question

[bigjoe]

if you had around 500 dollars to spend on binos what would you go with

 

[ScottB]

Nikons, and then put the extra money you had leftover towards that credit card payment and get out of debt quicker......at least that's what I did.




Scott

 

[375fan]

I have a pair of Minox 10x43 HG apsh, love them. Personally have compared them to swaro's and can't tell much difference. Cameraland did have them for 579. List is about 1000. Give Doug at Cameraland a call.
My. 02
Jeff

 

[joseph]

I have the Nikon and it is great, but if I had to do it over I would get the Cannon with digital stabilization. They are both less than $400. I went hunting for Brown bear in Alaska and the guides had Zeise & Steiners & i had Nikon and the other hunter had the Cannon with digital stabilization. They were all 10x.We all thought the Cannon was much better because you could glass for hours and not get dizzy or get a head ache.

joseph

PS: "Seeing" is believing.

 

[bigjoe]

i was thinking about the leupold tacticals 10 by 50 or the vortex viper 12 by 50 are on sale at cameralandny

 

[bigjoe]

are the minox 8.5 by 52 br asph is there a rangefinder built in

 

[dig]

My suggestion would be to buy used and go with Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss or newer Leupys. The high end Nikons are great as well as the high end Minox (the mid range minox are junk). The newer Leupold Gold Rings are about the best buy I have found/used especially with the euro exchange these days. If you are going to have your eyes in the glass for hours like we do in the west, you will get fatigue unless you buy quality. Use them on a tripod as well, big dif. If you are just lifting to your eyes to check out objects and not searching for hours such as heavy timber stalking then a mid range set is probably just fine. You will have these for ever and appreciate and use a great pair so dont skimp. I spend hours behind glass every year and every "bargain" set I have purchased has eventually disapointed.

Also you cant hold the 12s very long with out a tripod so stick with the 10 or less power.

 

[Bravo 4]

A few years back I was looking for a good pair of binos and had about $500 to spend. I looked through every pair I could find for several weeks. I was gonna go with the nikons as they seemed better then anything else in that price range until a store owner I usually buy most of my rifles from handed me a pair of Zeiss Diafun 8x32. They are $350 and are a step above the others I've looked through. There customer service is pretty good too. I use them at work and a lent them to one of our Scout Squad Leaders on a training mission and he brought them back without an eye cup. A two minute call to Zeiss and they sent me a new one free.

 

[joseph]

I know that you guys that have those $1000 binos don't believe me about the Cannon with Digital stabilization then why do the top end make their binos with digital stabilization also, but cost much more than their $1000 + units?

My Nikons are pretty good, but the Steiner, Zeiss and Sworos are not worth $700 + more than my Nikons.

Just my .02,

gt40

 

[sp6x6]

Back when I sold a pr. of Ziess classic10x40 should of kept them,they where great, for $500

 

[dig]

Have a pair of Cannon IS in the 18x60. They work great for hand holding, like glassing Antelope but the shear optics quality is sub par at best. Used them from a tripod and they dont even compare to Leica/Swaroski 15xs in terms of clearness and brighness, fuzzy edges. Most people dont spend hours looking through glass to get fatiuge.