Upgrade from current Voetex 12x50 Razor to ?

mtrecon

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 25, 2017
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232
Location
Black Hills South Dakota
Upgrade from current Vortex 12x50 Razor to ?

Wanting to up grade to Alpha Binos. I haven't been disappointed in the vortex at all for the money, just would like to have a great quality set. Looking at swaros but which one? 10x42, 10x50, 12x50, 15x56? EL's, SLC's is there that much difference in these? I've read the majority of the threads, but some first hand practical use input would be great. I'm liking the idea of the 15x56 as they would let me leave the spotting scope at home a fair amount of time. Do they feel stable enough for off hand glassing? Or will the 10x42 be that much crisper than my 12x50 vortex that I'm bettering them with a 10x42? I know it's a wide range of questions. Never seem to hunt where I've wanted a bigger pair than the razors I have, just more quality picture.
 
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jr87mustang

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 21, 2015
Messages
221
I think it depends what your secondary glass will be. If your running a spotter or 15s then I would get the 8 or 10x42s if you just want to run one set of binos the 12s seems to do it for most people. My buddies have the Razors and I have the SLCs and during the day the SLCs are so slightly better that it isn't hardly noticeable, however at morning/night the SLCs will last longer and its really easy to tell the difference. I cannot hold my 15's still enough to use them without a tripod, just too much magnification.
 
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mtrecon

mtrecon

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 25, 2017
Messages
232
Location
Black Hills South Dakota
Great help on the 15x56s’. Figured they’d be shaky free hand. I do carry a spotter and maybe I need to upgrade it instead of the binos? Sounds like in your experience I wouldn’t notice much difference going to SLCs except at dusk and dawn.
 

marktole

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
697
Location
Kansas
Like jr87mustang said, some personal preference is going to come into play here on whether you should go 15's or 8/10/12's.

I would say if you're going to go with a 8/10/12 option from Swaro, definitely go ahead and get the EL's. I have used a pair of EL's side by side with SLC's and, to my eyes at least, there is a noticeable difference.

If you're curious about 15x's, some guys use them as a stand alone bino and carry nothing else. Others use them in conjunction with 8/10x's an don't carry a spotter. I would recommend maybe getting your hands on some 15x's and using them for a while, regardless of quality, to see how you like having just them, whether you can freehand them well enough, etc. On that note, Maven had a demo program at one time, but I don't know if they still do. You could use that to check a pair out for a few weeks.

I personally stand by 10/12x's and a spotter. I have had and used 15x's extensively over the course of last season and found that if I left my spotter at home in favor of them, I was usually left wanting my spotter at times. However, I never felt like I wanted my 15x's when I left them at home for my spotter. So I would have to say I recommend a pair of 8/10/12x EL's over the SLC 8/10/15x's, but which power EL you go with would depend on what kind of country you mostly hunt i guess. I like hunting on the prairie, high desert, wide open country so that's why I prefer 10/12x's over the 8x's.
 
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