I have a Swarovski that is rated for 1500 meters. It's excellent out to 1200 meters depending on the target. After 1200 it needs something quite large or at the very least it needs to be on a stable rest to get a decent reading. I've actually had readings over the 1500 meter limit but I'm talking about a cliff face.
On animals the size of Deer/ELK/Moose and Bears it's consistently reliable to 1200 meters in clear weather. It suffers during heavy rain and fog or even morning mists. The 7X monocular is incredible even though it only has a 30mm objective lens.
If I'm shooting coyotes, I carry both the rangefinder and my Binos. My binos are late model Zeiss Terra, 10x42 and when I purchased them they were compared with Swarovski binos of the same power and with my aging eyes I couldn't see any difference between them in low light conditions. There was however a big difference in price.
When it comes to Optics, I prefer not to purchase them without looking through them first. Even when they're the same brand there are detectable differences that show up when viewed side by side. Most shops won't let you take the optics outside to compare them. Maybe if business is slow they will come out with you and allow you to compare between brands. When I bought my Zeiss binos WSS in Kamloops was having a slow day and the very nice middle aged fellow behind the counter picked up three boxes of Zeiss and two boxes of Sworovski binos. It turns out he was curious as well. I checked all of them and he did as well. We both settled on the same Swarovski and Zeiss binos. There were visible, albeit minor, irregularities with the other three pairs. The worst offence was they weren't clear and sharp right to the extreme edge. This is something a lot of people overlook. One, a Zeiss had gritty adjustments.
Neither of us could see any difference between the two types we picked so I picked the cheapest pair which were the Zeiss Terras.
Understand, up to that point Swarovskis were always my first choice. I also have a Swarovski spotting scope with center adjustment and the eyepiece is rated from 15X-60X. I paid a lot of money for that scope close to 15 years ago and it was used. I picked it up along with several others of different high quality brands from a shop business closure auction. It was far superior to its next closest competitor with was a Leica.
Now, you really need to determine what you're going to need these binos for. The best binos are used by birdwatchers who demand absolute clarity and sharpness right to the extreme edge of the lenses. They really know their stuff when it comes to binos and spotting scopes. I was given a full education by a group that came to view the auction items.
If you're using them for viewing sports they don't need to be as sharp. If you're using them for viewing scenery they only need to be as sharp as the conditions your in. When viewing wild game or birds then they need to be sharp and clear. First to determine ### and then to determine legality. A good pair of binos can save you a lot of climbing and walking.
Still the best advice I can give you is to check out as many pairs as possible and choose the one that suits you, while looking for issues mentioned.
one less thing to carry.
