What To Look For In Buying Binoculars

[wesheltonj]

I have a little Zeiss knowledge, I have three of their products. The current Zeiss line up is as follows. The Asian Zerra, for the price they are a decent choice. Next up is the "new" Conquest. It's Zeiss "midrange" offering. This is a "Made in Germany" model. That said, I am not sure how much is made at their Plant in Wetzler and how much is made in their Czech plant and then put together in Wetzler and get to label it "Made in Germany." (Leica does the same thing too, they make stuff in their Portugal plant, ship it to Germany and its becomes "Made in Germany".) The old Conquest was a made by Meopta. The Victory line is there top of the line stuff. Zeiss has or had a habit of licensing their name and selling them as Zeiss, when they were clearly made by another company. On the Zeiss rifle scope offerings the Zeiss Conquest DL says "Made in Germany" while the Conquest HD5 says "Assembled in Germany." I am not an expert on what percentage of work needs to be done in Germany to say "Made in Germany" verse "Aasembled in Germany." Perhaps a German member can tell us.

That said, I am a Red Dot fan. I read a lot of folks complaining about Leica Warranty and Customer Service. If you are the original owner and its a non-electronic product you get a lifetime warranty. I have compared the Leica warranty to Swarovski and other then transferability I can't find a difference. Now, if you are the second owner of a Leica product, then you have no warranty, that's the way Leica rolls. But with Leica you are buying more then just a product, you are buying a luxury product, a status symbol. What other company has a Hermes version of a pair of binoculars. Of course I believe that the House of Hermes has an ownership interest in Leica.

 

[wesheltonj]

As noted above, I have a Zeiss 10x40 Dialyt Classic. It has the T coating and were made in Germany. a few years after I got them Zeiss opened a plant in the US and I'm uncertain what the product line is now. For general use I use them a lot but if I'm going hunting or other situation where I would be wearing the glass I use a B&L 8x30 Zephyr binocular that my grandpa bought new in 1949. the main reason, other than nostalgia that I wear them is they are really light. I can hang them around my neck and forget that they are there. the Zeiss are nice, but they are about twice the weight.
For grade of glass, before digital overwhelmed the camera business I took a lot of film photographs. My favorite cameras were Hasselblad 500s and all the lenses were made by Zeiss. I'll still use them for photographs where a permanent record and grain beyond pixels is wanted. For camera glass I preferred the Zeiss to Leica or Nikon, so it wouldn't be surprising that I prefer their binoculars.

I have bad news for you. Those Zeiss lens for your Hasselblad, were made by Hasselblad under license from Zeiss . The only thing Zeiss about them was the design/engineering and the logo. The only lens not made by Hasselblad was the ones made by Schneider.

 

[Nyati]

It also depends what you want that binocular for.

In Africa I use a Steiner Safari, 8x30 which weighs 550 grams. and I´m happy with it.

At home when I go after roe deer which is hunted at dawn and dusk, I take my old Hertel & Reuss 8x56 which weigh 1.100grams but are great at light gathering.

For those of you not familiar with Hertel & Reuss, they also manufactured riflescopes under the brands Nickel, Imperial and Weatherby.

It was founded in 1927, Swarowski bought the brand in 1995.

 

[thi9elsp]

Personnally I have Nikon 8x32. Bought it in 2011. As others have said, you need to be able to take it outside and my local shop allowed me to do that. I wasn't ready to spend the big bucks. However, I have looked through my brother's Swarovski binos and spotting scopes. They are better. But, for the hunting I do, the Nikon is great. And, the spots where I needed really good glass, the guide or PH had me covered - my lack of the higher end stuff did not cause me to miss any animals. Again, in my hunting situations - mostly less than 400 yards.

 

[Philip Glass]

Philip, after reading this about the Rick Young harness, I immediately ordered one. Works great on my Nikon Monarch 7 8x32! But of course not good for my heavy as all get out Swarovski 10x42. At 5'8" and 155 lbs they just kill my neck hauling them around, but they are still great antelope truck binos.
Thanks for the insight on the Rick Young harness!

You are most welcome! Yea some binos are too heavy.
Regards,
Philip

 

[Gemsbok Gangsta]

Kahlis??

 

[rookhawk]

Haven't seen kahles stuff for sale in years. What has become of them?

 

[Britt Beck]

I agree. Leica and Swarovski are tops. I went with the swaro. Hunting out west we do a lot of glassing. I couldn't be happier.

 

[Red Leg]

Haven't seen kahles stuff for sale in years. What has become of them?

Scopes are periodically available in the US. http://www.eurooptic.com/kahles-scopes.aspx Have a new 30mm awaiting my Rigby Highlander. Light, bright, and German (or maybe a bit Austrian - they are part of the Swarovski group). Like my Rigby is part of L&O but an independent subsidiary.

 

[BWH]

Like hunting for women..... how's it look, feel.... what's it going to cost you? At the end of the day, do you feel satisfied?

 

[Hunting Sailor]

It is so dependent of what you prioritize in your binoculars. How much you're willing to spend to do the job and how much and how often you're going to use them.
I use binoculars every day in my work. I have company issued Zeiss Victory 8x54 HT, the same for my crew. The 8x54 work really well in the Marine environment. Only the best available equipment is acceptable in my work and I feel the 8x54 is the best for us onboard.

I feel that they are to heavy to carry when I'm out in the field hunting, but onboard I put them down when not in use so weight isn't an issue.
For my private use I couldn't justify the $1300 difference between the Victory and Conquest as I don't use them every day, so I went with the Zeiss Conquest 8x32 HD and have been very happy with them, small, light weight and great binoculars in general.
Recently I got a pair of Zeiss Victory Compact 8x20T and have been very impressed with them as well. I haven't used them in the veld yet, but at sea they have been great as well.
When I get back home I'll use them as much as I can as they are really small, they fit in my shirt pocket, are smooth for my eyes and easy to focus.

The above may seems like I'm a Zeiss fan, but I'm sure other brands are great as well, it's just that I like the way Zeiss feel and handle. I've been happy with the typical Marine binoculars from Zeiss for a three decades and when I get the chance to upgrade for myself, I tend to go the way I know I like.

Test as many brands and models as you can, do some research of what you will use them for and decide on the budget. Buy the ones you like, not what anybody else likes.

I've had Pentax 10x42 that have done the job for me. I've had Leupold Wind River rangefinder/binoculars 8x 32, have had no name brands, Russian military issued 10x50 that I bought for $20 way back. All have had their flaws and limitations depending of what I've wanted to do with them, but they have also done the job for me at the time.

It is a fun and great problem to choose the right binoculars. Enjoy and good luck.

//Gus

 

[Ross Reamy]

An interesting question--corollary to the one(s) discussed here would be:

If we go with the big-3--Leica, Swaro and Zeiss--what is the practical field difference between their +/- $1k line and their top line? For instance, what would I as a hunter gain with an Ultravid over a Trinovid, or an EL Pro over an SLC? (Purposely excluding rangefinder features, as this adds a somewhat apples and oranges dimension to it all.)

Curious to hear from the more experienced lens-bugs.

I've went with the Swaro EL simply because the SLC models didn't fit my face profile at all. I would've have liked to spend less and get the SLC because I couldn't tell a difference in the lenses. But they weren't comfortable at all.

I've had the opportunity to look thru all the major brands/models over my hunting career. I can say without a doubt there's a difference between Swaro/Leica glass and Nikon/Leupold glass, but is it worth it? That's a personal decision, for my hunting pair it was, for the pair I leave on my boat it wasn't.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

I've got a pretty simple system for binoculars: I look for them to say Swarovski EL and get the size I want. Buy once and never regret it.

 

[Art Lambart II]

For Hunting the Bushveld any light weight pair of $400 binos would be great. Personally I wore my binos on the first day of my hunt the rest of the time I just used my rifle scope.

 

[ArmyGrunt]

For Hunting the Bushveld any light weight pair of $400 binos would be great. Personally I wore my binos on the first day of my hunt the rest of the time I just used my rifle scope.

I used my rifle scope extensively on my one safari. Next trip will likely be night hunting (hippo/hyena is what I'm dreaming) and closer range. Trijicon RMR will almost certainly be on my rifle, so this won't be too effective. But future trips, who knows?! Maybe mountains and I'll hafta buy something with more magnification

 

[enysse]

I honestly carry binoculars wherever I go, when I'm hunting. I feel naked without them. When I use to do a lot of public land hunting, those binoculars no one wants to carry helped me fill my tag more times than you would every believe. You can't hunt what you don't see.
To me good binoculars are more important than a fancy gun and scope. Yes I need a gun that shoots straight but if I can't find the game, I may go home with no animal, less mature animal or not the right animal that could have been taken. I have not been on too many group hunts because I like to hunt solo. But I can tell you from experience, I have seen WAY TOO MANY MISTAKES on hunts where hunters didn't see the game and it was right there in their glassing area. They just didn't spend the time to glass it or separate the animals from the brush.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

I don't love the idea of using my rifle scope to identify targets. I want to know what it is before I point a rifle at it.

 

[enysse]

I agree Bert the Turtle, it violates firearm safety for sure.

I'm sure the hunters meant, they had the PH point the game out and then they shot it with their rifle after acquiring the animal in their scope.

 

[curtism1234]

I don't love the idea of using my rifle scope to identify targets. I want to know what it is before I point a rifle at it.

I have to be careful as to not cause safety controversy...

Binoculars certainly have their place in spotting game. However, I don't see a problem in spotting a group of Species A (not something brown but rather you know what they are) with the naked eye and using the rifle scope to determine if there is something you want to shoot. Binoculars can and will cost you game when you are looking when you should be shooting.

 

[Red Leg]

I don't love the idea of using my rifle scope to identify targets. I want to know what it is before I point a rifle at it.

Agree! Always wise to remember that a telescopic sight is the aiming device of a weapon - not a spotting scope.