Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Optics conversation continued from classifieds. What to buy?

Maybe this will help. As far as binos go, and I used a lot of different ones. Most good binos will out class your scope. Used to be that you had to spend big money to get high quality binos. No more You can do exceptionally well with Vortex Viper HD's, Bushnell Elites, Vixen New Foresta and Nikon Monarch77 ' s to name a few. Most people think a higher magnification is better but that's not the case for low light. A 7x42 for example will be a tad brighter than an 8x42 with all things being equal. For most hunting situations an 8x42 is ideal. My favorite is a 7x42. I wouldn't drop below 42 mm objectives for low light hunting. As far as scopes go you need good glass plus a good reticle. Thin standard duplex won't cut the mustard in low light. A thick bold # 4 such as in a Meopta Meostar is ideal or a good illuminated one. You can also get this in a Meopta #4. I am now hunting with a Trijicon 2.5-10x56 with green tritium dot. Fantastic reticle, but truthfully the glass is not up to participate with the European glass. It's good but not the best. A Zeiss Diavari which you can get used sometimes for under a grand or Meopta Meostar R1 3-12x56 are fine choices. If you can stretch a little further the Meopta R2 2.5-15x56 #4 illuminated will hang with anyone's scope.

I don't really care for their scopes, but I'm beginning to think binocular wise that the vortex viper HD's may be the best for the money.

If you want to learn a lot about binos as well as tests and rankings, go to allbinos.com. These guys do light Transmission tests and just dissect many brands of binos. They also do endurance testing where they submerge, heat and freeze me to see what they are made of.And they appear to be unbiased.Big names still get severely critiqued.

If you haven't considered Zeiss optics give them a look. IMO they're equal in quality to Swarovski and also less expensive.

Leupold VX3 4.5-14x50 with illuminated reticle of choice, this will do anything you want as far as hunting goes.

If you want to learn about good glass, if also suggest venturing over to a bird watching forum.

Bird forums are a useful tool in learning about opinions and other users experiences. www.allbinos.com is a lot of technical info where manufacturer claims and parameters are put to the test and transmission machines are used. I like how they dissect the binoculars and as I said there appears to be no indication of bias.