Bino upgrade recommendations

[Fadeaduno]

Looking to upgrade my glass. I currently own a pair of viper HD 10x42. Looking at either some 12x or 15x. Bugget is about 800+/- Mainly archery hunt in SoCal Arizona and utah will be used 75 % of the time on a tripod. Thanks

 

[Tahoe1305]

Used meostar 12x50. Won’t be beat for 12x in that price range IMO. Will be tough to find for $800 but possible. Seen a few for $900.

 

[miggy]

Will you be keeping your vipers? If so I'd go for 15x, especially since you'll mainly be using them on a tripod. If not I'd go for 12x.

 

[magtech]

Refurbished nikon monarch hgs are very nice for $600-$700

 

[Usmcff]

Zeiss conquest HD can be had for 500-700$ and are significantly better than the vipers to my eyes.

 

[Fadeaduno]

Thanks for the info guys. I probably will be keeping the vipers for back up /loaner/truck binos. I did get a chance to look thru some razor hd 12x50 and viper hd 15x50 both were nice but the 15s are definitely not that good without the tripod. So possibly looking at some 12x.

 

[Wireman07]

Kowa genesis 44 10.5x44 are pretty hard to beat. Right up there with Swarovski slc's

 

[Banded_spooney]

I'm not an exper but I upgraded from Vipers to used SLC's for a grand and I'm very happy I did that over getting a new pair in the thousand dollar range

 

[idcuda]

Kowa genesis 44 10.5x44 are pretty hard to beat. Right up there with Swarovski slc's

Mine showed up today. Just took 'em out of the box and I'm going to do some front yard glassing. Makes the neighbors uncomfortable.

 

[kwoody51]

Mine showed up today. Just took 'em out of the box and I'm going to do some front yard glassing. Makes the neighbors uncomfortable.

Interesting…. I have been doing the same with my Kowa Genesis.

I’m getting a really good look at the trees in the back yard of my neighbor across the street

To the OP the Kowa’s are pretty nice glass. I just picked up a pair of swaro EL 10x42. I can detect some difference between the EL and Genesis but not 2x the difference.

The sharpness at center is very similar. The EL with the field flatener are sharper to the edges. I also like the ergo’s, specially the eye cups, on the Swaro’s better but it’s not that much better.

Focus knob on both is very smooth but stiffer on the Kowa, which I actually like.

 

[STAGHOUND]

Vortex vultures would have been a good option but they were discontinued you might still be able to find a pair floating around.