Thumper-
I have bad eyes and i get the holding steady thing but 8x? Doesn’t do much for me up to 100 yards I can’t see detail well. I should say this is not so much for glassing up game and more for deciding if it’s a shooter or not.
Thumper - please, please, please - do NOT get a 12x. The more-is-better mentality is the biggest mistake made by optics newbies.
I'd take JG's advice on the Tract - in 10x if you must.
There is a difference in "hunting" out West, and "glassing" out West - and the ideal tools for each are different.
I'm born in the West, and living in the East - hunt both as much as I can.
10x in the East is overkill most of the time in Eastern wooded terrain, 6-8x is about the max that helps in the hardwoods.
Common mistake out West, IMHO - the new guys think they need a Hubble-size rifle scope and binos to see anything.
No - you need to stop and and actually look at the terrain, the difference being that you can see a lot more of it than you are used to - you'll have to train your mind and your eye to stop and actually look at the view, not just pass over it with a quick scan.
Can't tell you how many times I've watched a hunter glass a hillside, and declare nothing is moving, only to point out elk, deer, and bear that the others missed - I don't have any super-talent or eagle eye, you just have to stop and actually look.
I've missed them too, but you are going to have re-train how you look at piece of terrain with glass.
10X with good quality glass is going to get you a mile, mile and half of good viewing - you are well out of any shooting range. but you are still within view and sound range of what you are hunting.
When we are glassing, guess what, the big optic isn't used until we find the animal with the 10x, THEN we get the higher power zeroed in on what we want to see.
You don't need as much glass as you think you do, you have to learn to use it correctly.