Swarovski Optik 36005 AX Visio 10x32 Smart Binoculars with Built-in Camera and Compass, Bird, Mammal and Insect Identification AI Technology, Share Discoveries Mode, Captures Photos and Video

I was excited to have a pair of Swarovski binoculars with an embedded camera: no hiking around with binocs and a seperate camera for bird photos. Unfortunately the camera quality was not up to eliminating the seperate camera from the equation. Too bad. The mammal identification feature worked fine, but the photos were my principal use case for this item.

I have two comments, equally important.First, CameraLand, the vendor, provided the best customer service, professional and personal, I have ever had on Amazon: extraordinary really, from getting the product specs clarified, the shipping arranged to account for vacation, and to arrange the return. I've bought bins and Camera gear from Amazon, B&H, and Adorama, among others, and CameraLand stands out above all of them. I'll be a repeat customer for sure!Second, The AX Visio is a great first effort, but not remotely ready for prime time. It is heavy and shake is a real problem for identification. It does not use the Merlin call engine, but rather the photo data base, and does not appear to include location database to narrow down the choices. It identified a pewee as a bard owl, a mockingbird as a cardinal, and its most often bird was "unrecognizable," even when I got a very good look and was able to identify the bird. The camera is useful for later identification (when not too blurry), but not even remotely for, say, posting a picture to Facebook. It missed on a deer and a ground squirrel repeatedly. In all fairness, I'm 75 and while fit, was not able to hold the bin stable like I might have done earlier, but it wasn't that bad. I only used it in the Southeast where I know the birds quite well, but intended to use it while traveling. Not fit for purpose at least for me. I imagine that Swarovski will improve the AX Visio over time, but at almost $4500, I would not recommend it in its current version...

I gave the Ax Visio a generious two star review because of the quality of the optics are the best in the business. It goes downhill from there: 1) the camera which requires a separate setting is 265 mm which for any birder with a cameras is a digression. After 40 pics none would compare to a 600 mm camera, 2) the bird id is maybe 10% effective. Notice I did not say accurate because most of the time you get a "cannot identify. It did identify a Red-tailed Hawk in the air 20 fee away but identified a Canada Goose as a Short-eared Owl twice and 3) the AX has to be perfectly still in order to possibly identify a bird. They should have forgotten the camera and put in vibration control which good cameras have. Hopefully they will have improved software. I bought the item on May 31, 2024 and the price has already dropped $400 on Amazon.