Hello All
I'm an occasional visitor (and VERY infrequent contributor here), but in the past I have found the subject matter expertise and level of civility here to make this forum a first-rate resource on optics. The collective input from the folks here steered me towards saving my money and buying a better spotting scope than I had originally been intending for range use.
I'm now planning on doing some elk hunting in Arizona this fall. My current optics assortment includes a relatively nice set of Carson ED 8X42 binoculars that are great for short range use in SE Texas brush, but definitely not ideal for glassing in arid open country in search of elk. The other half of what I have now is a Vortex Razor HD 20-60X85mm spotter. The glass is wonderful....but given that we will be doing almost all of our hunting our of backpacks in the mountains, I think that the five-pound weight of this scope on it's own is prohibitive.
The general consensus of the experienced open-country hunters that I have asked is that 12X or 15X binos with a 50mm or larger objective lens is a great choice for the sort of hunting that we're doing. (we are not focused on getting a huge trophy buck, and thus won't need a ton of magnification to determine exact size of the rack)
At this point I don't believe that true "alpha" glass is in the budget unless I save until a full year after I go hunting...but the honest truth is that even if I had the cash on hand I would hesitate to spend Swarovski money on an optic that I will only use once or twice each year. I would very much like to get performance that is roughly equivalent to the Razor HD level of clarity (which I know is subjective).
My criteria are these - 50 to 60mm objective lenses, 12X to 20X magnification, and suitable for multi-day backpacking trips (rugged), available somewhere between $500 and $1000. Big points if there's a lifetime warranty that covers clumsiness on my part, especially if it doesn't require sending the binos overseas for repair.
Here are the binos that I have noticed as being in the "ballpark" - please let me know if you have specific input on quality, value for money, or a choice that I have neglected:
Nikon Monarch 5 16X56 Vortex Kaibab HD 15X56 Optolyth 12X50 Alpin Classic (although I do have concerns about lack of waterproofing) Minox BL 15X56 Kowa 12X56 BD56 Vortex 15X50 Viper HD (I have not owned anything from the Viper line but my nose tells me that it'll fall short of the Razors) Used Zeiss 15 X 60 binos from EBay (I know this is a bit of a crap shoot)
The other question is that if I take a step up from a $1000 cap, is there a star performer at $1250 or so? Are the Meopta 15x56's "all that"?
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