Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Good light gathering binoculars?

So I’ve had quite a few pair of binos over the years. I hate to say it and I’m honestly not trying to be rude but I just don’t see the value in vortex glass. I’ve tried and tried but keep getting disappointed. Best bang for the buck I have found is meopta meostar. I currently have 3 pair of the 10x42 hd and they’re great. I’ve had Steiner, leupold, vortex, leica, and a couple others but I keep going back to meostar.

I don't own them either but they are awesome.

But at almost $4K incl tax, I'll stick with my 10x42 Swaro EL binos which ain't too shabby.

I have an older pair of Steiner Nighthunters and they are the best I’ve ever looked thru. The question is what’s your price range?

I use binos from late July - Mid March multiple times per week and own Swaro, Leupold, and Nikon. The later two listed do not compare to the swaros in clarity during low light. On a goat hunt in AK, we compared multiple brands between 5 of us and nothing beat the big three glass. My guide friends WILL NOT use anything unless it's from the big 3 glass companys and they make a living behind binos/spotters. If I were gonna try another brand I think it would be Maven without doing more research.

Best bang for the buck IMO are Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42. You can get better but they’ll cost significantly more. They’re available for $700 if you find a sale.

I have two, Zeiss Victory SF 10x42 and Swarovski 12x42 NL Pure. Both are amazing glass and can’t go wrong with either. By far the best I’ve ever looked through.

That said. The Zeiss stay in my harness and only rarely swap them out for the Pure. The Pure is probably a light edge on the Zeiss, but wish I’d gotten a lower power in them.

Kowa also has some good glass. That's the spotting scope I have, cause I don't want to have $4K in an item I only use occasionally.

That being said, if I was moving out west, a Swarovski spotting scope or their giant binoculars would be my first purchase.

The only binoculars that I have ever tried better than my Swarovski SLC's were also made by Swarovski. EL better than SLC, and based on what Wes said above, NL must be better than the EL.

Anything over 10X magnification needs a tripod to be steady IMO.

One of the benefits of Alpha glass is reduced eye strain. My eyesight is very poor and I have to spend a lot of time looking through my binos when I'm in the stand. I never experience eye strain looking through my Swarovski EL binos.

Swarovski el 10x42

Picking glass is more simple than most think.

Decide how much you are willing to spend….add 50% to that number and go buy a set that match the number you came up with.

This 👆. You will not go wrong picking a pair from the Big 3. Look for a pair of Demo’s on EuroOptic. You can find them heavily discounted a good bit.

Buy the best used Swaro 10x50 or 8x42(whichever you prefer to carry) you can afford. They will be worth the same in 5-10 years and have a lifetime warranty,

Meopta Meostar 10 x 42 HD

You won't be sorry.

^^
Meopta has great light gathering glass in scope and bino

I've had cheap binocs, mid range binocs, marine (Steiner 10x50's, love them duck hunting when they can be sitting on a shelf, hate them around my neck), and now am running 8x42 Swaro, SLC I bought used on here a few months ago. Oh my goodness, these have worked this year while hunting a field, from a tree stand, walking old logging roads, and up at the lake just looking. I'm not even going to consider anything else unless I decide to start hunting something out West and need more magnification, then may think of a light spotter and still take my 8x binos. I was worried about the 8x, never had a pair, I always ran 10x, man in Alabama unless you are hunting over soy bean fields in Choctaw and Marengo Counties, 8x is the way to go for me and my eyes. These thing pop at dawn and dusk. I have had a lot of time to compare all of what I have side by side in the morning at evening up at the lake, wife either still asleep or working on computer and I had alone time, I was worried I spent money unnecessarily, I didn't. Nothing I have Leupold 10x50, Steiner 10x50, Swift 10x42, Snypex 10x42 (a freebe with Steiners from B&H), and a Zeiss Victory rangefinder monocular 8x, comes close to these. I did have a friend come by the house at the lake with his Vortex Razor Hd 10x42's, looking up and down our slough, it wasn't even close until well after sunup. The range across my slough is 110-150 yards depending on where I'm looking, sitting comfortably in chairs, I could have seen deer a good 20 minutes counting points before he could. Now, I only had about 12-15 minutes just seeing a blob, like a big log or stump. His Razors were about like my Steiners. The proof was in the fine details. The swaros had the details. I couldn't be happier with the SLC's at a huge discounted price of buying used. When looking out of the slough toward Smith Mountain, the 10x just couldn't outperform the swaros even at extended range the way I thought they would. Now I'll say, my eyes are not the best, I'm not legally blind, but I'm not 20/20 either. My extended range vision isn't where I would like it. I can see the difference in quality glass, some have such great eyes they can't. My older friend sure could.

Others I considered, Swaro EL 10x42, Zeiss SFL 10x40 for their size and weight (I had wished I could have laid my hands on those and tried them until I actually saw what 8x can do in my hunting style, I'm glad I didn't), Zeiss Conquest 10x42 (what a huge discounted price right now - yeah some mention the eyecups, just order the extended ones from Zeiss for free and get the 8x ones). Would I want the Swaro Pure, the Zeiss Victory SFT, yeah, but those are way out of my price range. I did about like what Big Game Hunter mentioned, decided what I would spend and added 50%, $1500. I found a pair of EL on B&H for 1449, tax pushed it above my limit 10x42 used, I'm so glad I went with the 8x for my hunting purposes. On most of our greenfields, I only slightly have to move my head to see the entire greenfield at dawn or dusk with the 8x (now I have to move more to see up into the tree lines), with the 10x it was huge swings from left to right. Now, how did I decide to use the 8x, I went to a store and was allowed to walk outside with some Vortex 8x, 10x and compare to my Steiners, the 8x's weighed less (I kept them around my neck to feel the weight difference), and gave me so much more viewing area. I just took a chance by doing research on multiple web sights, reading different forums, and viewing at a store (yeah, it wasn't at dawn or dusk, but I could tell the viewing area and looking in shadows).

I like the Swaro quality and warranty reading on different forums (and owning several riflescopes), I like my Zeiss quality (owned a Diavari riflescope for around 24 years, still amazing glass) (warranty after the 10 years of use is hit or miss some say, I've never needed it). The Leica warranty is hit or miss more misses from what I've read. The Vortex warranty is great, but people have to use it too often and are missing hunting time, nope not for me. I have a Meopta scope on my AR, great glass, not in my swaro scopes or Zeiss scope glass class, then again its' less than half the new price too. The Nikons have one set of binoculars the birders like, its a 7X, I considered buying it, but those are birders, not dawn and dusk any weather hunters.

I've typed a bunch so you can see what I've been through, gone through, etc. The buy once/cry once crowd is right on one hand, but sometimes you just don't have that kind of money to cry once. Sometimes you build up to it. My first car wasn't a Vette, but in time I owned one. My first truck wasn't the same truck I have now, but the truck I have now has lasted 27 years and counting. Unless you just need the glass right now, save a little at a time and buy what will fill the bill. Decide where you're at as a hunter and where your wallet is, and buy from there.

When you get to the SLC series, the jump between grades gets way smaller. I have looked at the same deer in South Texas through my SLC's and the rancher's EL's, and he got maybe a minute more visibility in the treeline than I had. If I had not already known where the deer was, I might not have been able to find him.

He did have an older pair of Zeiss 15 x 56mm that were unreal, but not very handy. Weighed more than double my Swarovski's.

I have some celestron astronomy binos. They’re massive, but can really gather the light.

A lot of people mistake power for quality. If you are hunting 500 yards out in prairie or the Rockies, 10x is valuable. For everything from scanning in the treeline from a shooting house in Alabama to a gf at 350 yards, 7-8x works awfully well, and it's easier to gather more light in the lower magnification. Lower power is also easier to hold steady, and keep up to your eyes for a long time. The other point I'd make is "buy once, cry once".. I've used the same set of Leitz/Leicas for45 years, and only retired them for sentimental reasons. I replaced them with the same 7x35, glass, same brand. Show me the low-mid range pair that will put up with constant field use for almost 5 decades.

This is true

Swarovskis are mainly for bird watching. I think the differences in cost between SLCs and ELs are all for reasons deer hunters don’t about about. I think the SLCs are actually as good/better than the ELs for deer in low light.