Maybe I'm the oddball here but I use Nikon Travellite 8x25's for all my hunting, especially bow and muzzleloader. They are VERY clear and compact and lightweight. And they can focus right through the brush just like the bigger, more expensive ones. I think for the $$ (around $100) you can't go wrong. Granted 40 or 50 mm has it's advantages....but I guess it's personal preference. Best $89 I've spent in the last 5 years.

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Well, as is the case with many things, it is a matter of personal prefence and circumstances. The 8x42 I own are awesome. They have top of the line bak4 lenses and are very bright. They are not inexpensive, but worth it.

My question really has to do with power rating, which some of you answered. It sounds like the majority prefer the 10 power. I am not sure what i will do. I like the idea of 12 power, but don't like giving up exit pupil and brightness. With 56 objective, the binocs become very heavy too.

I like the Leicas ok, but not overly impressed with the 10x 50s I used. I own a swar scope but have not used their binocs. I know they are good but also heavy. Steiner seems a good value, still expensive but more optics for the money. I will either purch the 10x50 or 12 x 56. My friend owns the 8x56 and they are the brightest binocs i have ever used, but heavy and not terribly powerful.

I have 12x50's, they are great, but as others said if you are holding on an object for a long period free hand you tend to get the shakes. I would say 10x50's are your best bet!

I have 12x50's, they are great, but as others said if you are holding on an object for a long period free hand you tend to get the shakes. I would say 10x50's are your best bet!

Bausch & Lomb 10x42s. I would opt for smaller, but I have to count points here. They are also nice for long range varminting.

One thing nobody has mentioned (unless I missed it) is the possibility of variables. I have this type in 2 different brands and find they have extra versatility over fixed focal length binocs.

A couple things to consider:

1) You can choose the power at which you are steady. Hand-held, maybe you only want to wind them up to 8 or 10x. But if you have a handy stump to lean on, 16 power or higher can be steady as a rock. Most times I settle around 10x but have frequently cranked the power up for longer looks.

2) While larger models may be bulky and less convenient to pack, you sacrifice light gathering ability with the compacts (all else being equal). In low light, either early or late in the day, you can crank to the low end of the scale and see much better than by leaving them on higher power.

Once again, you need to shop and decide which quality/price combo fits best for you. But I really recommend considering the variable models.

Variables tend to be lower quality usually in the tasco or bushnell class.They will work for occaisional veiwing but higher quality is needed for extended periods of glassing without suffering from eyesstrain.The lower quality lens coatings do not gather light very well either and not being totally waterproof is a handicap as well.

It's tough to answer your question because bino's are like camera's. You can buy a wide variety of quality and size, lens differences, etc.

One thing that I learned during the reading I did was that you do a little math to determine which binoculars are the best in low light.

Here's the deal, as I understand it.

Your eye is sort of like a 4 mm lens, so the binocular that has a 4 mm "exit pupil" will let the most light through to your eye in low light conditions (something that I was concerned about...using the bino's in low light to hunt)

How can you tell what the exit pupil is for a pair of binoculars, when you want a 4.0 or so for low light?

A bino at 8x42? You take 42 divided by 8 and get an "exit pupil" of over 5.0...a very good low light binocular.

On the other hand a 10x25 will have an exit pupil of only 2.5 (25 divided by 10)...so it won't be quite as good in low light.

You don't need an exit pupil much larger than 4.0 because the human eye will only allow so much light through its lens.

For what it's worth, I wanted a pair for deer and turkey hunting...not a sport where I need to glass a long long way off...I wanted to spend less than $100, and weight and size were a consideration. I bought a pair of Nikon Travelite V, 7x21 (thus an exit pupil of 3.0). A good trade-off of price, power, weight, quality, low light performance, and compact size.

You also take the exit pupil size and square it to arrive at the "brightness rating" which is essentially the same thing. Thus an exit pupil rating of 3 would have a brightness ratingo of 9, while an exit pupil rating of 4 would have a brightness rating of 16. (If I remember correctly, it's been a while since I researched this stuff.)



I got them on sale for $69 at Dick's Sporting Goods, a retail chain. You can also find them in Cabela's, I believe.

vc1111-The exit pupil calculations can be very misleading as lens coatings are a major factor in light transmission.Most high quality 40 mm binoculars such as ziess,leica and swarovski are much brighter than cheaper 50 mm binoculars of the same power because of vastly superior lens coatings.