Stepping up from 32mm to 40mm OBJ gets you 25% more lens area / light gathering ability, and if that little bit of weight hinders a person's hiking, they need to get into better shape.
I grew up and live at 6000+ ft, am 65 years old, and can out hike (most) 40 year olds. As a guide, I’ve watched a LOT of over-geared, over-optic, over-gunned and over-clothed clients struggle with too much of everything.
I have 7x, 8x, and 10x Swaros, and a couple other binos too. If I had to choose one, it would be my 7x30 Swaros. Just like with a rifle, an extra 10-16 ozs in the hand or around the neck or in a bino bucket is a lot different than an extra 10 lbs around the middle……
Objective lens size is fair bit less important than the quality of glass and quality of the view.
The last three elk I killed I was carrying my 7x26 Bushnell Custom Compacts. They’re so small and light a guy can forget they are even there.
At 65 I’m carrying more scheit while hunting than I ever did at 35. Sometimes I wonder if things aren’t actually devolving….
