What power binos for hunting.

[Hunt]

I use 10x42 leupold. They work excellent and have great glass for not a crap load of money.

I used to think that too.

[Hunt]

If weight is not an issue get the 50's made before profits were the main goal in life.You can pick up some Zeiss or Leitz and view all day without getting dizzy and wanting to puke.Field of view allows you to see small movements while your running your grid.
More powder equals more distortion and aberration but get as much as YOUR EYES can handle not what everyone else feels is right for you.

this is so true for hunters, we were up in Montana and there was this bear about a 1.5 - 2mi mile up on an open hillside. A large crowd had gathered in the parking lot to view the bear, one guy had a pair of 8x swaros, everyone else had low to mid range cost binos 8x and 10x a few people were sharing their swaro spotting scopes. The 8x swaro binos picked up the bear very clear at that long distance. There were no other binos that could resolve the details at that distance everything blended together, bear could not be seen. You are always better off with lower magnification if the glass is better. IMO the Chinese are experts at making cheap binos that look fantastic mid day out to about 800 yards, this convinces people they are getting Alpha quality for 1/3 the cost. Try those Chinese binos past 800 yards or in low light then the reason for the big difference in optics prices becomes obvious.

[toby]

this is so true for hunters, we were up in Montana and there was this bear about a 1.5 - 2mi mile up on an open hillside. A large crowd had gathered in the parking lot to view the bear, one guy had a pair of 8x swaros, everyone else had low to mid range cost binos 8x and 10x a few people were sharing their swaro spotting scopes. The 8x swaro binos picked up the bear very clear at that long distance. There were no other binos that could resolve the details at that distance everything blended together, bear could not be seen. You are always better off with lower magnification if the glass is better. IMO the Chinese are experts at making cheap binos that look fantastic mid day out to about 800 yards, this convinces people they are getting Alpha quality for 1/3 the cost. Try those Chinese binos past 800 yards or in low light then the reason for the big difference in optics prices becomes obvious.

Well said, but each will learn on his own, that is should they choose not to follow the sales pitch's or the easily duped.

[LynnJr]

Every year we have guys on 4 wheelers ride up to our spot and ask us what we are doing.We hunt longrange and tell them we are looking at deer on the next hillside.
They shutdown there noisy rides and grab there binos immediately but rarely ever find anything.
My father will hand one of them some Leitz binos and so far everyone of them has said wow where did you get these.
Optics is not the place to skimp.
I have tried several of the small bell bino's and you immediately get tunnel vision when looking through them.If you find an animal and pull them down you can hardly ever locate them again as nothing looks the same through your scope.

[zio707]

If you're strictly bow hunting I can see using 32mm binos but for all other stuff get the 42mm binos. They gather more light thus being more effective in just about all hunting conditions. 50mm are excellent for low light except now you're now sacrificing size and weight which may or may not be a concern, the larger glass usually also means more $.

I use Swaro 10x42 and they are perfect for my needs, I also have Swaro 7x42's which a lot of binocular aficionados may consider even better.

I had a set of old Leitz 10x25's, though the optics were excellent for the times the shake I got because they were so light made them almost impossible to use under normal conditions; you really had to work to hold them steady which sucked deer hunting.

[Bull Elk]

10x42's! Don't carry 20 rounds of ammo and you'll shave off a few more oz's!