binoculars

My personal opinion (and we know what they say about opinions?), is that often the magnification is given too much importance. I bought a second hand pair of 6x30 Steiner military binoculars. After he looked through them, a mate of mine was very upset. He had higher power glass, but without the clarity or light transmission. We both found that it was easier to make out detail with the smaller binoculars. Incidentally, he now owns a set of Steiners too...
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Bang for the buck, I'm pretty happy with a pair of Aspens I got, but I'm very far from an expert and have never had anything better. I'm sure if I had better to compare them to, I could wish for more. What I'm getting at is, like with so many things, you can be happy with less if it's not something all that important to you and you don't get yourself all spoiled and greedy looking at the high-end stuff. I don't use them enough or in serious enough situations to want to spend more. It sounds like you may be in a similar situation.

In years of keeping an eye on threads like these, Steiners get the most good comments at reasonable prices. Also, big ++ on staying at or below 8x.

Let us know what you get and how you like them!
 
In terms of price vs. performance I think Pentax actually gives you a hell of a lot. I have a few pairs by them and they're nothing short of phenomenal for how little they tend to cost. When Joezilla went on one of the Randall Adventure Training trips to Peru I had him take my Papilios with him and he did a writeup on Woodsmonkey on them.

You can read it HERE. :):thumbup:
 
baldtaco-II said:
It's worth noting the hackneyed “get what you pay for” thing is something to be wary of without qualification. In fact, as it stands it is almost meaningless.
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If you rule out charlatans and other deceptive business models, you really do get what you pay for in most circumstances. When you get in the area of diminishing returns with a lot more money, you really need to know what you are buying and why. This is as true for binoculars as it is with knives and other things.

If you have never used ~$1200 European binoculars in fading light in a harsh environment, you are missing a lot of what the extra ~$1,000 is paying for.
 
Nikon Travelites have been highly praised by consumer rating outfits and travel mags. They looked very clear and crisp to me. Under $150 last time I checked.

DancesWithKnives
 
My favorite general purpose binoculars that I carry woods hunting are the Leupold Yosemite 6x30 ($100-$120). Waterproof and small enough to carry just about anywhere. My higher powered binocs are Nikon Monarch 8x42. Most people don't need as much magnification as they think they do unless you are birding.
 
I have bought demo optics ( Minox, Zen-Ray, Pentax and Steiner) from Cameraland & SWFA and closeout Vortex from Eagle Optics at substantial savings. My most frequently used are a Minox 8x25 Macroscope (monocular), a Vortex Viper 6x32 and Zen-Ray ED2 8x43. They aren't alphas or close but I would have to pay considerably more to realize a noticeable difference in image quality.
 
I like the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 8x42. Great clarity and brightness. I've seen them reviewed favorably against binoculars costing $100 more.
 
I have a pair of compact Nikon Trailblazers 10X25 waterproof ($105) and fog proof. Really glad I picked them up.
 
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