I'm tired of carring two sets of optics with me. I cant really justiy spending $1700 on a pair of Leica's, but I may be able to sell enough to afford a pair of the Leupold Ranginder/Binoculars. I've always loved the quality of Leupold scopes, but I know the windriver series isn't there best product. How do they compare to say, a pair of Steiners. I doubt they can come close to Zeiss or Swarovski's. Anybody have any thoughts?

The quality of any optics is based on several things. The alignment of the lens,they must be centered and aligned. And the coatings on the lens. The coatings allow for light transmission and refraction. True Leupold has some less expensive lines which use less coatings on the lenses to keep cost down but they still back there product with a lifetime guarantee. Ive never seen Leupold make any junk. Its made in America, got a lifetime guarantee there easy to contact and deal with. Ive had to send two products back to Leupold in the last twenty years Ive been using them. A VXI scope, which I still say was my falt, I put it on a 416REM and the cross hairs broke. I called them and they said send it back, I told them what I had it on they said it didnt matter it should have held up. I sent it to them and two weeks latter I got a new scope back. And the other was a pair of binoculars I dropped from a tree stand (about 15ft) broke the lens on one side. I told them then what happened and they still fixed them free of charge, although that time it took about six weeks to get them back. Never feel bad about having to settle for Leupold. They may not be the most expensive or the best in the world but they are a far cry from the worst.

Because of my experience with Nikon camera's I went with this brand for high end Binoculars, pistol scope, and range finder. Very happy with Nikon.
Jim

I love good binoculars, and I am lusting after a set of those 8x42 EL Swarovskis. It would have been wonderful if God had given me natural vision like that!!!!! I will have to wait at least until the youngest two sons have graduated from college later this year.

If there is such a place near you, buy from a guy who has reasonable prices and a HUGE selection of good binoculars. A couple of binocs ago I went to a shop like that and spent more than an hour picking up binoc after binoc and (with permission) stepping outside. I picked two or three stationary objects that were red, and some blue ones, and some green ones, and an area that was dazzling white with walls and sky background, and some far-away small print, and a shaded spot, and you get the idea. Then I took two binocs out, one in each hand and kept going back and forth looking at those different things. Then I returned the one that wasn't as good and got another to compare to the current winner. Take a small notepad to keep track of what binocs you have used and make remarks about the outstandingly bad and the outstandingly good. Also, see how close you can focus. Most good ones can focus real close up, and that can come in handy some days.

You will be AMAZED by the different shades that red appears to be when looking through different binocs!! (Hmmm. Was that a red head woodpecker or an orange head woodpecker??) You will be impressed by how much better you can see in shaded areas with some binocs. The difference in sharpness and fuzziness when looking at a very light and bright area. Comfort, ease of focus, eye relief and on and on. In the low to mid range ($100 to $500) some of the less expensive ones can be surprisingly good. I will NEVER AGAIN buy another binocular without doing the testing. It's a pain in the neck, but I expect good binoculars to last a long, long time -- way longer than the length of my relationships when I was a young dating fool. :D

If I was going to spend more than a thousand $$ and that's an important amount of money to me, I would end the session and see if the shop is open around sundown and come back then to look again. That's a great time for hunting. At sundown look toward the sun, BUT NEVER DIRECTLY AT IT or you will instantly damage your eyes, and see if you can see well or if it glares out. Some are better than others. That's also a good time to double check looking into shadow areas. AND FINALLY, if you can use them at night, compare the finalists looking in a faintly lighted area, maybe down a street, at night. Starlight scopes are better, but some real good binocs do a respectable job at night. Real handy in a pre-dawn hunt.

I strongly suggest that after wearing out the shopkeepers patience and goodwill like that, the courteous and right thing is to buy from the guy, even if they cost less at BassPro shops or online somewhere.

One more thought -- if you are going to pay that much for something you take outdoors, it darn well better be waterproof at least as far down to where you won't go after them because you would drown.

I just got back from the sporting goods store with a pair of Nikon Monarch ATB 10x42's. The guy behind the counter spent a good deal of time with me "seeing" the differences in clarity from model to model.

They had a little display set up with like a christmas tree, some red and blue stuffed animals, and a piece of a playing card on the wall halfway across the store. We started with a "cheap" $60 pair of Bushnells, and you could hardly see the mark on the piece of card. Then, he handed me a $100 pair of Nikons, and I could tell that there was a black mark in the middle but couldn't tell what it was. Next came a $200 pair of Nikons, and I could tell it was a club, but it was a little fuzzy. He then gave me a pair of $380 Leupold Wind River's and it looked just slightly better than the $200 pair of Nikons. Next came the $300 Nikon ATB's and it was amazing. It was perfectly clear that it was a club in the center of that card. He also had me do some stuff like look at something closer and something farther away. The only thing I couldn't do was test them in low light for brightness inside the store. This is kind of the upper end for me, so I didn't go on to the Zeiss and Swarovski shelves with the $1000+ pricetags. Maybe someday if I make lots of money, I'll look through them so I can afford it if I like them too much to leave them in the store.

I guess as long as these binoculars and my Monarch Scope don't let me down, I will be a Nikon man. I would just suggest doing a similar sort of test if you can. Like the guy behind the counter told me, all of the big names have pretty good warranties. The way I look at it, these should last me a long time, so they might as well be the best I can afford.

Have had a set of Pentax 10x42's and Leica 7x42's for some years now. Both are quality acts and I'd be hard pressed to tell you the difference in clarity between them. The Pentax have more power, but necessarily smaller field of view.

I'm sure your Nikon's will serve you well.

Well I went to a local small gunshop to look at some glass. Of course he didn't have any combo units like I was hoping. He did however have a pair of lower end steiners, windriver pinacales, nikon monarks, and a brand I've never heard of before " brunton". The most expensive were the Pinacles, around $425, and the least were the steiners at $225. I must say the Nikon Monarch's were the brightest and clearest of them all. To me there was a big difference. The nikons were $125 less then the Windrivers to. Granted, they weren't even close to a set Swarovski's SLC's but they were very good. I live in southeast Arizona and there's just not alot of gunshops around. I'm relying on this board for some first hand experience. I also noticed that Burris has a set of Binoucular/rangefinders.

SE Arizona means you need some power in the binocular to see at long ranges. Most of the combination binocular/rangefinders are in the 6X and 8X40 ranges. The Nikon Monarch 10X40's would be better suited for what you'll be doing.

Since you'll be spending a considerable amount of time looking through the glasses, best get those with the best clarity so your eyes won't get too strained. I've hunted that country and know what it is to sit on a high spot and glass for hours on end!

I really agree with kdub. Buy the best glass you can afford. I've used a lot of different binoculars through my hunting years here in Alaska. I have a pair of 8x30 SLC Swarovski's I picked up for a song about 15 years ago and have never been happier. The one reservation I have with glass over 8x is, unless you are rock steady all the time when looking through them, the bouncing images are magnified by the higher powers and tend to give me a headache.

Don't get me wrong, most of my glassing is done when sitting down between a couple of rocks or laying my stomach glassing distant ridges. But... I do a lot of glassing on the climb up those ridges too (might be my excuse to stop and take a breather while climbing, but I'll never admit it!). After a 2 week sheep hunt in the mountains, I often find myself at home reaching for the binoculars around my neck. That is often I use them in the mountains. They become second nature, a part of you. Good glass is as important on my hunts as good boots. Both are more important than what my rifle is chambered for or the distance I cover.

I just bought a pair of Leupld Katmai 10X32 binoc's and I think they're great. Friday evening some friends andI watched some elk at about dusk, and we could see every contour of them with my binoc's. We also looked at some deer with them too, samr results. I'm completely satisfied with them.

Alyeska 338, I have often gone into a sporting goods store and tried to look through the different brands of Bino's.
It is almost impossible to do it in the store itself and get a good read back.

I have a friend of mine who operates a sporting goods store and lets me take em outside for viewing. I admit it is a pain in the ARSE but the only way to find out the true difference between the bino's and what your eyes can see through them.

I compared my wife's pair of Bushnells and the Swarorski's in the 7 x 42 power bino's. (price was $355 to $840) I would have rated the Bushnells close to 95% of what the Swaroski's would let me see in comparison. We had 4 different people looking through them and giving their opinions, all hunters by the way. However, even though the Swaroski's were a tad better, I could not justify the price difference, being over double in the amount of money spent between the two pair of bino's. It was in the middle of the day, bright and sunny.

However, when it came to comparing the Swaroski's in the 12 x 50 power.......to ALL others, it was like night and day with the images and the clear, extremely sharp picture viewing. Yes, these are big bino's and not something you perhaps would want to have around your neck all day long on an elk hunt. I would though buy these in a jackrabbit minute if your real serious about seeing things a half mile away across a ridge under low light conditions.

My next pair of bino's, will be the Eagle Platniums in the 8 x 42mm. They are priced right and do have an edge on the competition, viewing through them with my eyes.