best Binos ??????

[Landy308]

Hi

Can anyone give some advice on the best Binos for woodland stalking, and what size.

thanks
Sam

 

[bucktail]

Swarovski SLC 7x42

 

[Erik Hamburger]

Go for water-proof, multi-coated.
6x42 or 7x50 is a good compromise between light transmission, magnification and field of view.
Remember, more magnification will also magnify your shaking.
Lots of choices around £200-£300
Don't fall for the marketing-man who will make you believe only a £1,500 pair will do - unless you actually like to pay for their marketing budget and have the money to be extravagant.

 

[caorach]

I would agree that you can get a lot of bang for your buck by avoiding being sucked into the marketing hype. In the end only you can judge what glass will suit you so try and get a look through binos you are interested in at last light. Be careful as I think some companies tweek the performance of their glass to make the image more "punchy" which can make it seem to stand out but doesn't actually give any increase in resolution or performance at last light. If you can put up a bit of newspaper print or similar and try reading it as the light fades. In terms of "size" most people seem to settle around 7 or 8 times magnification with a 42mm objective. Any more magnification and you have quite a narrow field of view so you have to "scan" a lot to see all the area in front of you. With high magnification binos you'll soon get fed up with this. My experience is that the 42mm objective with good glass allows you to see everything you need to see for deer stalking in forestry. By the time I can't see it in the binos I've long given up thinking it would be sensble to shoot it.

For what it is worth my view is that Minox, right across their range, tend to be at a really good place in the price/performance graph and if you must have the absolute best glass then Zeiss are the place to look. If you want to buy the biggest magazine adverts then open a magazine and take your pick

 

[devon deer stalker]

http://www.bestbinocularsreviews.com/binocular-awards-2012.php
Cheers
Richard

 

[tusker]

Bushnell H2O 8x42.
Tusker

 

[300 winmag]

8.5x42 EL Swarovski. Light weight water proof, comfortable to use, fantastic clarity and lifetime guarantee.
You use your glasses 50 times for every 1 time you look through your scope.

 

[Milligan]

No doubt the Swaro and Zeiss offerings are excellent but I have no doubt there is a diminishing return.
I went for a pair of Nikon 8.5x45 somethings on special from WEX.
Being one of the worlds largest lens manufacturers I'm inclined to think they know what they're doing and the image quality is excellent. Rubberised housing and reasonable weight.

Bird watching forums have some useful opinions, and I mean ornithology.
Else you might spend a lot of time looking at nice birds but no relevance to bino's.

 

[Monkey Spanker]

For woodland, best you can afford in 7 x 42. I had some leica trinovids in this mag and they were perfect. I now have Swaro 8.5 x 42 which I use for everything, but I would gladly have my old Leicas back, especially for the woodland stuff!
Width of view, clarity and low light transmission are far more important than magnification in the woods!
MS

 

[hillmouse]

8.5 x 42 Swarovski EL are my favourite. I have my Optolyth 7 x 42's as well and in woodland they have the edge over the Swaro's.

 

[ajr]

I have swarovski 7x42 slc and just purchased swarovski 10x42 el range finder binoculars this week I went into my local woods armed with the two around my neck for a true comparison as I have heard people say the bigger magnification shake and poor field of view both bins had the same sharpeness and clarity as I took time to observe the same target time and time again there was hardly anything to chose in the field of view and I certainly didnt have to scan back and forth to see the complete picture there was no shake from larger magnification the range finder worked fine. weather conditions was fine I suspect the el's would have come into their own at dusk but unfortunately I didn't have enough time. The only reason why I chose these is that I also shoot in Scotland and should be better on the hill I hope this helps people in making their decision on a future purchases

 

[Rake Aboot]

Opticron BDA 8x42

 

[flipflop]

I have a pair of 8x30 Zeiss dialyts from my military days. Although graticuled for artillery adjustment, they are great for woodland stalking.

 

[Oddjob]

+1 for minox, I have the hg 8.5 x 52s and am well pleased with there low light performance, you can pick up some demo ones direct from minox for about £500.