10x50+ Binocular recommendations?

ABTOMAT-47

ABTOMAT-47

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I'm trying to get ideas for what to get as far as 10x50 (or maybe a little more powerful) binoculars. Used is preferred if they're high quality. Waterproof is not required, but is a plus. No junk, no fancy gizmos or features.

Right now I have a pair of inexpensive 7x50's my father bought in the '50s, but I need more power. I also have a pair of Nazi WW2 Afrika Korps Hensoldt Dailyt 10x50 binocs. They're beautiful, but I'm too afraid of damaging them to actually use so I'm going to sell them.

Budget? Not sure. I figure somewhere in the $300-400 range if I sold the Hensoldts, so I'd like to say as far under that as possible. Again, used and old are fine as long as they're good.
 
Sorry for going O/T but do you have any pics of your binos? I'd love to see them.
 
ABTOMAT-47 said:
I'm trying to get ideas for what to get as far as 10x50 (or maybe a little more powerful) binoculars. Used is preferred if they're high quality. Waterproof is not required, but is a plus. No junk, no fancy gizmos or features.

Right now I have a pair of inexpensive 7x50's my father bought in the '50s, but I need more power. I also have a pair of Nazi WW2 Afrika Korps Hensoldt Dailyt 10x50 binocs. They're beautiful, but I'm too afraid of damaging them to actually use so I'm going to sell them.

Budget? Not sure. I figure somewhere in the $300-400 range if I sold the Hensoldts, so I'd like to say as far under that as possible. Again, used and old are fine as long as they're good.
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10x50 Steiner Police or Military

DONT SELL THE OLD ONES! ARGHHHHH!!! :D

http://steiner.binoculars.com/products/steiner-10x50-military-marine-670.html

670.jpg


Great people to deal with.
 
Steiners are great. They are also found in your price range.

If you could spend more you could get something like Zeiss or Swarovski. Those are even nicer than the Steiner. :D
 
I was looking for the same thing about 10 years ago. Got some Nikons for $160 and am very happy with the optical quality, light gathering, etc.
 
The Swarovski just blow you away, I put the 8x42 vs the comaprable Leica and Ziess and the difference was obvious, even between the Swar and Leica, the Zeiss for me, came in a close third.

They are superb, but man, do they cost!
 
I'd have to say that the Leupold Wind River binos are nice and priced competitively with the steiners. Bushnell elite also makes some pretty decent binos. You can't go wrong with Zeiss or Steiner. Those two would be in the lower price range. I have a zeiss conquest (riflescope) and steiner predator 10x42 and they're both awesome. Nikon is probably a step above the last two. If you don't buy german or austrian made mega dollar binos make sure you carefully look at the different lines of Nikon, Bushnell, Leupold because some of their top lines are almost if not just as good, but then some of the cheaper ones are uhhhh.... crap! I'd recommend if you want to go higher power maybe getting a small spotting scope. For sheep hunting I used 10X42 wind river and a nikon sky, earth, moon maybe 12-60. Both worked perfectly and were crystal clear. Then again it never really got dark ;) Have you ever thought about going to 10x42? A little less light, but with the higher quality optics it doesn't seem to make as big of a difference.
 
I keep hearing good things about Wind Rivers. As much as I hate buying new, the idea of a warranty that'll say with me for 60 years is a plus.

It seems like unless I get lucky at a yard sale or eBay, good 10x50, Zeiss, Leica, Nikon, etc are pretty hard to get in my price range. Since new Zeiss are what, about $1100? Even $400 Steiners are pushing it.

I want to stick with 50mm objectives. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned, but my eyesight is poor and at some point I'll need them in the dark.

Oh, I strongly prefer center-focus binos, although I'd take seperates if the quality/price ratio is good. No fixed ("auto") focus.
 
If you wnat to stay under 400 look at nikon and bushnell elite. The bushnell elites have had top reviews from several outdoor magazines and they're in the 300-400 range.
 
ABTOMAT-47 said:
I have a pair of 7x50's, but I need more power.
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No, you don't.

"Higher magnifications generally limit both the field of view and the depth of field of binoculars. Worse, however, is magnification's affect on image steadiness. As you increase the magnification you are also magnifying every motion of the binoculars. It is next to impossible to extract information from an image that is bouncing around. With practice, and given exceptionally well balanced binoculars, the average birder can learn to extract detail from a 10 power image. Extracting detail from an 8 power image is even easier, and, in objective tests conducted by Zeiss, birders consistently extracted the most detail (at least on eye charts) from a 7 power image. As noted above, my experience has been that there is no practical difference in the amount of detail you can see in hand held binoculars of equal quality between 7 and 10 power."

Better View Desired.com

maximus otter
 
Well thanks for the opinion, but I'm not a birder and I know what I'm looking for. I grew up using 16x50 binoculars and kept them until they fell apart. The only reason I'm looking in the 10-12 range is that I want I better handheld performance.

My 7x50's work fine, just don't have enough reach for my tastes. The 10's I currently have are great, like I said, but too rare to use daily.
 
I'll agree with the Otter.Of course now they have optics stabilizers for the steadiness problem but that adds cost and complexity.. BTW even the best WWII optics doesn't come close to the modern stuff because of the lens coatings ,the best having 4 coatings .Anyway a good quality 7 or 8X is all you need.
 
OK smart guys, so answer me this. If 7X is all I need, why do I want more magnification? I've used recent 7x50's of good brands. I want more power. A set of 7X binoculars could have the greatest clarity in the world and still not make stuff large enough at the ranges I'm using them for. Like I said, I used to use 16x and still would if they weren't impossible to handhold.
 
I think you're missing my point. If something is far enough away, the greatest 7 power binoculars in the world won't have enough magnification to give you an image of reasonable size. I'm not a birder. I don't watch things flying around a short distance away. I'm also not a boater who has to deal with waves. A stunningly clear object is no use if it appears tiny.

If clear low powered optics were all everyone needed then there wouldn't be any need for long binoculars, rifle scopes, telescopes, etc.
 
If clear low powered optics were all everyone needed then there wouldn't be any need for long binoculars, rifle scopes, telescopes, etc.
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Good point. I think they were trying to convey that most people use more power than they need at the sacrifice of FOV and quality. For most of the hunting I've done 7x50 binos are almost useless because you glass from so far away. All you would see is a mountain. Much above 10 or 12 though and it's probably better to get a spotting scope. Not saying you're hunting, but binos really become task specific.
 
Orion Vista 10x50's are a nice binocular with very good Japanese optics.
They run around $230 or so.
 
ABTOMAT-47 said:
OK smart guys, so answer me this. If 7X is all I need, why do I want more magnification? I've used recent 7x50's of good brands. I want more power. A set of 7X binoculars could have the greatest clarity in the world and still not make stuff large enough at the ranges I'm using them for. Like I said, I used to use 16x and still would if they weren't impossible to handhold.
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Don't confuse them with the facts.... let alone in the US it is still accepatable to "just want something and get it"... I know alot of folk in the rest of the world and alot of "do gooders" want to save you from yourself- I generally ignore them although I do tell em to go away occasionally... I was looking and really like the Leopold wind river 10 power full size. I'll get around to them one day...
 
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