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good binocs 10X40 for $250.00

danthemandantheman Member Posts: 259 ✭✭✭
edited July 2004 in Ask the Experts
I'm looking for a decent pair of binocs in the 10X40 range that I can take on a caribou hunt. They need to be waterproof since it rains alot. Which brand should I look at in this budget?
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    He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,963 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Good will be tuff to find at that price. Eagle Optics Rangers are just under $400 and worth every penny, the equal of binos costing $600 and up. Better optics are worth the price, I would go with a cheaper rifle or a economy scope, before cheap binos. That said, if you really, really have to keep the price down to $250 look at Bushnell, Swift, and Pentax. Take a look at www.eagleoptics.com and www.bearbasin.com Good companies and good products/prices. Shop around on the net for the best prices and maybe you can get more for the money you have. Can I go?
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    beachmaster73beachmaster73 Member Posts: 3,011 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Right now Sierra Trading Post has a set of Steiner 9X40 safaris on sale at $199 marked down from $400. Steiner is one of the very best optical brands on the market and rivals Zeiss or Leica. Steiner military binoculars are the hands down choice of the Navy SEAL teams and I've used a Steiner 24X80 spotting scope for years...it is literally nuclear bomb proof with clarity to rival the $2000 spotting scopes. Don't know how long those Steiners will be available at STP....but jump on them you won't be disappointed. Beach
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    danthemandantheman Member Posts: 259 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I saw a pair of bausch and laumb 10X42 binocs on the sierra trading post site for 199. normal price 400. The steiners were auto-focusing, which for some reason last time i tried a friends auto focusing binocs, they never came into focus for me. Is B and L a decent name for optics?
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    He DogHe Dog Member Posts: 50,963 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    B&L was bought by Bushnell several years ago. The optics are Japanese and decent or better for the price. Can I go?
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    talusmantalusman Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd second ponying up the extra cash for Eagle optics Ranger platinum Classes. They are really a bargain for what you get (roof prism glasses that rival good porros), and are a joy to carry in the field. You don't want "Auto focus", also called no-focus, as these are fixed to focus from a certain point to infinity, but are really a compromise. B&L makes both some very good binocs and some marginal ones. The trouble is there is a big spread between the two, and the good ones will cost more than the Eagle Optics. The eagles will last forever, have a great warranty if you somehow hurt them, and I think the company does stuff to preserve hunting habitat (not sure though). My .02.

    -Jeremy
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    fishingbuckfishingbuck Member Posts: 27 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    check out the leupold wind river series or look at the nikons
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    deadeye46deadeye46 Member Posts: 553 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dantheman,I have a Nikon pair that is 10=22X50 variable that I really like and would work great for your trip,just a thought and my .02.My email is rreeves46@hotmail.com if interested,Bob.
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    scottscott Member Posts: 265 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i have had them all..zeiss, swarovski, lieca, docter, optolyth, B&L, steiner etc....hands down, if i was buying a $250 waterproof binocular, i would get a phase coated pentax...and if my budget allowed me to spend $750, i would still buy 'em !
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    hornethornet Member Posts: 262 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have halled a pair of 10x40 WindRiver bino's all over the mountians of North Western Colorado. They have been in snow, rain, mud and ice all on the same day. They never have let me down, always clear as a bell. One year I took a real bad spill off the side of a very tall hill. I bounced all the way to the bottom. I think my bino'* every rock on that hill. I fully expected them to be in a hundred pieces. My Wind River bino are scrached but still worked like new. You can't beat them for the money.
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    gunut 1gunut 1 Member Posts: 360 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have the Nikon 10x40 and am plenty satisfied with them...

    gunut
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