x42. This is an all new version and features almost 10% wider FOV, Swarovision, and full ballistics capability including compass and atmospherics. The laser is rated ~10-2200yds and the entire display is shown in the right tube. It will function similar to the dS in that you use the app to enter your ballistic criteria then push that information to the bino—and then it can stand alone in the field to do the calculation and will store 3 ballistic profiles. The tracking assistant is totally unique as far as we're aware and will help you find your target location, or any location within the capabilities of the laser. Like the location where you just shot a trophy buck.
Briefly, you can lase 3 locations (it stores the last 3 to pick from) then choose to which you want to navigate. Then once you are near your suspected target location you will lase back to your original spot and the tracking assistant will give you directions to get to the location you have logged. This can become incredibly valuable in certain situations.
So that's it for now, if you'd like a little more information on these new optics you can check out my tabletop video review of these new products here.