looking to upgrade binos

[mburrows]

If I was you I'd continue to save, then once you have a $1000ish (give or take) to spend on glass start shopping.  So worth it if you plan on glassing for extended periods. 

[The scout]

I had a pair of burris binos from at least 10 years ago that I just had kicking around my truck. They ended up having the eye piece come off, so I sent them in and they sent me back a new pair. They have some great glass in them for the money. Way better than vortex in that price range. Leupold BX-4 are decent also.

[Karl Blanchard]

I can buy one pair of 10x42 swarovski EL's for $2689
Or......
Vortex Viper 10x42HD-$500
Tikka T3x 30-06-$680
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40-$400
Sig kilo 2000-$500
Glock 20 10mm-$550
=$2630
I know what id rather go home with.

 

I’m all for buying quality optics, but the average hunter won’t benefit from buying a pair of Swaro binos. I have a Swaro spotter because it’s a necessary tool for my LR shooting; a pair of high dollar binos wouldn’t make any difference in my hunting though.

    good amount of folks running alpha glass that realistically dont need them or use them to their full potential.  If you got the extra cash then go for it but I glassed up a lot of stuff with a pair of first gen vortex vipers.  Only vortex item I've ever owned that didnt fall apart 

[BULLBLASTER]

I had a pair of burris binos from at least 10 years ago that I just had kicking around my truck. They ended up having the eye piece come off, so I sent them in and they sent me back a new pair. They have some great glass in them for the money. Way better than vortex in that price range. Leupold BX-4 are decent also.

You had a drastically different warranty experience with them than I did. Burris warranty was garbage for me. My Binos broke and I sent them back for repair since they had the warranty. Burris responded to me that they no longer made Binos but would give me 10% off on a set of Steiner Binos. GARBAGE!!!
I will never own or buy another Burris or Steiner product after that.

Oh and swaro, for sure swaro!

[HntnFsh]

I can buy one pair of 10x42 swarovski EL's for $2689
Or......
Vortex Viper 10x42HD-$500
Tikka T3x 30-06-$680
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40-$400
Sig kilo 2000-$500
Glock 20 10mm-$550
=$2630
I know what id rather go home with.

 

I’m all for buying quality optics, but the average hunter won’t benefit from buying a pair of Swaro binos. I have a Swaro spotter because it’s a necessary tool for my LR shooting; a pair of high dollar binos wouldn’t make any difference in my hunting though.

I agree!

[huntnfmly]

I can buy one pair of 10x42 swarovski EL's for $2689
Or......
Vortex Viper 10x42HD-$500
Tikka T3x 30-06-$680
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40-$400
Sig kilo 2000-$500
Glock 20 10mm-$550
=$2630
I know what id rather go home with.

 

I’m all for buying quality optics, but the average hunter won’t benefit from buying a pair of Swaro binos. I have a Swaro spotter because it’s a necessary tool for my LR shooting; a pair of high dollar binos wouldn’t make any difference in my hunting though.

    good amount of folks running alpha glass that realistically dont need them or use them to their full potential.  If you got the extra cash then go for it but I glassed up a lot of stuff with a pair of first gen vortex vipers.  Only vortex item I've ever owned that didnt fall apart 

100% agree don't get caught up in you have to have alpha glass very few people will notice the quality difference. For example I've had swaro 10x50 slc/ Nikon 10x50 monarchs both were great glass gave the nikons to a friend and out elk hunting was looking thru both to compare and my old man eyes really couldn't see the difference. My vortex fury binos I had same thing your price range is very doable finding good glass that will last

[Karl Blanchard]

Hard to tell the difference on a lot of alpha stuff and some mid range stuff..........then you put them on a tripod and your mind gets blown

[Karl Blanchard]

This would be my pick under 5 Bill's

https://www.opticsplanet.com/zeiss-terra-ed-10-x-42-binocular.html

[BULLBLASTER]

Hard to tell the difference on a lot of alpha stuff and some mid range stuff..........then you put them on a tripod and your mind gets blown

I’ll add that looking through Binos and switching after a few seconds or minutes doesn’t really give a great idea as to how they work.

Tripod and long sessions of staring through is where the alpha glass shines.

My vortex did all they needed to for lots of years but as cash allowed u upgraded to swaro and have zero regrets.

[boneaddict]

Buy once cry once......Swaro

Yep!  It hurts, but worth it.

[James]

Alpha glass is amazing, but the jump in performance of affordable glass is unbelievable compared to just 5 or 10 years ago.


Look how cheap Nikon Monarch 5's and 7's with their ED glass are these days. There is some great glass in that $300-700 range.

[JeffRaines]

I can buy one pair of 10x42 swarovski EL's for $2689
Or......
Vortex Viper 10x42HD-$500
Tikka T3x 30-06-$680
Leupold VX3i 3.5-10x40-$400
Sig kilo 2000-$500
Glock 20 10mm-$550
=$2630
I know what id rather go home with.

 

I’m all for buying quality optics, but the average hunter won’t benefit from buying a pair of Swaro binos. I have a Swaro spotter because it’s a necessary tool for my LR shooting; a pair of high dollar binos wouldn’t make any difference in my hunting though.

    good amount of folks running alpha glass that realistically dont need them or use them to their full potential.  If you got the extra cash then go for it but I glassed up a lot of stuff with a pair of first gen vortex vipers.  Only vortex item I've ever owned that didnt fall apart 

Agreed

Not to say alphas aren’t good for general “run and gun” style glassing, but whenever you put them on a tripod and start to glass for hours is when you’ll really feel like they’re worth it.

As I’ve said before - looking through vipers was like looking through a pair of binoculars, razors/conquests were like looking through “good” binoculars, and Swarovski was like actually being there.

[wheels]

should have added this to  currently have nikon  accu i think they are  and this last trip i looked through my dads viper HDs  and was whole other ball park kinda looking something  in that quality range  i know its out of my current rang as of now but maybe by next season can save up  and second i dont know why but really been looking at leupold  probably because im big randy fan are they worth the $

[Eric M]

realistically 300-500

In that price range you could pick up a pair of the Leupold pro guide HD bx-3 Mojave. Nice glass for the money

[Bob33]

When I started hunting many years ago, it was with a pair of Sears 7x35s (7x35 was the standard at that time.)

Over time I progressed through the ranks of binoculars, and eventually ended up with alpha glass. I could qualify as a genuine “buy once, cry once” candidate but I never did cry. It’s tough to justify spending several thousand dollars on a pair of binoculars when there are other pressing budget demands. Sure, I ended up with a drawer full of used binoculars but so what. I upgraded equipment as my budget allowed.

Yes, if you spend hours behind optics the slight differences between the various qualities of glass become more and more evident. I suspect I’ve probably seen some animals with better glass than I would have without and it does improve my hunting experience. However, if I had to hunt with binos in the $300 to $500 range I really doubt I’d do much better in the vast majority of hunting situations.

Even though I have Swarovski binos now, I occasionally take out a pair of $100 Yosemite 6x30s for fun and am always impressed with them.

And some day I'll have a garage sale on my drawer of binoculars that I almost cried over...

ANY binocular is better than NO binocular.