I'm looking to buy two pairs of binoculars any recommendations

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mikeboehm

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Last weekend my 14 year old daughter Add my 26 year old son both passed They're Hunter safety course. I'm looking to purchase a couple Binos, One for each of them. 8x32 for my daughter and 10x42 for my son. I'm not really a fan of vortex, but that might be my best bet. Budget four to five hundred each what would you all recommend.

Also please pm me If you've seen any deals out there on binos
 
I would say Vortex seems to have the market cornered. I haven’t used Athlon binos but love the scopes. Bushnell stuff was always good to me I had a 10x28 pair that did me solid bow hunting for a few years. Have a vortex 10x42 crossfire that was a wicked deal a few years back so I couldn’t pass it up.

That said I read an article about exit pupils and as we get older the number shrinks it mentioned that 10x42 and 8x32 are for people 40 and older as that’s about the limit of the light their eyes can take in. Might want to look into it before settling on sizes, at least for the older child seeing as at 26 weight shouldn’t matter and he might benefit from larger exit pupil set for low light.

B
 
Do they wear glasses? Some binoculars are better than others when it comes to wearing glasses and getting a full field of vision. I had a pair of Minox 10x40's that were just excellent. I highly recommend Minox.
 
had a couple pairs of Vortex for years, this spring one of the lens caps cracked talked to the company and they replaced caps front and back for free, 100% recommend them and I am not soft on them
 
My "cheapies" are Diamondback HD 8x42s and they are great. Really nice to use, I've been taking them everywhere, fishing and camping as well as hunting. They also get loaned out, but only to people I like :)

They are really quite decent and have held up well the past 3-4 years now. They are good all-round binos IMO, they are not my hunt-of-a-lifetime pick but if I was with one of my kids I'd gladly bring them as a secondary/backup.
 
look at the weights of the binos... some are quite heavy despite having 'low' mag... and vice versa.

For general hunting, I am a huge fan of the 8X binos so I would lean that level of mag to both kids. Eye relief will be a issue if either wears glasses.

Both Athlon and Sightron offer fantastic glass in their binos for the money. I think the UHD options from Athlon are well worth the small increase in price.... but these can be heavy.

Nikon Monarch 5s (maybe a bigger number now) can offer very nice glass in a light package. I think the larger objective will be useful to either kid as their need to see in dim light will be equal.

Pretty sure all of these will be under your per bino budget by a sizeable amount. Given the end use, the Athlon warranty might be a good idea.

If I can help, please pm or email. Thanks

Jerry
 
I second the recommendation to look at Nikon…have swaro, zeiss and leitz but have several Nikon and always been impressed with their optics… they do make very high end expensive stuff … but their Monarchs are very good value and you would have to pay a whole lot more to get slightly better performance than they offer. Plus their warranty is darn good.

Years ago I purchased a clean set of Nikon porroprism bino’s (used) I accidentally knocked them off the shooting bench onto the concrete pad floor. I was convinced that the collimation had been upset (barely noticeably) and took them to Nikon Canada - they said they were old and didnt service them any more (darned right they were old!!) but I #####ed anyway and the manager found a technician who had worked on these binoculars before: I got a call to pick them up a couple weeks later - optically good as new! And when I went to pay for the repair — I was told ‘no charge’!!!!

I take the time to write about this because I think people should know about companies like Nikon who make an excellent product —- AND stand behind them!
 
Should be able to find Steiner predator series for 500. Made in Germany, great build quality and the glass on them is great. After owning both a marine and predator series from them I don't think I would buy anyone else's. I recommend them to anyone who isn't trying to buy budget ones. The outside is like a super tough rubber like material and so far mine have held up fantastic. One of the sets makes it so no need to alter the focus, as literally everything seen through it is in focus no matter the distance though they are considerably wider then the other predator varieties.. Looks like the predator series for around $500 is going away as the prices for the new series have gone way up past $600. I did a search through as many store websites as I could. I'll link the ones with prices ranged within the price range you have specified.

https://www.bullseyenorth.com/all-products/browse/keyword/steiner/perpage/17

https://www.eaglefirearms.ca/search/steiner/

https://wolverinesupplies.com/shop?Search=steiner

https://www.generalgun.com/?post_type=product&s=steiner

https://store.theshootingcentre.com/

https://theammosource.com/search.php?search_query=steiner&section=product
 
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I picked up a pair of Nikon Monarch M7 8x40's a few months ago and have been pretty impressed with them so far. They're brighter than my (really old) Swarovski's, and seem just as sharp. I wear glasses, so I went the the 8x40's for the slightly longer eye relief. I was tempted by the 8x30's, they're a lot more compact and lighter.

Made in China however, if that matters to you.
 
I just bought a pair of Tract 10X42 SCHOTT HT. They really seem to stand in there with higher priced 'nocs - it feels more like you just spent $2,500 for the quality you get. Mine are clear all the way to the edge and nice and bright.
 
I agree on the quality of the Vortex Diamondback binos. I "upgraded" to Viper binoculars, but honestly I don't see much difference other than being made in the Philippines vs. China for the Diamondback binos.

I have a pair of new in box Nikon Monarch 5 8x42 up on the EE. I think they are similar to the above Vortex models in build and glass quality.
 
mikeboehm said:
I just bought my son a pair of steiner predator 10x42. Now to find a pair for my daughter
Click to expand...

How about Kowa?
- I'd sure be tempted by their 6.5x32. Personally, I'd rather have a larger field of view than a extra 1.5x magnification
- Pelee Wings is a great shop to deal with

235368_kowaBD_02.jpg
 
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