Just checked, green ones are like $170 at Cabela’s (camo is $100 more lol)
I second Meopta, meopta Czech is who makes the glass for leica and swarovski excellent clarity and light transmission in low light. If you are looking for glass for bow hunting keep the magnification to lower levels, the higher the magnification the less light transmission. A 4x ratio between objective lens size and magnification allows for greater light transmission in low light. If you plan on abusing your binos, vortex has the best guarantee and fastest turn around, but I think the european glass is higher quality. I would stay away from Leupold, old grey mare aint what she used to be. I had a 600.00 pair of Leupold binoculars that the eyepiece messed up on, I sent my Leupolds back for repair, they sent me a message saying they no longer make those binoculars anymore, but they were going to send me a newer model. The binoculars I got back after 6 weeks of waiting was a 180.00 pair of binoculars, had I known they were going to send me back junk, I would have opted to keep the pair I sent in. The pair I sent in had japanese glass, and the replacement pair had Chinese glass…..major difference. I contacted Leupold to ask if I could just send them back and get my old pair. They said that was not possible, but I could pay them 400.00 additional and upgrade. I was terribly disappointed.
Meopta optika line is their budget line, but the glass quality is still amazing.
You have any experience diamondback hd vs viper hd?
I bought my wife diamondback hd for birdwatching a while back, she doesn't use them much, played with a vortex set in the store beforehand and remember them feeling nicer but not worth it for her uses. Otherwise my bino knowledge is very limited and 95%+ regurgitated from what I've read on rokslide. I do spend an unhealthy amount of time reading about this sort of thing these days so feel somewhat confident, but mostly ignorant.
If you look through binoculars in a store, or outside, in the middle of the day when there is plenty of light, it is real hard to tell the difference, I know an old school fart that has a large building that he uses to demonstrate scopes and binos. He will have you look through both then he turns out the lights. In the low light is where the European glass really stands apart.
