Bulldog,

I would try some 8 x 30 or 8 x 32 innstead of a compact.

I carried the well regarded Nikon ED 8 x 32 at 120-125 degrees F and 15-20 mile treks last november and would not want any bino that had less brightness or resolution.

My Nikons weighed only 21 ounces and I think the Leica are similar.

I carried over my right shoulder with a wide strap and it never got in the way. I carried my rifle muzzle down on left shoulder or in the Africa carry position on right shoulder.

Check them out.

Andy

I carry a Zeiss 8x30 with the green rubber armor and individual focus. I cannot imagine a better binocular. Yeah, there may be some technological advances since they came out, but these are hard to beat. I would think the Swarovskis of the same power and size would be nigh perfect. Maybe look hard at the Zeiss Conquest in 8x30 also.

Last month in the CAR I tested binoculars .
First, I badly regreted not to have bring my heavy Leica Geovid 8*56, not for the laser rangefinder but for it's clarity at night when hunting the bongo.

When tracking I used the tiny Leica trinovid 8x20.
Very light and nice to carry. The drawback was that I tucked it my chest pocket and any time I needed it, I had to first unfold it. It's bad fumbling to see a game.

The other is my trustworthy Diafun 10x30.

Very clear, a little mor cumbersome but I solved the trouble of its constant dangling not in tucking it in my chest pocket, nor with a Neck strap suspenders or bino harness .......but simply in sticking the bino between to button of my shirt.

I usually use 7x42 Swaro SLC's, but have a pair of Opticron 8x32mm that permanently live in my 4x4 as back ups...Optically they aren't quite as good as the swaro, but they are not bad at all...



They are very compact and are about as small as I'd want to go with bino's.

Personally I hate the double hinged design found on many 8x20's and 10x25's and as a glasses wearer, I also hate the folding rubber eyes cups that still seem common on the smaller bino's...

Regards,

Pete

i have a small Zeiss 8 power glass that is fine for buffalo because you can sex them by looking at the horns. But I find the glasses not quite strong enough for things like sexing zebra in a herd moving through forest. So I carry a small pair of 16 power glasses in my pocket for this and lean on a tree to use them. For cat's I use a pair of 8x56 Zeiss and they are perfect for poor light. They are heavy but you only have to carry them to the blind.


VBR,


Ted Gorsline

Let us know how you like them when you get to try them out.

I have a pair of Nikon 9x25 EB's that I've used on two trips to Africa (Zim and 4 different camps in RSA), two trips to NWT (Dall sheep, caribou, and musk ox), and a whole bunch of pronghorn, deer, elk and bighorn sheep hunts here in Montana. I use them alot, and won't leave home without them.

Read somewhere that you want the exit pupil of your optic (calculated by dividing the objective diameter by power) to roughly equal the average diameter of the human pupil (roughly 4mm) Thus a 8x32 or a 10x40 would meet this criteria.

BTW, using your rifle optic to survey a possible target is fine in Africa (no other hunters or people around), but is clearly unsafe, DEFINITELY ill advised and considered very bad manners here in the West. If you would like to invite an altercation this is a good way to start. If you have ever had the displeasure of raising your binos to check out a new arrival in your vicinity only to find yourself looking down the bore of his 300 Whatever Magnum you will understand.