Thread: What binos are you using?

Originally Posted by Hunteast

I have a near new pr Leupold 10x42 Alpine HD - they were my spare pr while my Kahles were repaired. Brought off the forum, willing to sell back to the forum. PM me.

Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see a way to PM you. Might be cuz I'm still new to the forum?

Originally Posted by BravoBoss458

Maybe I'm blind, but I can't see a way to PM you. Might be cuz I'm still new to the forum?

I think you need a certain amount of posts before you get PMing abilities.

I’ve used leupolds, leicas and now on sig sauer range finder binos which I rate.

Bravoboss458 - are you in the Nth Canterbury NZDA by chance and on the Hunts Cse? If so contact them with your message & let me know on here. Maybe you are able to pm by then?

I don’t mind putting my email up if you want to email me and I can PM Hunteast to get you guys in contact?

jmr.chch@gmail.com

Originally Posted by Juicy

I don’t mind putting my email up if you want to email me and I can PM Hunteast to get you guys in contact?

jmr.chch@gmail.com

That would be mint - sent you an email. Thanks heaps

I have a pair of vortex diamondbacks.
Had a recent tahr trip. Others in the group had leica’s and sigs.
I was finding tahr just as often as others were.
The diamondbacks are excellent for the money.
What ever you end up with, try and keep your lenses clean!

Bushnell...10x the same ones you see Tasman using. Pretty jolly good.

I wanted to side-grade to something lighter recently, so sold the 10x42 Bushnells. Some internet research led me to a pair of Kowa YF-ii 8x30's which I received last week. Apparently the birdwatching scene rate them. Fairly cheap, light, compact, and I think compare well against mainstream hunting brands optically.

I'm still using my Kahles 7 x 42s over 25yrs old now and still awesome clarity and performance.

I use 10x Weavers compact rubber coated just do the job - but I dont think on market now - well at least I have not seen any - I would call them medium quality lenses - Nikons similar may have an edge in that price range

If your budget is $1k then definitely look at 2nd hand options as you’ll get much better value for $. You’ll need to be patient but some very good deals come thru on optics, which are often in near new condition & are 60-70% of retail. Sometimes less. Basically for your $1k spend you should be able to get into optics retailing at $15-1700 range. I picked up a pair of Zeiss Victory SL 10x40 binos in “as new” condition for $1700, they retail for $3400 at that time.
As others have mentioned low light performance is really important for hunting & this is when most of higher end optics bring that extra performance.

Gotta say that the Vortex Crossfire HD (not "true" ED, but some proprietary marketing garb) are pretty good for the money. Smoke the Mackenzies I had. And sub $400.

Yeah it's nice to use the $2k ones but you shouldn't feel you must have that level of optics.

If you’re considering compact Binos these Maven 8x30’s on yellow site would be worth considering (not my listing BTW)
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketpl...ing/5536069572

the old argument always comes up - 8x or 10x - for me had both sold the 8x - now 10x and wont change - 10x every day of the week for picking up a set of fallow ears sticking up out of the bullrushes they are the business - but if I wanted to give a pair to a young hunter or someone inexperienced in the field then 8x is the way to go- just easier for them to use - but you cant beat the xtra power of 10x - what a pity one cant get say 8- 20 now they would be neat