what scope & bino's do you use in the field?

that's cool Nine. one of my primary hobbies is astronomy and my first tool of choice are binoculars. of course, the use is different, but of importance is light gathering power. when you have good coatings on your binocular lenses and prisms, they can often be brighter then other binoculars with larger aperture but lousy coatings.

while this is the 'best' case scenario, one wants to watch for specs such as fully multi-coated (best to find out if all surfaces are or if it's only some of the lenses) and that they're nitrogen purged and sealed. when you buy roof prism binoculars, you also want to ensure that they are phase 3 coated.

I know London Drugs has a pair of Bushnell 10x42's coming on sale for $199 with a free bag of sorts. I tried a pair of 8x30 Leupold Yosemite's and was surprised at how bad the reflection was in them...tho considering their price point, I shouldn't have been overly much.

that said, in the case of bino's, you can get a much higher quality porro prism model at the same price as the roof prism. the trade off is weight...porro's are heavier.

no doubt rifle scopes work on the same principles, but the fact you're constantly adjusting their collimation to sight yourself in, will change how I have to perceive them. :runaway:
 
My scoped rifles wear Leupold VX-II's and VX-III's. My latest bino's are Leica Ultravid 10X42, my back up's are Swarovski 8X32 SLC's. Last but not least is my old Tamron 20X60 spotting scope which will soon reside at our cabin and will be replaced by a Leica Televid, just have not decided on which one yet...

For years I wasted my money on cheap optics :rolleyes:. No longer will I waste my time or money, even if I have to save my pennies and whore out my wife :D
 
I've never heard of Tamron before...but I'm very familiar with Leupold, Leica & Swarovski. I am envious crazy_davy...an drool!

I, alas, will have to settle with the medium of mediocrity yet functional as I am a poor man. as much as I'd love to buy a Leupold scope, I doubt I'd ever be able to afford one on my disability support.

I should put a third item in my original post...but perhaps the wise an experienced could list some of the things you wish to watch for in a rifle scope? price and name doesn't always mean you're getting something good! :p

in this day and age of China optics...you can get 95% the quality at half the price! :cool: or at least so it goes with astronomy...
 
Tamron are pretty well known optics, camera guys will know them well.

If you want high quality optics on a budget, keep an eye on the EE section for used optics, some of the best deals around on quality rifle scopes and binoculars.

I will keep my comments to myself on your last statements :). With optics you get what you pay for, if you don't believe, you have never used high quality optics.
 
I should make a correction concerning my last statement. it's easy to get 95% the optical quality at less then 1/2 the price. that doesn't buy you the mechanical quality of the instrument you've purchased tho...which is a large factor in it's use.

being the astronomer and a frequent poster/member of several forum communities...I'm well away of what's what, especially so as a consumer! a good example is my fathers recent purchase of the Pentax 20x60's vs. his Celestron 15x70's. there is a massive difference in the optical and mechanical quality...but the 15x70's that cost half the price, still let us see the same stuff... ;)

and yes, I will watch the EE section on optics. any suggestions on some scope makes/models I should watch for? :redface:
 
As an older shooter, I feel many of the younger crowd are using too high mag.

My field glasses are 6x30. Light, good light-grasp, good field of view. There is a reason these were the binocs of choice for militaries around the world for 70 years or so. On the rifle is a Falcon Menace 1.5-5x30SIR, usually kept at 4x to get clearest view. (Most variables don't work best at their highest mag).

However, every shooter and every hunt presents its own variables. Go with what works for you. If you hunt at 500-1000 yds, carry a 10x binoc as minimum and a nice target scope in the 10-20x class.

I also use an optical coincidence rangefinder, not a laser. Guess I'm not very 21st century....
 
I have Leupold and Burris scopes on my rifles. I picked up some Leica 8X32 binocs last year, and use an old Bushnell Space Master spotting scope.
 
Being in the photo industry, I am fortunate to be able to own a Leica Geovid 8x42 with the built in laser rangefinder, and a Leice Televid 62mm. I have always liked Bushnell 3200 rifle scopes in 4-12 power, good value for the money in my opinion. I have some Zeiss and a few Leupolds as well that I purchased used.
If I had to pay retail for my gear I'd look at the Nikon binos, Pentax make some very nice product. Celestron have a Bino called Noble that seems to be excellent value for the money. I think P&D will have the nobles in stock soon.
For a spotting scope the 15-45 Elite 60mm is a great scope if you have $460.00 to spend
FS
 
Vortex binocs and spotting, great optics, cheap like borscht. Burris on the 30-06. Great optics, love the Ballistic plex reticle.

If you want to stay uner $300 for the binocs check out the Vortex Diamondbacks. $210 will get you the Vortex IMR 75 spotting scope.
 
optics

Well, for scopes I've got Leupolds, Zeiss Conquest and a Swarovski...Binoculars, I've got a set of Swarovski EL 8.5x42's and a set of 10x25's. I made the mistake of using my Leupold spotting scope with my EL's, after one look through each I made the decision to upgrade to a swaro spotter...I saved some pennies and purchased an STS 65 and promptly sold my Leupold.

'rifle.
 
man....I'm green with envy! you guys have the $$$ to afford the really good stuff. it's like listening to those guys who buy the Televue scopes and we're running the Tasco's! heheheheh.

what are some good recommendations for inexpensive optics that work very well? now, I'm not meaning cheap...I'm meaning something that's not worth twice the price of my rifle!
 
scope on my hunting rifle is an older simmons 4x. and for my binocs i used to use a crappy little set until i found some 7x50's at princess auto of all places. i believe they are 'vivitar' brand, cost me 10 bucks on sale, and for field use are ALOT better than i would have believed. try a pair if you see them, and i doubt you'll put them down at that price. i keep a set in the apartment, and another at the camp
 
Nearly all my scopes are Leupold Vari and VX111's, VX111 LRs and Mark 4s. I've got a couple Zeiss, one Diavari and one Conquest. There are a couple VX11s, about 3 Leupold fixed powers in FX11, M8, and FX111. Rimfires could end up with just about anything. My binos are Zeiss Dialyt 8x56 for low light, and a set of Leupold Wind-river 9X that are kind of loaners now. Rangefinder is a Lieca 900 Scan.
I'm a bit too cheap to buy the real good stuff, but wonder sometimes if I wouldn't be better off with a lot less but more highend for specialty use. The notion usually passes.:D
 
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