I guess the question is are you bow or rifle hunting? 8 power will generally have more light transmission during low light conditions, but if you want a pair for long range rifle hunting you will probably want a little higher magnification. Vortex does have a fabulous warranty, but there is no substitute for European glass. Czech made meopta glass is amazing, but pricy. Meopta czech makes the glass for swarovski and leica. You can have european glass at a fraction of the price, only difference is the coatings. I have high end binos and lower end 400 dollar Leupold binos. I usually take the cheaper ones saddle hunting because of tree bark, dust, debris, etc. I only use my high end leicas for long range shooting.So im needing to upgrade my binoculars. What are you guys using what are the pros and cons. I am thinking about some vortex 10X42 diamondbacks.
thanks
When I am bow hunting, I use my 8 power binos. Anything you can actually shoot at you will be able to see very well with the 8 powers. Just make sure when buying binos the objective lens is at least 4x the magnification. 8x32, 10x42 the higher the magnification the more light transmission you lose, which will hinder you in low light conditions. The higher magnifications require more glass to get there, thus even with a high light transmitting glass, the thicker the glass, the less light can pass through. I personally will not drag my 2500.00 binos up a tree to saddle hunt. To each their own though. I think for relatively inexpensive glass Nikon has some decent mid priced binos as well. If you are looking for inexpensive, if you stay in the 300.00 to 500.00 dollar range you should have pretty good all around binos with just about any of the ones you choose to go with.Bow hunting from a saddle in the deep woods of eastern Kentucky. Some glassing of some hay fields in the summer.