Shopping for optics can be an exercise in frustration—there are so many specs to consider that things get complicated quickly, and even the sales associates behind the gun counter might not really understand all of the factors involved. Moreover, there’s a huge variety in price points, and more expensive might mean better quality, but in many cases, you simply don’t need the best of the best for the kind of hunting you do. Here’s what to consider when you’re buying binoculars so you get what you need but don’t end up paying for more than what will really be useful to you.
1. Magnification
A pair of binoculars will be labeled with two numbers, such as 8x32 or 10x42. The first number indicates the magnification: An 8X bino will show you things eight times larger than you see them with your eye. More is not always better. You might need higher magnification if you are hunting in wide-open territory, but the larger the magnification, the more “wobble” you’ll see and the narrower your field of view will be. If you go higher than about 10X, you’ll probably want to use a tripod to minimize the extreme wobble.
2. Objective Lens Size
The second number indicates the size, in millimeters, of the objective lens (the lens farthest from your eye). Again, bigger is not always better. Larger objective lenses let in more light, which is always good, but they are also more expensive and heavier. The size and weight are major considerations if you’re climbing mountains and lugging these things around for days on end. Common objective lens sizes for hunting binoculars range from 30mm to 50mm, with 32 and 42 being very popular.
3. Glass Quality
The higher the quality of the glass the lenses are made of, the higher the quality of the image you will see. Better glass means better clarity, decreased chromatic aberration (color halos, causing a fuzzy-looking edge), better color fidelity (colors appearing true to life) and increased light transmission. All of those things matter on their own, but when taken as a whole, they also add up to less eye fatigue. If you’re checking the binos for 30 seconds to judge the size of a whitetail in a field, this isn’t a big deal, but if you’re glassing mountains for hours in search of the tiniest flick of a ram’s ear, eye fatigue is a serious concern.
Look for ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass in the objective lenses—it’s not an absolute must-have, but it makes a big difference over non-ED glass. As for the prisms (internal glass), you will often see BAK-7 and BAK-4 as options. BAK-4 is a higher-density glass; it is more expensive, but it ensures better brightness.
4. Lens Coatings
Once you get past the lowest price point binoculars, most lenses are made of good to really good glass, but the coatings the manufacturer puts on the lenses can also make a big difference in image quality and in price. Proper coatings reduce glare, ensure color fidelity and edge-to-edge sharpness, increase light transmission (or more accurately, reduce the amount of light lost through each lens), protect the lenses from the elements and more. At a minimum, look for fully multi-coated lenses, which means there are multiple coatings on all air-to-glass surfaces. Also look for lenses advertised as waterproof, fogproof and scratch-resistant.
5. Size, Weight and Mounting Options
As mentioned in the paragraph about objective lens size, the actual size and weight of the binoculars might be important to you. The heavier they are, the more burdensome they’ll be to carry, but the steadier they might be to hold. Consider whether you’ll be carrying them in a backpack or around your neck, or mounting them on a tripod, and how far you’ll be carrying them. If you’re a spot-and-stalk hunter or you’re otherwise on the move a lot, you’ll probably want a bino harness to keep the binoculars easily accessible but secure, so you can get to them quickly but they won’t be flopping around banging into stuff as you move.
6. Additional Features
Some binoculars feature a built-in rangefinder, which can be very handy when you’re hunting wide-open terrain. Some even connect to the same brand riflescope, sharing ballistic data so the scope can suggest or adjust your holdover for you. Rangefinding capabilities are really nice to have if you need them, but they do increase the cost significantly and add to the weight of the binoculars. In some cases, optical quality is compromised to make room for the rangefinding components. And, of course, they come with the typical caveats of all electronics: the need to manage battery life, the potential for things to stop working, and eventually, electronic obsolescence.
7. Warranty and Brand Reputation
Warranties vary across different brands, and some brands are known for better customer service than others. Consider buying from a well-established brand with a good reputation. Sure, you might get an appealing price and a great warranty on a pair of binos from a start-up company no one has heard of, but if the brand goes bankrupt and disappears in a couple of years, that warranty is worthless. Do your research regarding the different brands and their reputations for customer service and honoring their warranties.
8. Price
This is what it comes down to for many buyers. Price is driven partly by brand name/reputation but mostly by the quality of the glass and the lens coatings. Image quality matters more to some hunters than to others. If you mostly hunt out of a treestand in the woods or over food plots, and you primarily use your binoculars to examine an animal you’ve already spotted, a certain amount of chromatic aberration and marginal edge-to-edge clarity might not matter to you very much. If you spend hours behind your binos searching for the glint of an antler tine hidden in the deep woods, or glassing hillsides for hard-to-spot sheep or goats, better glass and the reduction in eye fatigue that comes with it is worth spending more money on.
Higher quality and higher prices generally buy you better light transmission, too. This is no big deal at 11 a.m., but it proves its worth at dawn and dusk—which happen to be the legal hunting hours when animals are most active and you need your binos the most. Again, how you plan to use them makes all the difference here.
When it comes to binoculars, the difference between $100 and $300 is pretty significant. The difference between $300 and $500 or $600 is also quite noticeable, but it might not matter to you depending on how you plan to use your binos. When you get higher than about $500, the differences that the higher prices buy you get smaller and smaller, but to some hunters, especially out West, those differences really matter. For the highest quality optics (not rangefinding) from a solid brand, expect to pay over $1,000—sometimes way over.
My Recommendation
For the average hunter—not the Western spot-and-stalker—I recommend you buy a set of 8x32 to 10x42 binos in the $300 to $650 range from a solid brand like Leupold, Vortex, Bushnell, GPO, Meopta and others. You can go even cheaper if you don’t plan to use the binos very much and you can “baby” them a bit. If you plan to spend a lot of time behind your binos and image quality and eye fatigue are major considerations, budget at least $1,000 but maybe up to $2,500 or more. At this price point you can consider Leupold, Vortex, Zeiss, Swarovski, Kahles, Leica and others. You will likely want at least 10X magnification, maybe 12 or more, and if you do significant glassing, invest in a tripod to hold them steady.
