Bino: 8x42 v 10x42 v 10x50

Man this none of what you asked but I’ve had 10x42 meostars, 8x42 viper hds, and my favorite binos for hunting the south are maven b3 8x30s. They are easily one handed, easily held steady, they are compact and the brightness is great. Brightness is exit pupil, but coatings, design, and other stuff plays a part. The 8x30s are much brighter than the viper hds I had.

I have some 12x50 meostars I’ll take if I’m somewhere I can see a long ways.

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The human pupil dilates to a maximum diameter of 7 millimeters. Therefore 7 mm is supposed to be the ideal maximum size for the exit pupil of binoculars. 7x50’s or 8x56’s are the preferred binos for optimum viewing and zero eye fatigue. I bought a pair of Leica Ultravid 8x50’s in the 90’s and use them for everything

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the #X signifies magnification, not the exit diameter of the binocular lenses. Also, the pupil diameter of the human eye varies greatly based on ambient light. To get the exit pupil diameter of the binoculars you simply divide the objective lens size (right side of the X) by the magnification.

Here is an example. The Olympus Pro 8X42 has an exit pupil diameter of 5.25 (listed as 5.3) mm while the Olympus Pro 8X42 has an exit pupil diameter of 4.2 mm.

The ones that you have listed, 8X50 has an exit pupil diameter of 6.25.

If you’re hunting woods, heck anything 300 yds and under, 8x all day.

I had 10x42s that I was proud of but never really enjoyed hunting with. I have a top of the line pair of 8x’s that I absolutely love. I originally had too much magnification.

If you are shooting does, a higher magnification might be good. Otherwise, 8x is great.

I’ve got a pair of 10x42 Swaro El’s and wouldn’t change them.

For >25 years my main hunting binoculars was a quality pair of Bausch&Lomb 7x42s. I used them for everything, including NM mule deer, South TX WT deer, woods hunting AR WT deer and even prairie dogs. I was happy w/ them, but in the past 5-7 years I've been able to add a few other binoculars w/ higher magnification. Most of my hunting now is over food plots or shooting lanes as opposed to the woods hunting I used to do. I'd suggest getting the highest quality of binocs you can afford. The 8X42's should serve you well unless you're looking at western/plains hunting.