New to the site and looking for some advice. I'm looking to upgrade my older 8x40 monarchs but I'm at the point of information overload. Locally I've handled the Vortex Talon & viper, meopta meopro,nikon monarch & steiner predator. Anyone have any experience with Doctor 8x42 and how would they measure up to the others? Primary use will be deer i.d. in low light. Size or weight are not a concern. Would like to stay within a $600 budget. Thanks for any advice.

Call Doug or Neil at Cameralandny and ask for their recommendation. They'll point you in the right direction.

http://www.cdnninvestments.com/do8xbbinew.html


Be tough to beat this!

Not famliar with the Doctor, but you would be "one in a thousand".
You mentioned the Meopta Meostar, the Nikon Monarch and the Steiner,
I would check those out first, in that order.
Good luck.

Farmboy, I've had'em all. Nikons arent in the same league, Meoptas are over $ limit and the Steiners in this range are only so so

Get a pair of zen ray ed2 8x43's from cameraland, $280 on closeout.

I just got the 10x42 Nikon Monark with the dielectric coating.
AWESOME for the $$$. got mine at B&H photo for 279.00 (realtree camo pattern)

dave

338.
What is so good about the Docter, nothing, no dealers, and dealer
support is poor, largely absent from the US market. Service and
support are important with any optics purchase. What is it all
about?

Farmboy,
I know you want to stay within a budget however if there is any way for you to make it work you will be money ahead and much happier if you figure out a way to buy a pair of Leica Ultravids. The Swaros and Zeiss are good too but my experience is with the Leica's
You will probably own and use them the rest of your life and the resale value on them is real good in the case you want to upgrade (if such a thing is made) in the future or sell. The purchase price in the beginning is tough to swallow.
Have had the pair I carry since Leica came out with the Ultravid. Still have a pair of Leupolds and a pair of Steiners both of which are good glass but...
If you can make it happen you will never regret it IMHO.

Dave

German engineering and glass, imported and warranty covered by Merkel (from what I understand)

This is good advice. Welcome to the campfire.

Dave:
I do know about good glass, I like the Swaros. and premium Nikons. Best warranty and support in the business.
I am not in the market for anything else. Just wanting some to know more about the Docters.

Keep an eye out for the Pentax DCF SP - IMHO they are the best bang for the buck in a crowded field of sub-alpha binos and can be had for well within your budget.

Do this and I promise you will get the best optics for your money spent and customer service that can't be matched!

Thanks for the suggestions. The Docter sounds good and the price is right but I checked the merkel site and it does not mention optics. I have not been able to locate any dealers/repair center so I'm hesitant on this one. Looking back through the posts I see Zen Ray ED2 & ED3 mentioned quite often. Anyone have experience with these? Are they the same as the Talons? How would these measure against the pentax?
Thanks

.


I am on the same situation... want a good binoculars for up to 350 dollars aprox.

I am curious on the ZenRay ED2 and how they compare with Leupold Cascades, Bushnell Legend and Nikon.

My goal is for hunting at mid range.

I called CDNN investments today and spoke with Steve about the Docter binos. All he could tell me was they have a 30 year warranty. He couldnt answer if its a U.S. warranty or the have to go back to Germany.

There are several retail sellers of Docter Otics, Bear Basin, optics Planit, SWFA and Euro optic to name a few, so I would think there would have to be a U.S. warranty but cant verify.

Steve said they are down to 19 8x42 models, when they are gone there wont be anymore

I've bought a boat load of optics from Doug and Cameraland and will continue to do so, but it's naive to claim you can't get better optics for the money anywhere else. Doug doesn't carry Docter and didn't carry the Kahles sell off that CDNN had either and those Kahles binoculars were the best bang for the buck this past decade.

I own a pair of those Docter 8x42's. Are they the best binoculars I own? Nope. They're a bit heavy. They aren't as bright in low light as some costing more, but they are extremely well made and very, very high quality glass for the money.

Bottom line, could you spend a little more at Cameraland and get a pair of binoculars that fits your needs better? Possibly.

Does Doug have something higher quality for $379 right now? If he does, I'd sure like to find out about them.

Seems to be a big push for Docter here, are you a salesman? Bear Basin is no longer a dealer, I talked to them, the reason why, service and sales support were very weak. I would go slow.

So do you recommend Kahles in light of their weak support and service in the USA?

Farmboy,,

No not a salesman, the OP mentioned the Docters, I had a pair a few years ago and wish I still had them. I just bought another set of 8x43 binos or I would buy another set of the Docters, I personally wouldnt worry about the warranty as I dought you would ever need it. They probably would have to go back to Germany for repair if ever needed.

Tough to find any Japanese made binos in this price range let alone German made. I'd take these over any of the Chinese made binos no matter the cost or warranty question

You'll never go wrong with anything from Kahles. Their service is handled by swarovski in cranston RI. I wouldn't hesitate to buy them.

castor,

Welcome.

A couple hours ago I went to Medford Sportsman Warehouse. The sky was totally overcast and duskie; close to dark. I asked the optics guy if I could take some binos out side the store to compare with a couple of my stuff. I indicated the Swarovski 8.5X42. He picked them up and walked out of the store.

I placed my new optics chart clear across the parking lot and lazered it: 82 yards. The first line uses number 80 print. The seocnd is 70 print, the third line is 60 print, the forth line is 50 print, fifth line 40 print and sixth line is 35 print.

I laid out three sand bags and asked him to put the Swaro on one. I laid the Bushnell Ultra HD Legend 8X42 on the other and the Swarovski z5 5-25X52 on the last one. After adjusting the Swaro I could read the forth line with ease and sorta make out some letters in the next line, but culd not read any words. With the Bushnell I could easily read the forth line and could not make out any of the letters of the fifth line. If I called the Swaro a 100 the Bushnell would be a 96.

Then I went to the scope. I slowly turned it up till I could read the forth line and looked at the setting: 8X; same as the bins. No suprise because it is great glass. I thne turned it up till I could see the last line clearly: 10X. I asked the store man to go through the same routine. When he finished looking through the binos he said,

"Are those Bushnells the Ledgends?" Then he picked them up and looked at them and said,
"I see. You pay ten times as much for the Swarovskis and get a little bit better binoculars. At best they are only ten to fifteen percent better."

Then he looked through the scope on 8X.
"Wow!," he exclaimed. That's nice."
"It goes up to 25X. Turn it up and take a look," I suggested.

He acted like he didn't beleive me so I turned it up and made sure it was adjusted for clearity.

He tried to look through it and mumbled something. I don't think he was looking through it correctly. Teh eyebox on 25X is pretty small. I got down and looked through it. I could see the wrinkles in the celephane tape. There's no way I can see as much detail with a bino of any quality on 8X as I can with a good scope on a higher setting.

I digress. What I wanted you to know is you are not going to get your money's worth if you spend more than $250.

ilike is talking about the new MONARCH 5 Binocular's. While I do not own a pair,yet, I have throughly looked them over and I am very impressed. Very good quality and a great value. If you have a chance to look through a pair I think you will be very pleased.

I can't tell you how the Doctor 8X42's will do compared to the ones you've already tried. But I can tell you that there are lots of things to consider when looking for binocular.
I own eight binoculars for hunting. Everything from the cheap $100 or less Leupold Yosemite to an expensive 12X50 Leica. All of them have their uses. What surprised me was how different they perform in the field. I have, for instance, two 6x's and one 6.5X. You'd think they'd be so similar, I might as well pick one and sell the rest. Not so. Same thing with the three 8X binoculars I have. None are for sale.
If you are really interested in a particular binocular, I suggest you find a dealer that will sell you one with a guarantee of a full refund if you aren't satisfied. I know Doug at Cameraland and Cabela's will do this because I've done just that.
You are the one that must weigh the pros and cons. Not me.
Unlike rifle scopes, we can do this sort of thing with binoculars and I suggest you do. E

here's a heads up. I ordered a scope from Doug. It was not up to the standard I wanted and was able to return it for a full refund.

Even better than that is Bushnell's Elite guarnentee. They give you a full year to return it. All you need is the receipt.

I have a pair of ZRS HD. It's clearly a better glass than Nikon Monarch. Just placed an order for ZEN ED3 last week after doing some research on several optics sights

The Bushnell Elites have never sold well from what I've seen. Didn't Bushnell just stop making them ? I suspect they made that offer to get people to try them. Doesn't look like it worked. That's too bad. They were very good, reliable scopes.
The only way to test a scope properly is to mount it on a rifle and try it for a while in the field. You can do that with a binocular and still return it w/o things like ring marks. You can rarely do that with a scope. E

Here is a copy and paiste from www.bushnell.com. The Elite is the first scope on the list.

Elite�
Elite� Tactical
Legend� Ultra-HD
Tactical Red Dot
Trophy XLT
Banner
Yardage Pro
DOA�
Accessories
Tech Talk
Instruction Manuals

I think Eremicus was referring to the Elite bino's (open bridge one's made in Japan) and he is, for the most part, correct that they didn't sell all that well. To bad, as they were extremely well made and had very, very good optics.

Whooops. I choked. Sorry "E".

try to find some minox hg sometimes you can find em used for that price

If anyone is interested I have a pair of 8.5x43 HG (Japan) NIB. Bought from Doug at Cameraland to compare with some of my Swaros I have. PM if interested...

If the Swaros rate a 100 out of a score of 100 what would the HG rate?

The Vortex Viper HDs seem like a good choice given his constraints and desires.