Outdoor Life Reviews

I just thought I would do a quick post. Outdoor Life just released some product reviews. I thought the following info would make for interesting reading....

2007 Optics Winners Include:

Outdoor Life Editor’s Choice / Binoculars, Full-Size: Zeiss Victory 10x56 T* FL
Outdoor Life Great Buy / Binoculars, Full-Size: Pentax 10x50 DCF ED

Outdoor Life Editor’s Choice / Binoculars, Compact: Steiner Wildlife Pro 10.5x28
Outdoor Life Great Buy / Binoculars, Compact: Bushnell Excursion 8x28

Outdoor Life Editor’s Choice / Riflescopes: Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x40
Outdoor Life Great Buy / Riflescopes: Sightron SII Big Sky 3.5-10x50

Outdoor Life Editor’s Choice / Spotting Scopes: Victory Diascope 85 T* FL & Zeiss Camera-Eyepiece DC4
Outdoor Life Great Buy / Spotting Scopes: Nikon Prostaff WP 82mm

Two new “Big Idea†awards for innovation and engineering excellence went to:
Outdoor Life Big Idea: Canon 10x42 L IS Stabilized Binocular
Outdoor Life Big Idea: Swarovski z6 1.7-10x42 Riflescope

Please see www.outdoorlife.com or the June/July issue of the magazine, hitting newsstands on May 29, for more on the 2007 rifle, shotgun and hunting optics tests.

The Pentax DCFs are fantastic! I am going to buy antoher pair I love my 8.5x58s so much.

I even got my boss to buy him and his kid a pair.

I'm glad to see the Swaro won best scope, but I suppose it should if I have to sell a kidney to afford one!

I personally own some of these...

Zeiss Victory 10x56 T* FL... After trying every pair of binoculars I could get my hands on and owning a whole lot more than I ever should have I settled on a pair of these as simply the best I ever saw at any price. If you've never owned a pair you have NO IDEA what you're not seeing out there...

Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24x40... I own three of these with Mil-Dot reticles and just ordered a couple of the new ones with the 30mm tube and 50mm objective from Doug. They're nothing short of phenomenal and their lenses will compare with the high end European stuff and that's pretty incredible.

I have two pairs of Zeiss Victory FL T compact binoculars because of reviews I read on some of the birding sights. I didn't do any comparisons but am very happy with both pairs which I bought used. Sent one pair back to Zeiss and they completely refurbished them for free.

For a spotting scope I went with the Swarovski STS 65 with the 20-60 eyepiece and am very happy with it. I compared it to the Victory Diascope 85 T* FL and the Zeiss won but by a slim margin and I wanted something light and easy to pack if necessary so bought the STS 65 used and am thrilled with it.

I think Outdoor Life picked some really excellent optics and my hat is off to them. The only thing I wasn't familiar with on this list was the Steiner Compacts. Never even saw a pair.

$bob$



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By Editor's Choice does that mean the "best" of those tested? Or, just the editor's choice. The reason I bring it up is that I have a hard time believing that the Steiner compact binoculars would come out ahead of the Leicas. Of course, maybe they didn't test the Leicas.

I find myself disagreeing with the Outdoor Life Reviews then i do agreeing with them. Some of these writers are in way too deep with the money interests.