8x42 vs 8x56 Binos

[FISH BOY]

Potentially soon to be in the market for a set of rangefinder binos, however am umming and arrring about 42 or 56mm lenses.

I appreciate that the 56mm will be a tad bigger and heavier but will they benefit from increased light transmission at the edge of light? Is the difference between a 42 and 56 definitively noticeable?

Essentially trying to find out what are the benefits of lugging around a bigger unit?

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

Having tested the 8x56 vs 8x42 HD-B Leica geovid side by side I can say there is a noticeable difference

the image is very clear and bright on the x56

but I am not sure my eyes are good enough to distinguish the difference at low light
my own night vision is not great though

one big difference is the weight
the 8x42s are not light nbe any stretch but the whole unit packed and posted comes in under the magic 2kg for the parcel weight
the 8x56s were almost 250gr heavier for the same packaging

that may be enough to swing it for me

 

[JTO]

As your eyes get older, they cannot open up to the max of 7mm, so I believe. This means that you cannot get the best out of the 8x56, but they will always gather a lot more light than a 42mm front end. 10x56 might be a good choice as you get older.

 

[Klenchblaize]

8X56 all day long. Well actually all night long!

 

[1894]

8x56 are considerably heavier and generally have a poorer field of view. How much brighter do you need them to be than your scope? My ancient 7x42 zeiss are brighter than I can shoot with my class leading zeiss 3-12x56 Victory HT. Not sure what I'd do with better.

 

[FISH BOY]

To be honest the main reason I ask is cost.

The 56mm seem less in demand and so have found outlets are willing to do better deals on.

Use a bino bra/harness thing so not sure if im particularly bothered about 200gms.

 

[Cawdor118]

I think when it comes to the Zeiss the cost for the 54mm is significantly more. I'm not sure I would like the bulk. Suppose you need to test them side by side.

 

[SDC7x57]

All I can say is what happens in our house.....my (old) 8x56 Leicas get ripped off my neck when the Fearless Leader can't see clearly enough with her 8x42s.... Then comes the usual bleat....'When are you going to get me a pair of these'.... There is never any mention of weight.

 

[Hales Smut]

42 would be my choice. My first binos were Swarovski 8x56SL . Far to heavy. After a few outings they stay home. I now use second hand Zeiss 10x40 Bino's and like them much more. They are under 700 grams.
I probably would even get 8x32 bino's.

 

[Freeforester]

Smaller for summer, bigger for winter. The classic Zeiss 8x56 BGAT is well proportioned, and still hard to beat in terms of absolute performance even against many if not most of the newer, usually heavier models in the '56' club.

There is merit in considering the 10x for static hunting, i.e. When using the glasses to identify what has appeared at a glade or field edge, rather than actually scanning and searching in the woods or cover for quarry, they're a bit too high mag for that purpose, imo.

 

[Klenchblaize]

Smaller for summer, bigger for winter. The classic Zeiss 8x56 BGAT is well proportioned, and still hard to beat in terms of absolute performance even against many if not most of the newer, usually heavier models in the '56' club.

There is merit in considering the 10x for static hunting, i.e. When using the glasses to identify what has appeared at a glade or field edge, rather than actually scanning and searching in the woods or cover for quarry, they're a bit too high mag for that purpose, imo.

Some good and well observed advice here.

For what it's worth I'm now of the view even 8-power is far from ideal for dense woodland stalking and would bite the hand off any of the top makers offering a 6X54 set of HD/HT bins.