Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Optics best binoculars under 500

Swift Audobon 8.5x44 roofs are damn good glass. right at $400. Very good glass.
Have to admit, that deal from "oldslowdog" for the Pentax is tough to beat. I have one of those. Also, very good glass.

I ordered one from my local gun store. I offered him the opportunity to look through it first. After a couple minutes he said,
"I wish I hadn't looked through that!" They are great. They are certainly better than anything he had in his store.

Might look for a used tract toric it would be a huge upgrade over the meopro's

If you don't mind used, I have a pair of Made in Germany Minox 8x43HG that I will sell for $500.00.

I own both and agree. The Torics are a significant step up.

Good info.

Good info.

Sightron III, great glass.

The original Toric UHD 10x42 are on closeout for $531 since they came out with a Schott version

I ordered the 8 power by 42 meopta meopros. Only I got an open box pair from doug for 380. available on his website!

Doug you sold zen rays. whats the story?

I'm with olddog. Doug sold me a set of 8X43 Pentax DCF SP binoculars years ago. That led to a Pentax spotting scope, a Pentax DSLR and 4 lenses. I'm happy with all of them.

If you haven't checked out the Athlon Optics, the Cronus 8.5x42 might interest you. We use an extra low dispersion glass, and E2ES (to give you a great image even on the edges of the glass). These have a long eye relief of 22mm as well.

Zen-Ray seems to be gone. It was an independent by an individual who worked with mfg's in China. He made nothing, to the best of my knowledge, just imported under his brand name. He offered good quality at a lower than the competitions price.
Like any new company there's a risk of them not making it. In the last few years there's a slew of new start up's. Some are very well financed and have the ability to become the next name brand.
Some direct to consumer companies have started popping up. I guess we shall see what becomes of those.

Meopta is a huge company and been making good glass for a long time...and not just manufacturing for Meopta. I imagine they will continue to do so.

Considering the worldwide competition, engineers aplenty and no secrets to the sourcing of components, would surprised that at any given area of price point a "huge" advantage could exist.

And if it does, companies that don't make profits go tits up with time.

Thanks for the reply.
I convinced my buddy to buy a pair of their 10x42 HDs two or so years back.
Reading the other link provided sounds like their warranty is MIA.
You have some info on this? I don’t want to get questioned if something does happen.

Dre, Zen Ray is out of business, history, gone, shut down.

I understand that, so they had no warranty service back ups?

I don't think so. In reading about it over on Birdforum, their facebook page is offline and nobody answers any phones.

And this is why I am Afraid to buy tract optics. As much as I want to! And they said they do have a back up service/warranty. But look now at zen ray.
Might also have to stay away from Athlon, hawke, and bunch of others I can’t think of right now.
I know it’s not Doug fault, but selling products with out some sort of a guarantee back ups, me not like taking another chance to be SOL