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My tract 10x binos are awesome

FC, interesting on that Ares spotter. I ran across your review of it, and it was superb. Nice work!

I agree on both counts. I have a version of that Ares spotter (made for a different brand by the same OEM, but largely the same spotter) and it is generally excellent and ridiculously good given the compact size and low cost.

ILya

When my son was shopping for new binos he did a ton of research, which is pretty normal for him. He ended up with the Bushnell HD Elite 10 x 42's. I've looked through them and I've been very impressed with them. I would put them up against my Porro Prism Leupold 10 x 42's for clarity and the definition is actually better in his Bushnells than my Leupy's which are over 20 years old now. At the time the price for the Bushnells was in the $300 range while my Leupolds were in the $700 range new when I bought them. You can get into the Bushnell - or their new replacement model- for I believe around $200-$250 now and the Nikon Monarch 7's that were second on his list are just a bit more money and very good glass also IMO.

The glass that really caught me off guard when I started buying them were the Bausch & Lomb Elite series. I bought several of the 4000 before Bushnell's agreement with B&L ended and they became the Bushnell Elite 4200 series, then the 4500 series. Some of the best glass I've ever looked through. I have a couple 2.5-10 x 42 and a couple 6- 24 x 42 and they are at the moment my favorite scopes even over my Leupolds , which I really like also.

Bob

I've also checked out the smallest Ares scope (7.5 - 22.5 x 50) very briefly, and was likewise impressed with its brightness, clarity, and size.








I'd not have thought it would be a worthwhile piece, but I quickly saw where it would definitely have some uses.

FC

For me on scopes in the last year or two....

Cabelas AR Optics, for $200...also their Covenant Series Scopes.

Bushnell Engage Scopes...

Call my Swarovski spotting scope my "Oh My God!" scope. Seems like everyone (me included) said those words the first time they looked through it.

Yeah, that was my response. I'm saving my magic beans for one of them. Why, I don't know. My use for a spotting scope is for spotting bullet holes in 100 (mostly) and 200 yard paper and to that end a surprisingly efficient 15-60x 70mm Chinese el-cheapo serves well. It's just, well, you know....

I said the same thing about that new modular Swaro spotter system when I looked at the price tag.

I have this one as well. It lived in my range bag for a year or so until I gave it to my brother and now it lives in his range bag. It is a really decent little scope that is perfectly sufficient for looking at bullet holes at 100-200 yards depending on conditions.

My only real complaint is that a spotter this small should have a straight eyepiece, so it is easier to use as a monocular on low power. That's why I have it to my brother and switched to Athlon's new Cronus Tactical 7-42x60. It is a fair bit bigger, but with straight eyepiece it is easier to pack and I can still use it handheld if I want. The reticle helps too.

ILya

Competition has really helped. Man- remember what it used to cost to get fully multicoated scope with finger click adjustments?

Yeah, the (more modern) Zen Rays I got are a definite improvement over the Pinnacles I had spent twice as much on some years prior.

For that matter the $100 Yosemites.made me and everyone who used them go "wow". Man those made great gifts.

Many , many decades ago ( as a kid ) I decided I needed some new Bins . The best I found were Leitz & Zeiss but I could not afford them . Third best were Bushnell Custom Compacts 7X26 for about $100 in those days . I figured they were about 90% as good as the Alphas . I still have and use them . Two draw-backs : low light is awful and they tend to require refocusing a lot . The new spare pair I bought years later have click adjustable focus , but I'm still using the old pair . I felt pretty good about my original selection as the first Astronauts took the same Bushnells into Space . About 2014 I decided to bite the Bullet and go Alpha . I read a lot and Resolution Tested everything I could get my hands on . I bought Zeiss 8x42 Victory T*FL's . Optics were amazing , but the Focusing and right eye Diopter adjustments were erratic ( the worst I have ever seen on even cheap Bins ) . I returned them and was sent a new or repaired set which work fine . Friends have old Leitz Trinovids and Swaro.( no Swarovision though ) Bins and with my old eyes I would not hesitate to own & use either of these .

Long ago and far away I bought a 24X63 Unertl spotter for a pittance. i used it to spot for BR Score matches and the wow WOW was all the other shooters with newer more costly , bigger named scopes asking me to check their targets and/or tell or verify a shot . The old Unertl although a bit dark had resolution far better than most of the stuff they were using. I really didnt know what I had. I still use it today.

I was an Opticalman First Class, on the USS Frank Cable in Charleston (mid-90s), and my Chief came in with a pair of Carl Zeiss aus Jena (East German) 7x40 EDFs, and that son of a gun let me look through them. Damn, they were (and still are) my favorite glass, it was literally astounding the clarity and brightness that these commie krauts could produce. He sold them to me at $400, which was pretty pricey for an E6 back then, but I knew these were for me.
Only complaint? The rubber covering started to deteriorate about a dozen years ago, but Deutsche Optik replaced them and this set seems fine now.

Frankly, I was a little ashamed of the binos we overhauled for the fleet after using those, but we did the best we could with repairing those very old (some circa pre-WWII) relics, B&Ls, Square D, Anchor Optical, a few others names that I forgot.