Question About Pairing Binoculars

[Beendare]

Hmm, good question....I doubt I can answer.

I can see someone running 8x42s....then 15s. I can also see someone running 10s and 15s.

The 10x is probably the best all around power....but I can see where some guys prefer the 8x.

Personally I have 8s,10s and 15s.....and there is a place for all. I rarely use my spotter, but I'm not much of a trophy hunter.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Researching and discussing 12 power binoculars can certainly be interesting. I went through this myself and was running into a lot of the same things. Many guys believe the 12s give too narrow of a FOV, are too shaky, or just didn’t give them the power of a pair of 15s that they felt they needed. I’m of the opinion that it’s not heresay, or that those opinions are valid or invalid. Everyone has different preferences, everyone is more sensitive to this or that, and many guys in those posts were using different brand binos or came from using different power binos than another guy. The different 12s on the market have varying specs from glass quality to FOV so your mileage may vary.

The 12x els are really the best binos on the market in my opinion. They have an incredibly wide FOV for that magnification and have great ergonomics. For out west hunting I think they’re the best buy a guy can make IF they can hold them steady enough. Some guys can and some guys can’t, and some are more sensitive to it than others. I personally don’t find 12x binos to be too shaky for me but I don’t discount people that disagree. I would pair the 12x els with a nice spotter and be good to go.

If you’re familiar with The Outdoormans they’re a pretty well known store in the Phoenix area that know a lot about optics (so does Doug with cameralandny). Very knowledgeable guys. I live close and have spent a ton of time there talking to the guys and looking through all the binos they carry. Those guys are serious hunters as well and every guy in there that I’ve talked to ran the 12x els, and they all considered them the tops on the market. Some of them paired them with some 8x compacts, which is a nice option. Their guys preferred those systems over the 8 or 10s paired with the 15s.

Whatever system you decide to go with, sticking to Swarovski will be well worth the money.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Maybe you’ve already seen this article but if not, it’s a good read. Brady’s a serious deer hunter and goes through some advantages and disadvantages of different systems. His conclusion was that for him the 12s allowed him to cut weight and only carry one set of binos on backcountry hunts. That’s the combo he ran at the start of last season and through the first hunt he seemed to be enjoying the switch.

Why carrying multiple optics are essential for locating more deer | goHUNT

 

[Desert Dan]

Maybe you’ve already seen this article but if not, it’s a good read. Brady’s a serious deer hunter and goes through some advantages and disadvantages of different systems. His conclusion was that for him the 12s allowed him to cut weight and only carry one set of binos on backcountry hunts. That’s the combo he ran at the start of last season and through the first hunt he seemed to be enjoying the switch.

Why carrying multiple optics are essential for locating more deer | goHUNT

That is an excellent article and it echoes a lot of the research I've done up to this point. I had read it awhile back but it was great to revisit it and take it into consideration again. It will be a tough choice but I'm sure I'll be happy with what I get.

 

[WRO]

Maybe you’ve already seen this article but if not, it’s a good read. Brady’s a serious deer hunter and goes through some advantages and disadvantages of different systems. His conclusion was that for him the 12s allowed him to cut weight and only carry one set of binos on backcountry hunts. That’s the combo he ran at the start of last season and through the first hunt he seemed to be enjoying the switch.

Why carrying multiple optics are essential for locating more deer | goHUNT

He's using razors which have a similar sized (probably smaller) useable fov (They have poor edge to edge clarity imho) I'd put the sweet spot at 70% at best on the razors where as it's 100% on the els..

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[NevadaZielmeister]

Great thoughts on the EL 12s. I would love to hear more about their steadiness and FOV as opposed to the SLC 8s. Quite honestly a major consideration is the fact that my budget is not unlimited and if I decided to go with EL 12s I would not be able to afford a spotting scope for at least a year, meaning I will have to use them for all of my glassing in the mean time. With what I have saved up I can afford very good 8 and 15s right now and my plan is to pick up a spotting scope either next year or the year after depending on when I can save up the money for it. Once I have a spotting scope I will have the flexibility to choose either the spotter or the 15 depending on the hunt. For that reason, while I will still consider going with the 12s, I'm leading towards 8s and 15s and adding the spotter when I can.

With these statements I believe you have the right mindset, in that you might not be able to afford everything at once and will have to wait. Afford what can and don't waste money buying something that doesn't work the first time. I have friends who purchased cheap and then sold their scope, purchasing the next grade up, then selling.. etc. etc. Cost them so much money they could have afforded a really great scope with the money lost throughout the years.

My recommendation is to get what feels best. Yes, listening to a lot of wise and experience hunters here is a good start but understand that all eyes are built differently. What looks great to one pair is different than another. The best thing you can do is go to a store and try them all out. I was amazed at how some of my preconceived notions about clarity and resolution were shattered when I actually looked through the optics. This is probably the best thing you can do to answer a lot of your questions.

 

[Desert Dan]

My recommendation is to get what feels best. Yes, listening to a lot of wise and experience hunters here is a good start but understand that all eyes are built differently. What looks great to one pair is different than another. The best thing you can do is go to a store and try them all out. I was amazed at how some of my preconceived notions about clarity and resolution were shattered when I actually looked through the optics. This is probably the best thing you can do to answer a lot of your questions.

Yep, I'm headed to the gun store this morning!

 

[AZOutdoors]

Following up on my previous post, I didn't throw the 12s in play due to coues being a primary species. No denying that the 12s are awesome. I personally can't imagine making my way into the field to locate coues though without a pair of 15s. If anything, I want more in my primary two eyed glassing optics and that is why big eyes and the such are around.

I live near The Outdoorsman and frequent their shop and appreciate the knowledge. They also informed me they are carrying 12s last year when I was in the shop, but also backing them up with a Swaro BTX all the time. After that first hour of activity it becomes a long glassing day in the desert and 2 eyes are required for all day glassing. Pretty much everybody acknowledges that the spotter is strictly for evaluating coues so your main binos better be able to locate everything. All that tells me is the guys in that shop are asking for the most two eyed magnification possible when in the desert.

If coues are just an occasional hunt it would definitely change the emphasis on what is important though.

Best of luck on the search.

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[WRO]

Following up on my previous post, I didn't throw the 12s in play due to coues being a primary species. No denying that the 12s are awesome. I personally can't imagine making my way into the field to locate coues though without a pair of 15s. If anything, I want more in my primary two eyed glassing optics and that is why big eyes and the such are around.

I live near The Outdoorsman and frequent their shop and appreciate the knowledge. They also informed me they are carrying 12s last year when I was in the shop, but also backing them up with a Swaro BTX all the time. After that first hour of activity it becomes a long glassing day in the desert and 2 eyes are required for all day glassing. Pretty much everybody acknowledges that the spotter is strictly for evaluating coues so your main binos better be able to locate everything. All that tells me is the guys in that shop are asking for the most two eyed magnification possible when in the desert.

If coues are just an occasional hunt it would definitely change the emphasis on what is important though.

Best of luck on the search.

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I think you'd be suprised. I've ran them both side by side a bunch of times, the 12's give up nothing to the 15s because they have better glass than the 15s. We hunt mule deer in the same kinda county coues live in.

Just my .02