Hello all,

I’m trying to help my Mom get my Dad a decent pair of Binos for Father’s Day. We can’t afford Swarovski but are looking for a decent pair of 8x or 10x. Any thoughts or recommendations would be appreciated.

Ddj

I'm not sure what price range you are looking at but I work in the field every day and I have been comparing my Vortex RazorHD 8x42, 12x50 and Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42 binoculars. Reading signs, watching Pronghorn, Whitetail, birds, etc. The quality of both of these brands are really good.

The Conquest HD 10x42 are about the same price as the Vortex 8x42...around $999. Vortex is unconditional lifetime warranty. Zeiss is lifetime warranty on items manufactured after 1981 (per my talks with them from earlier this week).


If you think he will like the smaller size binoculars...the Leica Trinovid is a great pair. My dad has been using a pair of them for 20 years now. You can get them in 8x20 or 10x25. $479-$499 from MidwayUsa. Check with Doug @ CameraLand NY (He is an active member on here)...he may have a deal for you.

The Leica bins are like the ConquestHD and RazorHD's in that it is a treat to look through them. Glassing dark timber elk hunting northern Colorado we never saw that we were missing something during legal shooting hours.

I'd say try them out and see what you like best...but sometimes that isn't an option especially since we are down to 3 weeks before Fathers Day.


Let us know what you decide on!

Zeiss Terra are worth a look. No pun intended. I bought a pair of 8x25 compact for my son to take to Africa. Pretty impressive for any price. Zeiss has several models and sizes in the Terra series. Shop around and you will find prices vary a lot by retailer.

A few of us bought a friend a Nikon Monarch a few (probably 10 or so) years ago.

I could hardly see any difference in optical quality between that and my Leica Geovid (both were 10 magnification, but the Nikon had slightly larger objective lenses, so not entirely fair but still a good camparison).

Handling of the Nikons were maybe slightly inferior but not bad by any means.

At about 1/10th the price of the Leicas they were a bargain. They are still going strong too.

My Nikon 10x42 binos are the cheaper Prostaff model but I love them.

Not only is the clarity much better than the Bushnells I used to use but they are the only biggish binos I've found light enough to carry just with the neck strap.

A few years ago, I went through the same process. I had between $400-$600 to spend and wanted the best you could get in that price range. For the frequency I use them, that would be perfect.

I settled on the Tract Tekoa 10x42. It's a smaller brand, but absolutely do not dismiss them. I had seen them at a few sports shows and NRA meetings and was impressed. It's an honest optic that punches way above its weight. They're light, tack sharp, excellent warranty (if you ever need it) and the low light performance is fantastic. I highly recommend.