Binocular Questions

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1. What size do you prefer? 8x40,10x40,10x50,12x50? Do not want small binocs - so 8x32 is out. Seems like 10x50 would fit me best

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10x42

2. How important is a harness?

Very. Get the KUIU harness. This helps protect your high-end binoculars.

LINK

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3. Experience with high $ binocs? Worth the cost to jump from $500-600 Leupolds to $2000 Swarovski? I doubt binocs this much would ever be really considered but I'm willing to listen.

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Yes. I use Swarovski EL 10x42's. I bought them 10 years ago and they have been well worth the money. Can't recommend them enough, especially if you're young and plan on hunting/traveling/scouting for years to come.

Yes on harness. I've had a pair of 8x30 Swaros for years. Get quality mid range scopes and high end binos. You'll spend much more time looking through binos than a rifle scope.

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1. What size do you prefer?

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For general hunting/scouting, the binoculars I've used the most over the past 25 years or so is a pair of 7x42 Bausch and Lomb Discoverer. I think 8x40 also make a nice general purpose binocular. For me, 10x and above have a too much magnification for anything except pipeline/shooting lane type hunting. The key is getting quality binoculars. A crystal clear 7x binocular seems more powerful than a lesser quality 10x.

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2. How important is a harness?

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I've never used a harness.

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3. Experience with high $ binocs? Worth the cost to jump from $500-600 Leupolds to $2000 Swarovski? I doubt binocs this much would ever be really considered but I'm willing to listen.

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Full Disclosure: I don't own any "high end" binoculars. Nevertheless, I've been satisfied w/ all the binoculars I've bought through the years (except for the CHEAP, extremely poor quality NcStar pair) I've bought (and used ) binocs made by Burris, Leupold, B&L and Vortex. My most recent pair is the Vortex 12x50 Diamondback. I've used these a LOT on multiple prairie dog hunts (you do a lot of glassing on a 10 hour/day pd hunt). I caught mine on sale at Cabela's but the 8X42 usually runs about $225 and are available at Academy. Admittedly, they're not a Sworovski or Leica, but for the money, they're very good quality. You need to go to a store and look through a number of different binocs, comparing image quality, magnification and cost. Oops, I almost forgot about a pair of surplus Steiner's I bought >20 years ago. They could not be focused so I sent them back for a refund. I think you can meet your needs w/o spending $600.