Not all glass is equal,just wow

[hunter399]

Now I have to start from the beginning.
When I was younger,we would just stumble around all day.
Most likely dragging our feet at dark and another half mile to go before you seen the porch light.

And we would bump bucks ,the old whistle or clap your hand and try to shoot them or shot em on the run.
And I not joking ,one buck I shot about few inches in front of his pecker and the bullet exit out of his chest.
When I jumped him out of the brush maybe 10 yards from me,and that sucker leaped up he went down maybe 20 yard from me.
It was probably the quickest kill I ever seen or did.

And the only time you carried bino was mule deer hunting,so you could see that little tiny third point.
The rest of the time you seen a deer and you put the rifle scope on it. So for years I carried the worst bino for years.
I think it was like a 16/32 Bushnell bino or something like that.
I still have them and can look to be sure .

Anyway I bought last year I bought some 12/50 vortex HD binos.
And holy smokes batman.....OMG.
I never realized how much I was shorting myself all these years.
It was an eye opener ,that's for sure.

I do know most on this site probably consider the vortex a base model sub par junk yard crap.
But for me and my back story,there like the greatest thing since plastic tip bullets.

What you guys running?

[huntnfmly]

Vortex here also it is great glass.too many people think you have to pay thousands for good glass not so.
 Some peoples eyes are such that you can’t really tell the difference I had a pair of swaros and I really couldn’t tell much difference from my vortex it’s probably just my old man eyes but it saves me money 😁

Get a tripod for those and you will be even more impressed with what you were missing

[MADMAX]

I like my Vortex scopes and binocs 

[jrebel]

We run Swarovski, Leupold and zeiss.   I have some older bushnell that stay at the cabin and work fine for what we use them for.   Looked through some of my hunting buddies vortex and they are on par with the Leupold my son uses.  For the price of some of the high end vortex….your not to far off a pair of Swarovski slc’s.  I say to each their own…and any glass is better than no glass.

[lewy]

Talk about late to the party

[hunter399]

Talk about late to the party

You hit the nail right on the head...

I do run a tripod for 5+ years,it's not one of those fancy carbon fiber.
It's an old style bog pod,with a 20/60 spotter (need better also) that I only use for my phone scope thingy now. I do have the adapter for the 12/50 vortex I just bought that right away.

But yes I'm very late to the party on the bino part.
And I'm blown away at the quality.
I feel like I can see so much better with these HD thing.

I know the topic is about glass.

But between onx and these binos.
It just has changed the game so much ,when I look back as a kid growing up and hunting.
It's just crazy to me.
Might be less animals now ,by God your gonna see them now .

[Cougartail]

Nikon has the best glass for the money and I've looked through them all. I like Nightforce scopes as they have great  glass.

[pickardjw]

Upgraded the vortex diamondbacks to used zeiss conquests this year. Definitely an improvement. The vipers are pretty solid for the price point based on my experience with a buddy's 12's. I won't touch swaro's though, can't afford to 

Maybe one day

[yotesnmore]

I love Vortex. Had diamond backs and Viper HD 12*50. The HD are amazing for the price. I skipped Razors to go to Swarovski NL pures and couldn't be happier. That being said for the money Vipers are the way to go but if you can afford any Swarovski I believe you'll see an improvement.

[timberfaller]

  +2 for Nikon.  Have others too, but like my Nikon's, both in scopes and binoc's.  Their warranty is great!

[elkaholic123]

I tell people who ask me, buy once cry once....get SWAROVSKI and never look back!

[GOcougsHunter]

I tell people who ask me, buy once cry once....get SWAROVSKI and never look back!

truth... 

[Sakko300wsm]

Leica HD binocs and Nightforce scopes is what I operate with

[MeepDog]

Every black Friday Cabelas has a sale on 10x42 vipers from $500 down to 300. Good glass for the money

[pd]

You mention "late to the party," and I get that.  But another part of this is actually using the binoculars!

What do I mean?  In the olden days, even if I carried binoculars, I was usually run-and-gun, and seldom used the glass.  I am amazed at how much I can see if I just sit down, and slowly glass a wide area. 

Another "late to the party" guy here.

[Mtnwalker]

Leica HD binocs and Nightforce scopes is what I operate with

  My eyes prefer Leica over swaro as well. Although I'm about due for another round of comparison

[Taco280AI]

Swaro binos and a Razor HD gen 2 spotter. Yes the Swaro spotter is better, but for my use the Razor is good, and nearly 1/3 the price for the deal I got.

[Rainier10]

I tell people who ask me, buy once cry once....get SWAROVSKI and never look back!

I have had a ton of binocs and since my first set of Swaro’s five years ago swaro is all I buy now. I have bought three pairs since the first pair.

[GASoline71]

I'm late to the party too. Mainly hunted Blacktails in the jungles of the westside Cascades, and Elk in the timber of the eastside Cascades.  Never needed a spotter or had any binos worth anything.

Then I too recently bought a Vortex spotter (upcoming WY pronghorn hunt) and a set of Vortex binos too.  Holy carp... what a difference!  Don't know why I've waited this long!

I know as well that people will tout high dollar brands like Leica, Swarovski, Zeiss, etc, but I just can't part with close to $2k for a set of optics.  Now then, if I used them every single hunt, every single day for many days afield, I'd probably eat those words.  But for me, so far, the optics from Vortex are pretty nifty!

Gary

[fowl smacker]

As far as binoculars go I was dead set on getting a pair of Swarovski NL pure until I compared them with a buddies Maven B.2 Compared them during the day and at dusk.  Almost no difference to my eyes.  Certainly not for 3x the cost.  I now own the Maven B.2 11x45.  Spectacular optics.

[Bob33]

The differences between inexpensive ($100 to $200) and mid-priced ($500 to $1000) binoculars are usually pretty obvious to most people. The next jump up to alpha glass like Swarovski is more subtle and may not be fully appreciated without extensive use. You are paying 50% to 100% more for just a few percentage gains. Glancing through both at the Cabela’s optics counter during daylight hours will likely not show much difference. Looking through them for several hours in more challenging light conditions is where the differences may become more obvious. Collimation that is just slightly off isn’t noticeable initially but can become more so after hours of use.

To me, the value of alpha glass is not just optical but also mental. I know I’m not missing something that I would see with better glass.

[GOcougsHunter]

I like this discussion very much.  I will tell you that my Swaros can tell me if a buck has 3 points on a side from 800 yds away in low light.  My less expensive spotter would show me that it had horns.  Knowing a buck is legal or not will save you time and possibly energy in the long run.  Well worth selling my kidney for the Swaro.

[Pnwrider]

Depends on use as well. If I was hunting blacktail on the westside in thick Forrest with little light coming through and a far shot being 40 yds, maybe I could justify the swaro cost. But in the wide open areas east of the mountains, most of the deer we look at are 200 yds plus. I’d rather put the big money into a spotting scope and get binos that are good enough to identify bucks at long range. I picked up a pair of Kowa binos earlier this year and have been happy with them for the price.

[Pnwrider]

I like this discussion very much.  I will tell you that my Swaros can tell me if a buck has 3 points on a side from 800 yds away in low light.  My less expensive spotter would show me that it had horns.  Knowing a buck is legal or not will save you time and possibly energy in the long run.  Well worth selling my kidney for the Swaro.

Eh, you must have better vision than the guys I hunt with.  2 weeks ago I was looking at 3 bucks bedded down at 540 yds. The guys next to me were using Leica and swaros. All of us could tell they were 2x2s, it wasn’t until the spotting scopes came out they we could pickup a small 3rd on one of them. Heck, once bullets started flying, the guy looking through the swaros called out the wrong deer to shoot!

[GOcougsHunter]

I like this discussion very much.  I will tell you that my Swaros can tell me if a buck has 3 points on a side from 800 yds away in low light.  My less expensive spotter would show me that it had horns.  Knowing a buck is legal or not will save you time and possibly energy in the long run.  Well worth selling my kidney for the Swaro.

Eh, you must have better vision than the guys I hunt with.  2 weeks ago I was looking at 3 bucks bedded down at 540 yds. The guys next to me were using Leica and swaros. All of us could tell they were 2x2s, it wasn’t until the spotting scopes came out they we could pickup a small 3rd on one of them. Heck, once bullets started flying, the guy looking through the swaros called out the wrong deer to shoot!

Yeah..agree with your thinking that the user's eyesight matters.  Where I was convinced on good glass was I was elk hunting an area by Mt St Helens and me and one of the other tag holders happened to be glassing from the same spot.  I was not finding anything with my $300 spotter and he was picking up individual elk all over the area we were glassing with his Swaro.  I was sold.  As another poster here said, there may not be a ton of difference between a $1800 spotter and a $2500 spotter, but I feel as though I am not leaving anything on the table buying the more expensive glass.  I think the point of this string is that there is a world of difference between bad, medium and good glass.

[Taco280AI]

Swaro binos and a Razor HD gen 2 spotter. Yes the Swaro spotter is better, but for my use the Razor is good, and nearly 1/3 the price for the deal I got.

Forgot to mention this latest deer I spotted at 1.2 miles with the 10x42 Swaros. Could tell it was a deer, that's all. The Razor HD gen 2 showed it was a 3x4. Have zero doubt a Swaro spotter would show more detail, but ~$3k OTD vs $1156 OTD I took the chance on the HDs. If they didn't cut it I would have returned them and bought the Swaro, but so far so good.

[GASoline71]

The differences between inexpensive ($100 to $200) and mid-priced ($500 to $1000) binoculars are usually pretty obvious to most people. The next jump up to alpha glass like Swarovski is more subtle and may not be fully appreciated without extensive use. You are paying 50% to 100% more for just a few percentage gains. Glancing through both at the Cabela’s optics counter during daylight hours will likely not show much difference. Looking through them for several hours in more challenging light conditions is where the differences may become more obvious. Collimation that is just slightly off isn’t noticeable initially but can become more so after hours of use.

To me, the value of alpha glass is not just optical but also mental. I know I’m not missing something that I would see with better glass.

I did that exact thing at Cabela's.  The counter guy set up a Cabela's, a Vortex, a Leupold and a Swaro spotters.  Looking through them the Swaro was superior to my eyes (but the price was far out of my league).  The Cabela's spotter came in last.  I was going to buy the Leupold until I looked through them and then compared the Vortex.  I personally thought the Vortex HD was much clearer than the Leupold spotter.  Whether that was just my eyes or not, I chose the Vortex over the gold ring.  I know some will say I'm crazy, but I saved 200 bucks and got what I feel is a good optic.

Gary

[Rainier10]

The subtle differences that bob33 mentioned are key to me.

I had meopta 10x42’s after owning a nice set of Nikons. The meoptas were way better than the Nikons at dawn and dusk.

Then I went to swaro slc’s 10x42. Mid day tough to tell the difference. Dawn and dusk the swaros out performed the meoptas.

Then came the Swaro El’s for me. Again similar mid day but come dusk I could see crisper snd clearer with the EL’s

The last thing that I will agree with bob33 on is looking for a long time through the swaros I don’t feel the eye strain or fatigue. I can look through swaros longer and that is really important. More time behind the glass the better.

Every time we are glassing and my buddy says there is a deer I look with my swaros and can quickly confirm if it is a deer or a stump.

I give him my binocs and I get one of two comments.

Wow that is a great deer, so clear or huh that’s a bush, those binocs take the fun out of this. Before I got the swaros we used to hike a mile to find a bush. Normally on the way to the bush we would bump other deer but I feel like with swaros we would have known the “deer” was really a bush and would have seen the other actually deer between us and the bush.

[dlow]

I traded my binos up to Zeiss from Vortex after reading “Blacktail Trophy Tactics.” Zeiss sure makes some quality glass. Now I’m trying to figure out when to and when not to use them for hunting blacktail.

[pianoman9701]

I bought a winning lottery ticket worth $500 and bought a Talon HD Binoculars (not a pair. I only needed one). Great glass and it does make a huge difference.

[b23]

For me Swaro binos are the best my eyes have looked though.  I've considered getting a new pair of NL's but I just can't seem to give up my EL 8.5 x 42's. 

On rifles that get dialed they are all wearing NF mostly NXS but I couple have ATACR and NX8 on them too.  I'd love to have NF on everything but I'm not there yet and probably won't ever be so I have a handful of Vortex on rifles as well but they're more shorter range varmint, PD/ground squirrel guns.