Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Ask John Barsness Questions About "Best Buys In Binoculars."

I own the Minox 15x58. Optics very comparable to Swarovski, not quite up to Zeiss--but close enough that I don't care!

MD

John:

So you rate the discontinued Zeiss 15x60 porros higher than the new Swaro 15x56 SLC and the Minox 15x58 right there with the Swaro?

This could hurt.

Rick

That would be my picking order. They are all very fine glass, but it is still hard for even the best roof prisms to be as sharp as top porros.

MD

Thank you, John.

Minox is definitely turning some heads around here lately.

Rick

I have been buying the optics for our SCI Chapter's fund raiser. I used to take advantage of the Swarovski NA offer to SCI Chapters, and get a couple of good glasses (usually a scope and a binocular) for about $2,000. This time around I briefed the Auction Committee on the Minox glass and Doug's Special Deal. The concensus was to buy a "triple combo" and a second 15X bino (we have desert hunters here in San Diego). This way we get four great optics for our $2K.

I expect to order some for personal use after the Chapter order arrives and I get to handle the glass. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

jim

So you're they guy Doug said bought the last two 15's. Arrgghh!

Use them well. (g)

Regards,
Rob

Yup, Doug told me they were gone, gone, gone.

Rick

Rob,

Yup I did slide in and capture them. It was really kind of funny. I took webpages printed from the Minox website to the Auction Committee meeting on Tuesday night. Our SCI Chapter fundraiser is the largest such sportsmen and women event in San Diego, and we pretty much start planning next year the week after the current event. This one is in Febraury, and we expect some 600 to attend. We run a live auction, a silent auction and a lot of drawings and special games.

Anyway I figured that I would do my pitch for the three bino package, and the Committee would agree to two -- the 6.5 and the 9.5. They fooled me and agreed that the "three banger" was a great deal, and then one of the desert hunters interjected that we should get a second 15X glass as well.

jim

The only way I know how to hunt the desert side of the Laguna Mtns in San Diego Co is with a good glass and of course good legs. Say Hi to Bill and Ingrid for me.
-Doc-

Doc,

I will do so when they are back from hunting. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Neither Bill nor Ingrid are much for the Internet. If you PM me with a name I will add that too...jim

How about the Sightron binoculars. Any comments on them? Thank you for a great article.

Good stuff, as far as I know. I have an 8x42 in my pickup as my go-everywhere model, as it is good but affordably replaceable. It has been there for several years, over bumps and cold and hot (and two pickups) and it is still in perfecrt collimation.

That said, it is several years old and I have not seen the latest Sightrons.

MD

Well John, After two years of looking through glass and reading lots of optic "stuff", I laid out $450 for the Pentax DCF SP 10x43. Thanks. I am really impressed with the quality and will be testing shortly on an elk hunt. Now I can spend the money saved on a scope, and a pair of boots!

I think that all it would take to change the binocular market would be for some big-name outdoor writer to write an article in a major sporting magazine giving an honest and direct comparision of the optics of available Porro binoculars with roofs. I've handled and owned dozens of pairs of binos in my hunting and birdwatching lives, including many of the elite glasses like the Zeiss classic 7x42 and 10x40s, the Zeiss Victory II 10x40s, the Swarovski 8x42 ELs and many others. I've sold off all my other glass and now use Nikon porros--the E2s in 8x30 and the Superior E's in 10x42. I do almost all my hunting with the 8x30s, and I can't imagine a better glass. Light, comfortable, fast focus, a tack-sharp image over a bright, 450' field of view, better color correction than any roof prism glass, and they can be found for under $300. They also feel like quality, with smooth, precise controls, and rugged construction. How on earth can you beat that? The porro design is intrinsically superior--their only shortcomings are that they don't look cool and they don't cost enough. The superior Es cost more like $700 discounted, but IMO have no equal optically.

If someone would get the word out on these things, they would be doing the hunting public a big favor.

Anyone ever make an IF binoc in the 8x40-50 range?


Thanks, Rob

I have written about the Nikon porros before, a number of times. It doesn't seem to affect sales at all!

MD

Oh, but I meant a really Big Name outdoor writer.




(sorry, it was just irresistable--I treasure my copy of Shotguns for Wingshooting).

As secrets go, the Nikon porros are pretty well-kept. I wouldn't trade mine straight up for any other binoculars I can think of, except to sell them, buy another pair of Nikons and pocket the difference.

Hello John,
I saw you got my email. Thought id ask here as well.Ive never seen Fujinon CD binoculars mentioned in any hunting articles. I have a pair and like them alot. I dont have ur exsperiance but was wondering if you have ever seen them or looked though them. If so ur opionion. Thanks

I have looked through Fujinons more than once or twice. They are good glass, but no better than some others in the same price range.

I generally don't comment on them much because getting writer samples is like pulling teeth (even though Fuji attends the SHOT Show) and I really like to use binocular longer than it takes to look at the ceiling beams in the ceiling of the Las Vegas Convention Center before recommending them to readers.

MD

John,
Do you have any inside info on future offerings in rangefinding binos? The Leicas are the only ones I really like so far, but I am looking for something a bit lighter weight, around 24 ounces, in an 8 power (8x32?). Not too sure whether I like the Wind Rivers, and I definitely don't think much of the Bushnells. What's coming down the pike?