Binoculars

[Gem99ultra]

Nikon monarchs are made in china now?Glad I bought mine about 6 years ago,mine are made in japan.

Dang! I was all set to order the Nikon Monarc's and you've shattered my dream Maybe that's why they've gone down a hundred dollars since Travelover bought them? Here's what I found on Amazon:

Nikon 7548 Monarch 7 All Terrain Fog and Waterproof Binocular with 8X Magnification and 42-Millimeter Objective Lens, Black Finish
by Nikon
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List Price: $849.00
Price: $396.95 & FREE Shipping. Details

So, while the Monarch 7's look like the best deal so far, I think I'll do some hands-on shopping first. Thanks!

 

[coobie]

Dang! I was all set to order the Nikon Monarc's and you've shattered my dream Maybe that's why they've gone down a hundred dollars since Travelover bought them? Here's what I found on Amazon:

Nikon 7548 Monarch 7 All Terrain Fog and Waterproof Binocular with 8X Magnification and 42-Millimeter Objective Lens, Black Finish
by Nikon
----------------------------------------------------------------
List Price: $849.00
Price: $396.95 & FREE Shipping. Details

So, while the Monarch 7's look like the best deal so far, I think I'll do some hands-on shopping first. Thanks!

Sorry about that.Like I stated before I love my Nikon monarchs but the Pentax DCF models with the Phase coated roof prism lens have much more clarity.

 

[bullbreaker]

Bass Pro had some kind of special and or promo, anyhow one of my sons and I bought these Leupold BX-2 Acadia Binoculars
for $145 plus tax. We each bought one. They usually sell for $230 plus tax. We liked and still do how they perform and thought at that price it was a no brainer ! This was purchased at FT MYER'S FL store (Estero) and not on-line.

 

[coobie]

Dang! I was all set to order the Nikon Monarc's and you've shattered my dream Maybe that's why they've gone down a hundred dollars since Travelover bought them? Here's what I found on Amazon:

Nikon 7548 Monarch 7 All Terrain Fog and Waterproof Binocular with 8X Magnification and 42-Millimeter Objective Lens, Black Finish
by Nikon
----------------------------------------------------------------
List Price: $849.00
Price: $396.95 & FREE Shipping. Details

So, while the Monarch 7's look like the best deal so far, I think I'll do some hands-on shopping first. Thanks!

I see that model Monarch 7 has the phase coated roof prism.IMHO that's one heck of a buy.

 

[Tollster]

I used my Cabelas points and Got a pair of 8 X 42 Steiner Peregrine years back, but there was another pair I had it narrowed down to, Canon 10X30 IS, I found them a year later on sale at gun shop for 239.00, so I got them immediately.
I actually use them more than the Steiners.

The image stabilization is very nice, I use them mostly for Wildlife viewing, birds and such, and an occasional sporting event. The Canon glass is crisp from center to the edge, and they use the same coatings you find on the camera lenses.

B&H has them for 479.00

 

[Fossil Farm]

A good pair of binocs. will last a lifetime. I like lightweight for hiking and hunting, weighing less than about 12 ounces is best. Easy to carry and you can keep them up to your eye for longer periods of time. 8 power to 10 power works best for me. The larger the objective lens (lens pointing away from you) the more light can be pulled into the glass. 40 years ago, I purchased a pair of Tasco 8x20 which weigh less than 10 ounces. They still work great today, but Tasco quality is not what it used to be. I recently purchased a pair of Nikon Aculon A-30's, 10x25, weighing less than 10 ounces and they are excellent. They are multicoated, which helps with both light and glare. I believe they are waterproof too. Best part, they were in the 70 to 80 dollar range. Most of the very cheap binocs will go bad the first time you bump them. The glass moves and goes out of sync and you get "double vision." While you may want cheap, do not go real cheap or you will be buying another pair very soon.

Most of the regular size binocs (40 mm diameter or larger objective lens) will weigh 20 ounces or more. Many of the online retailers like Cabela's and Gander Mountain usually have buying guides to give you a decent amount of information on what is important in a good pair of binocs. Good luck on your purchase.

 

[BethelHntr]

I bought swarovski slc 10x42's a few years back and can say they are by far the best glass I have put my eyes to, I used them for elk hunting but have since given it up.

 

[downsizingnow48]

Bought a Sears 10x50 about 30 years ago, still work fine. Pretty sure they were made by Bushnell. We used them a lot for a long time. Still keep them in the truck but these days they seem too big and heavy to hike with. When we retired and started doing some camping, I bought a Zeiss 8x32 for birdwatching and hiking. Pricey but very clear and lightweight.

 

[MortalWombat]

Besides wildlife watching and sporting events, don't discount the use of binoculars for amateur astronomy. You'd be amazed at what you can see on a clear night with just binoculars. Take a look at the moon through them if you haven't before and be amazed.

 

[EddieWalker]

I'm a bit of an optics snob and consider the quality of glass to be more important then the rifle or caliber used when hunting. If you are spending thousands of dollars on a hunt, and sometimes several weeks of your life out there, you don't want to rely on poor quality glass. I have Swarvorski 10x50 binoculars and on my .338 win mag, I have a 1.5-6 Swarvoski scope and on my 30-06 a Zeiss scope. Add Leica to that list and those are about the best you can get. In most daylight, fair weather conditions, you will never realize how good European glass is. But when the temps change 50 degrees, from warm to freezing, from wet to rough, and in low light, nothing compares.

For just watching wildlife and hunting where you live, or maybe a trip to someplace where you don't have a lot of money involved, look at just about any of the camera brands. They are the best bang for the money and you get some very clear glass.

Never buy anything for under $200. Those are all junk and not worth what you pay for them. A good pair of optics will last decades. You will be able to look through them for hours and hours without fatigue or eye strain. For most people, 10x power is all they can hold steady without a rest. A few people can handle 12x power, but that's rare. 8x power will always be more steady, and if you get a large lense, you are in theory supposed to be able to gather more light and be able to see later into the evening and earlier in the morning. A buddy of mine bought the same model Swarvoski binoculars that I have in 8x56 because of this rating, but out in the field, we where both able to spot deer well after dark, count points and evaluate them. His where heavier and mine had higher magnification, which allowed me to see points on a rack that he couldn't. When using his, I couldn't see all the points on those bucks either. He returned them and got the same as mine.

Don't buy from Cabela's or any of the big hunting stores. Go look at them, compare and read reviews, but then once you find the brand and model that you want, go to Amazon and get a price there. Then search online for a better price. Amazon almost always beats the big stores, and sometimes you can find a better price from somewhere else, other times, Amazon is the best.

Eddie

 

[Deerherd]

I bought a pair of Swarovski SLC 8x30 binoculars in 1996. Great glass but last summer the focus knob broke, it was just spinning. With little hope I called Swarovski about getting them repaired. Imagine my surprise when they said they could repair them. I shipped them off and three weeks later they came back good as new! They fixed the focus knob, replaced the seals and eye cups and recharged them at no charge, I only had to pay shipping to get them there.

I have three Swarovski rifle scopes, one I purchased in the eighties that's still crystal clear today and two PH series (30mm) that are 10+ years old and like new and can't recommend the brand enough. They are pricey but to me are worth every penny.

 

[bucktaker]

for online try https://www.bearbasin.net/aboutus.asp Bill S is good people

 

[JRobyn]

I am a little surprised, given the obvious depth of knowledge on here, that no one has mentioned DEPTH OF FIELD. To me, this is one of the most important characteristics of a pair of binos, particularly for panning around looking in the woods. I'm not really sure what all affects the depth, but I know that it is usually less at higher powers. So I don't like anything over 8x. I have an old pair binos made by Bausch&Lomb for the US Navy that are only 6x. Individual eyepiece focus. Old, mostly uncoated glass I suppose. But I love them because they can be set to be in-focus from about 20ft out to infinity. I have a decent pair of Pentax 8x compacts and some decent Burris 8x that both have wonderful clarity, but both require fiddling with the focus a lot when panning around. It's another reason to try your candidates out NOT inside the store.

- Jay

 

[Deerherd]

I am a little surprised, given the obvious depth of knowledge on here, that no one has mentioned DEPTH OF FIELD. To me, this is one of the most important characteristics of a pair of binos, particularly for panning around looking in the woods. I'm not really sure what all affects the depth, but I know that it is usually less at higher powers. So I don't like anything over 8x. I have an old pair binos made by Bausch&Lomb for the US Navy that are only 6x. Individual eyepiece focus. Old, mostly uncoated glass I suppose. But I love them because they can be set to be in-focus from about 20ft out to infinity. I have a decent pair of Pentax 8x compacts and some decent Burris 8x that both have wonderful clarity, but both require fiddling with the focus a lot when panning around. It's another reason to try your candidates out NOT inside the store.

- Jay

Depends what you are trying to do with them. For hunting and especially elk hunting, I prefer binoculars with a narrower field of view.

Hunting elk in the timber after they have bedded for the day is probably one of the hardest ways to hunt elk. But most times that's where they will be during hunting hours, except right after sunrise and right before sunset. On some public land and when the moon is full they may never move any real distance in the day.

Fortunately, early in my elk hunting career I hunted with an old codger who really knew elk. (Well he was in his late forties and to a guy in his twenties that was OLD!)

Hunting with him was excruciatingly painful. He walked like a crazy man in the dark up mountains and to a guy from sea level there just wasn't enough oxygen to go around. Then after he announced the elk had already moved through and that death march I just endured was in vain, he would set off after them, me in tow.

He had an old pair of Zeiss binoculars and they pretty much never left his face, even to eat. Yes he would lower them when he walked but he never took more than three-five steps before looking through them again. For a god -awful long time I might add!

We would walk for a ways until he thought we might be close and then he really got serious. What he did was look at everything with his binoculars. He was looking for part of an elk and using the narrow focus of the binoculars to pick those parts out.

He showed me how to scan in "layers" and how the focus could be used to blur foregrounds and backgrounds to make things stand out. It's a very systematic way to cover an area and a great way to look into the depths of the forest. It's easier to pick out things and less strain on the eyes.

We got a few elk together and a few years later I used that technique to take my first elk by myself.

IMHO for rifle scopes and looking at the Grand Canyon, depth of field is great. For searching out something in particular in the woods, closer focus is better.

 

[Garandman]

Oh man loads of great brands out there. I use Leupold and Burris only cause I bought em at a great deal and liked how I could see through them.
Then thers also Steiner/Swarowski/Zeiss /etc.
If your looking for some with a lot of bang for your buck IMO I would give Vortex a hard look.

I was a Cavalry officer in the Army and we spent a lot of time looking through binocs. I used the issue binocs (made by Fujinon), Zeiss Jena, Steiner, and Nikon.

The first thing to know is the experts on binocs are bird watchers. Their reviews are far more detailed. And they spend more so they know what is good at low light, for example.

Second, you have to decide between military/marine style and the center focus type. I was partial to that type because of my army experience, but now use binocs on boats in the ocean so it's a requirement.

Third is power and size. It's generally considered that more than 7 power makes it hard to focus from a moving platform. 50mm size has better light gathering without being too big or heavy so 7x50 is very popular.

I really like the Fujinons, but I also have a pair of Nikons that are smaller and lighter. I have a pair of lower cost binocs that look like the Steiners but have a polycarbonate frame instead of metal. They've held up well and are lighter, but aren't great in low light.

If you wear glasses, try befor you buy because some binocs are a lot better than others. Look on the spec sheet: those with long eye relief work much better.

 

[tcreeley]

Go look through them, but unless there are some high end stores near you- you won't find quality optics to look through. 400 gets you a poor man's optic! - but there still are some good ones. Educate yourself by reading reviews and specs and learning the terminology. At the least, you want what the binocs below have. For info- check out Eagle Optics and BH Photo.
Binoculars from Eagle Optics
I bird and clarity, resolution, no halos, and field of view is what it is all about. My binoc that I rely on is a Discoverer porro prism 9x35 Bausch & Lomb. The company is since gone. I have three other binoculars and a spotting scope for when I am at the ocean birding. -But I like these $400 binocs:

Bushnell Elite 10x42 Binocular
BAK4 Roof Prisms
PC-3 Phase Correction Coating
ED Lenses
XTR Multicoating
RainGuard Coating
Waterproof
Fogproof
Magnesium Housing
Rubber Armoring
Center Focusing

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and these:

Bushnell Elite 8x42 Binocular-
BAK4 Roof Prisms
PC-3 Phase Correction Coating
ED Lenses
XTR Multicoating
RainGuard Coating
Waterproof
Fogproof
Magnesium Housing
Rubber Armoring
Center Focusing

Error

(Just click on Error- takes you to site - can't make formatting work right.)

 

[Garandman]

I bought a pair of Swarovski SLC 8x30 binoculars in 1996. Great glass but last summer the focus knob broke, it was just spinning. With little hope I called Swarovski about getting them repaired. Imagine my surprise when they said they could repair them. I shipped them off and three weeks later they came back good as new! They fixed the focus knob, replaced the seals and eye cups and recharged them at no charge, I only had to pay shipping to get them there.

The Gold Standard for binos and spotting scopes. But the OP specified a $400 budget....

 

[Gem99ultra]

Yep - no doubt the Swarovski binoculars 'would' certainly fill my needs. But, like Garandman said, they're way out of my price range... double or more, up to a few thousand dollars. I'm thinking that you Northern guys have a lot more money to spend than us poor 'Texan living in Georgia' boys?

Just ribbing you a little though - thanks for the recommendation and info. Who would have thought that just buying a pair of binoculars could be so technical. I believe the saying "Buy cheap, buy twice" certainly applies here!

 

[Deerherd]

Here on TBN we like to spend OPM. (Other people's money) Sure, little Jimmy SHOULD have braces and a State school is just as good for the first two years as a private one but a guy really NEEDS a good pair of binoculars! A man gots to know his priorities........:laughing:

 

[BethelHntr]

Yep - no doubt the Swarovski binoculars 'would' certainly fill my needs. But, like Garandman said, they're way out of my price range... double or more, up to a few thousand dollars. I'm thinking that you Northern guys have a lot more money to spend than us poor 'Texan living in Georgia' boys?

Swarovski spotting scopes are a few thousand but for a good used binoc could be found for under a thousand and well worth every penny IMO. just sayin