Best Binoculars ?

[Ledd Slinger]

The Cabelas Instinct binos are all currently on sale. The 8x32 model regular price is $799 is on sale for $560 and the 10x32 model is $595.

I had to order the 8x32 model because my local Cabelas is sold out. I too like to pick them out in the store, but took the gamble ordering them. I don't think I will be disappointed.

That's an insane price for those optics! Thanks for the heads up I was gonna wait til I sold my Razors to buy a pair, but it looked like the sale was for Christmas day only so I went ahead and ordered the 10x32 Instinct Euro HD onine cuz i couldnt make it into town. With $5 shipping, order total was only $600. Figured since i didnt get anything special for Christmas this year, Id treat myself. What a great deal! Thanks again for letting us know about the sale. Saved me $255 ;D

 

[slm9s]

take your bino budget AND your rangefinder budget and find a used non-HD pair of Leica Geovid BRF

My question would be why buy anything that is not HD?

Have you looked at the price of a new pair of HD geovids? That's why.

 

[XTR]

For long periods of time glassing not much can touch Steiners with the Sports Auto Focus system that lets you focus from 20 yds to infinity. I love mine, once you use it it's hard to go back to diddling with the knob on another set.

 

[wedgy]

As a general binocular question will a set of 8x42mm show better in low light, be a little brighter, than a set of 10x42,,, all else being equal ?

 

[Ledd Slinger]

As a general binocular question will a set of 8x42mm show better in low light, be a little brighter, than a set of 10x42,,, all else being equal ?

Yes. The higher the magnification, the less light an optic draws in given the same objective size.

But with top end optics like Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss, Meopta HD, a 10x42 will draw in more than enough light to allow viewing well before and after shooting light hours. Just depends on the type of hunting you do. If hunting forest and bean fields where 300-500 yards is the farthest you'll be glassing, an 8x may be right for you. If hunting out west in the mountains and plains, better go with a minimum of 10x. A lot of western hunters are starting to use 12x or or even 15x binos.

 

[Frankr]

O My, trying to get used to this site.
Thanks for all the info. I am leaning to just bite the bullet and buy the Swarovski EL's in 10x42 but I am not ready to buy right now but when I am I will definitely go and look threw quite a few before I spend that kind of money I also here good about the Swarovski SLC HD's in 10x42 as they are less money than the EL's...Euro Optic had some 10x42 HD EL's on sale for like 1999.00 or something like that they are the old style. The only difference in the new style is upgraded lens covers and strap. I hate flapping lens covers I would remove them first thing.Great price too bad I don't have the money to buy right now. I can only hope they still have a few when I am ready.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

O My, trying to get used to this site.
Thanks for all the info. I am leaning to just bite the bullet and buy the Swarovski EL's in 10x42 but I am not ready to buy right now but when I am I will definitely go and look threw quite a few before I spend that kind of money I also here good about the Swarovski SLC HD's in 10x42 as they are less money than the EL's...Euro Optic had some 10x42 HD EL's on sale for like 1999.00 or something like that they are the old style. The only difference in the new style is upgraded lens covers and strap. I hate flapping lens covers I would remove them first thing.Great price too bad I don't have the money to buy right now. I can only hope they still have a few when I am ready.

Again...go look at the Cabelas Instinct Euro HD binoculars first. Compare them side by side with the Swaros before you spend that kind of money. Im sure you will find that the Instincts are better than Swarovski SLC HDs and they will go toe to toe with Swarovski EL Swarovision. Plus the Instincts have a much better, no fault lifetime warranty.

Pretty much all top end Meopta made HD optics will equal or best Swarovski HD optics and do it for half the cost. Meopta has been making high end optics longer than Swarovski. They aren't known as well to the sportsman world because they only recently entered the sporting optics game. Meopta is European made (Czech Republic) just the same as Swarovski (Austria).

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Read this Outdoor Life review. It includes Swarovski EL Range, Leica Trinovid, Zeiss Conquest HD, and Meopta Meostar HD (aka: Cabelas Instinct Euro HD) and some othere brands. Guess which binos won Editors Choice award?...Meopta Meostar HD, that's who The Meopta received an A+ optics rating. Swarovski EL got an A.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/g...s-best-binoculars-full-size-binoculars-review

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Dont forget to watch the Meopta Meostar video blog from the OL Optics Editor. He accidentally calls them the "Meopro HD". That is incorrect. The binoculars they are reviewing are the "Meostar HD". The Meopro is Meopta's lower grade optics.

http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hunting/2012/05/optics-review-meostar-b1-10x42-full-size-binocular

 

[RockyMtnMan]

+1 for Meopta HD optics. Breathtaking view. I believe Meopta will begin to steal a lot of business from other top European optics companies in the near future as their quality becomes more widely known.

 

[MOTORSPORTS55]

Check out Kowa they have awesome glasses !!

 

[dkhunt14]

Check out Kowa they have awesome glasses !!

I have Kowa Highlanders and they are really good glass. I can usually count points out to 1500 yards or so. I compared them to others and they were brighter and more detailed. I also have a pair of 10x50SLC Swarovski and they are really good. I compared them with Leica, Zeiss and a few others. They were much brighter in low light. I can actually read race car t-shirts in the infield of the local dirt track. The infield is not lit, just the track. They were also clearer and showed more detail, especially when looking back into and under bushes. Matt

 

[XTR]

I have a question. I'm in the market for something lighter than the Steiners that I have today. The ones I have today are these:

They are old Steiner Navigators that I have for use on the boat. I've pressed them into sevice in the field. I have an equally as old (older actually) set of 10x compacts that I just don't carry because they aren't worth it. To me, in low light, the Steiners are like magic. Looking across a field into the tree line in the wee hours of first light they are like using night vision. The reticle and the compass are really not features that I'm interested in.

This is a discontinued model from a decade or more ago. Can anyone give me some idea of how the newer 30mm versions would compare? There really isn't any way to compare short of "save the receipt" is there?

 

[STOMP442]

At what range are you glassing deer? I use a pair of 20x80 Steiner military binoculars and love them. Yes, they quite a bit bigger than most but they are also better than anything else I have ever put my eyes to. I like them much better than the Swaro 15's and would put them up against anything else out there. I can literally glass all day with no eye fatigue at all and I can put horns on small bucks even spikes at well over 1000 yards. With a price tag right around $1400 they don't break the bank either and there is no need to also pack a spotting scope to take a closer look.

 

[dkhunt14]

You really can't compare a 15x56 to a 20x80. Also everybody's eyes are different and you really need to go and look through them. I like the place I go to, he opens real early and I wait till it is a day with big dark clouds. I set them up side by side and compare. I look for places where I can see back in for depth and detail. Like under Briar bushes in a small wooded area. I like to check them out close and far. You should really go and look through them and compare. I have a set of Pentax 80 ED spotting scopes with 21x eyepieces in tandem. They are pretty good glass and when it is bright out they look good. When it gets darker or the mountain is shaded I can't see the depth or detail I can with my Kowa Highlanders. The Kowas are 32x and 82 mm so they shouldn't be as bright. But they are brighter and have way better clarity. Matt

 

[Matt Pitchon]

I you are hand holding your binoculars, any image stabilized unit will allow you to see objects better than ANY standard binoculars regardless of cost. I have been down this road. The Canon 10x30 for about $500 is a good example.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

I have a question. I'm in the market for something lighter than the Steiners that I have today. The ones I have today are these:

They are old Steiner Navigators that I have for use on the boat. I've pressed them into sevice in the field. I have an equally as old (older actually) set of 10x compacts that I just don't carry because they aren't worth it. To me, in low light, the Steiners are like magic. Looking across a field into the tree line in the wee hours of first light they are like using night vision. The reticle and the compass are really not features that I'm interested in.

This is a discontinued model from a decade or more ago. Can anyone give me some idea of how the newer 30mm versions would compare? There really isn't any way to compare short of "save the receipt" is there?

I just received my Meopta Meostar B1 HD 10x32 binos today. I took them out and glassed at a far mountain slope side by side with my Vortex Razor HD 10x50s. There was no comparison. The Meopta's provided more crisp detail, a brighter image, better fine tuning on focus, better depth of field without adjusting the focus, and a wider field of view. The Meopta even appeared to provide more magnification even though both optics are rated for 10x. Dont get me wrong, the Razors have excellent glass, but they don't hold a candle to the Meopta Meostar HD.

Now this was a 32mm Meopta against a Razor 50mm bino. And yet the Meopta bested the Razor with no problem. Love the weight of the 32mm. At 21 oz, it's just heavy enough to keep steady, but light enough where you can glass for longer periods with less shoulder fatigue. Meopta hit a home run with these, especially when these Meopta's cost me $595 on sale and I paid $1289 for the Razors. There's no questioning why Outdoor Life gave the Meopta Meostar HD binos a higher optics rating than Swarovski EL.

I know there is a lot of great glass out there and I'm not knocking any of the brands. They do what they can with the technology and experience they have. But you really can't appreciate Meopta optics until you look through them for yourself. I bet if a bunch of different binos were disguised so you had no idea what they were or how much they cost, you would unknowingly put the Meopta HD view at the top of the pile, then your jaw would hit the floor when you saw the price. Absolutely amazing. Hands down the best value you will ever find for your money in optics.

 

[Ledd Slinger]

My first set of nicer binoculars were the Leupold Golden Ring 10-17x42mm Switch Power binos. The most expensive binos Leupold has to offer. They were pretty good, but the eyebox was fussy and they lacked low light performance on 10x, and 17x was useless in low light. So I sold them for my next venture into nice binoculars...

The Leica Ultravid BR 10x42. Great glass with nothing to complain about. Leica really does make some great optics, but the new ones dont come cheap. I bought them used from an authorized dealer so I only got a 10 year limited manufacturer defect warranty. They ended up getting small air bubbles under the front objective glass. Sent them into Leica and they repaired them in a timely manner at no cost. Great customer service, but that was only gonna last 10 years and if I accidentally damaged them myself, that wouldn't be covered. Figured I better move on.

My buddy had a set of miltary Steiners that were pretty nice so I did a bunch of research on Steiner. Read about guys liking and disliking the different Steiner binoculars. A lot of guys raved about the NightHunter low light performance and the Peregines were supposed to be the bread and butter . So I figured if I bought the best Steiner had to offer, they should be pretty amazing. I proceeded to buy the Steiner Peregrine 10x45 binoculars based soley on reviews. I had never looked through them because nobody carries them in store, but they had great reviews from Steiner fans. They were brand new out of the box.....and most definitely the worst optics I've seen anywhere close to the $1K price range. They were a far shot from top shelf optics. Not even close. The low light performance was nothing compared to my old Leica Ultravids and every other aspect of performance was grealty lacking as well. The Steiner Peregrine binos might compare to something like Nikon Monarch binos, but I wouldn't give them an inch further in quality. Id probably take Nikons over the Peregrines. The eyecups were thin and weak and one broke almost instantly while first using them which was fortunate because it gave me a great reason to return them for a full refund to SWFA.

So I figured I'd check the Night Hunters out at a big sporting goods store that carried them. Half a second after my first look through them about made me gag with disgust. Horrible optics.

Moral of the story. Dont believe a damn thing you read about people's opinions on optics. Never buy an optic without looking through it yourself and comparing it to as many other optics as possible.

 

[Frankr]

Ledd Slinger Ok ok ok I will look at the meopta and compare them. too bad I do not have the cash flow to buy right now.
But I wonder how well your 10x32's stack up against the Razor 10x50's at dawn and dusk ? and also a overcast gloomy winter day. That is truly when I have seen a difference in larger objective optics is them gloomy overcast winter days(hunting weather).

 

[Ledd Slinger]

Ledd Slinger Ok ok ok I will look at the meopta and compare them. too bad I do not have the cash flow to buy right now.
But I wonder how well your 10x32's stack up against the Razor 10x50's at dawn and dusk ? and also a overcast gloomy winter day. That is truly when I have seen a difference in larger objective optics is them gloomy overcast winter days(hunting weather).

I still have the Razors on hand. Will be shipping them to their new owner tomorrow. My comparison between the Meopta and Razor was conducted during an overcast day with low lying fog and lots of snow. Thats all the weather has been around here lately. So there's no doubt the Meopta performs better in that atmosphere. I will compare them in the dark under street lights this evening to fully test the low light performance difference between the two. I expect the Meopta will hold its ground well being that they already appeared brighter on an overcast snowy day. Will let you know afterm the test.

Here are the specs on all the Meopta Meostar B1 HD binoculars. The only downside to them is that they do not have as much eye relief as Swarovski which claims 20mm. Though this is not an issue me. Still very comfortable view. May not be as nice for folks with eyeglasses. Something a person would have to test for themselves. This spec sheet is why I chose the 10x32. They have a wider field of view than the 10x42, more eye relief, and weigh quite a bit less. I am extremely pleased with them.