Is there a 15X60 bino available comparable to the 12X50 SE?

Are you looking for performance comparable or performance to price comparable? Zeiss made a 15x60 which is hard to find and expensive but probably in the ball park. http://www.cloudynights.com/classif...ct=28907&sort=&cat=13&page=7
On the other hand, while not a full 15x60, but close, these may be as close as you get for bang for the buck. http://www.hayneedle.com/optics/hunting/hunting-binoculars_vortex15x56hdkaibabbinoculars.cfm
Opinions will vary as will the possibility of finding a lesser known brand that by some freak chance hit on the right combination of luck and materials.

Yippeekiay,

The Zeis looks good, but it's gone.

The Zeiss 15x60 were the best at one time in big eyes. Even tho they are outdated and heavy, they still rival the current big eyes.
If you found a pair of 15x60 Zeiss at a fair price, I'd jump on them. For the price of the ones in the ad tho, I'd get the Swaro's.

I love my 15x56 Vortex Kaibab bins. I have been using them as much as possible since January and am very pleased with them so far. at $1200 they are hard to beat much like my 13x56 Minox at $800. However and a big however if I had to choose between the 15x60 Zeiss and 15x56 Vortex at the same price, I'd probably take the Zeiss. they are that good and they are proven and tested over years and years. Then again my Vortex have done great in the last 11 months.

Buddy if you can find Zeiss for around $1200 to $1500 in good condition, I'd be all over them. My buddy sold his about 3 or 4 years ago for a grand in good shape.

.

And had a hard time selling them, if you do recall!

That's why I say hard to find.
Another may be the Minox 15x58. Haven't tried them but I hear good things.

[quote=Ringman]Is there a 15X60 bino available comparable to the 12X50 SE? [/quote

On a recent Coues deer hunt down in Chihuahua, a hunter had a Docter 15x60 porro binocular. We were all quite impressed, and we agreed that it was brighter and with better resolution than even my 12x Swarovski. No one had a Zeiss on this hunt, so I couldn't make a comparison with that old warhorse.

I believe that the Docter line of binos may be extinct, but if you can find a set of Docter 15x60 on EBay or elsewhere, I bet they'll run cheaper than the Zeiss, and they'll be a great value to boot.

dawaba,

Is this Doctor Nobilem 15x60 Binoculars what you are talking about?

http://www.valdada.com/product/804bc5e8-f51e-45f2-a919-0c199d4ace3e.aspx
These may be related somehow but I'm not sure. Valdada is decent to deal with.

The Docters were very nice bins as well especially for the cost. I was often told the Zeiss and Docters were related one was from east Germany and the other from the west. Not sure the truth to that, but that is what I was told.

A lot of my buddies either had Docters or Zeiss 15x60's then switched to Swaro's around 03. I had Fujinon's when I made the switch.
I think Docter's were going for $800 last time I checked and now I am not sure if they are even still around. They are big bins tho. I liked them.

Enrique,

When the fellas switched from the Docters or Zeiss 15X60's, to what Swaro and why?

I believe they were the Nobilem, but again, they belonged to another hunter. They were large, heavy porros with rubber armor. Everyone carried tripods on this hunt and packed their binos in their packs. I was frankly shocked that all 4 hunters--including me--preferred them to my Swaros. Perhaps it just proves the old adage that it's easier to make a fine porro prism glass than a roof prism....

We all switched to the 15x56 Swaro's back then. The regular SLC's. Then when the SLCnew came out we went to them.lol

Reason 1 was the Doubler
Reason 2 they were smaller and lighter
Reason 3 we felt they were better optically

Back then we got them from Euro Optics and they were grey market bins that saved us some money. I think we musta gotten over 10 pairs in all between us all.

The Docter's were probably Nobilem's. One buddy had a green pair and my other buddy a black pair.


For hunting with big eyes a tripod should be standard. Most outfitters and guides that I know and work with all mount bins on a tripod. For coues I feel its a must.


Dawaba,
How did you do on your Coues hunt? For the longest time a lot of us were thinking the next world record was gonna come out of Chihuahua. I woulda loved to have hunted over that way, Sonora was a blast tho!

Comparable to the SE would be something to see.

jim

My buck scored right at 100 pts. A smaller one went 97. But the other two netted 114 and 128, both in the book. We hunted with El Halcon Outfitters out of Chihuahua City. Great hunt!