I have crossfire 10x32 that I’ve use birding, hunting, spotting, hiking, etc. Anything a compact pair of good binos gets used for.Originally Posted by breakingtime91
My 15x50 set were several times as much, and while they have clearer glass, they are bulkier and heavier. The primary reason I got them was to put on my tripod for serious glassing sessions.
They are good stuff. They are not Swarovskis.
I have a pair of 10x Diamondback hds. Picked them up off a prize table 5 or 6 years ago. They've been totally fine for east coast hunting.
I have an older pair of 8x Nikon prostaff which may be a hair sharper but it's hard to compare between 8x and 10x.
I remember seeing the Vortex listed for under $200 recently and at that price I wouldnt have any complaints
My experience differs greatly
I would’ve saved a lot of time, suffering and money just buying the best from the get go
When you factor in the cost of the hunt, time off, travel, tags, guides etc….hell I spent $7,418 in processing and shipping fees last season.
Good gear lasts along time. In the scheme of things it’s a drop in the bucket.
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My old school leica binos that were 10x42 if I rember correctly. Were always to much glass. Something like a vortex that your looking at is fine.
I am a big believer in buy once, cry once.*
That being said, if you aren’t going to be guiding, it doesn’t make the most sense to buy pro level equipment.
If your first hunt is guided, they will most likely have all of the glass necessary to get you on your animal. Once you have figured out if you even like hunting long term, then I would look at getting some glass.
Leica, Swarovski, Kahles, and Steiner are great glass, and you can tell a difference between them and Leupold, Nikon and Vortex, but, if your aren’t a Pro, will the benefit really be there? Best bang for the buck, I think, lies in the Nikon Monarch/ Vortex Viper HD range. 8x42 binos and then a spotting scope, in that order, will work wonders. Magnification higher than 8x sacrifices a fair bit of light and makes the binos much harder to maintain on a specific point.
Less glass than that, and you see a big drop off in clarity and precision in the image. More glass is incremental improvements vs price until you get to the big boys.
The nice thing about the Monarch/ Viper HD is they are fun to travel with and take bird watching, and they aren’t crazy expensive.
Pop into Cabela’s or Sportman’s around dusk and ask if you can take them to the door with a sales person, that is where you will really see the difference in glass priced below $300 and something above that.
Definately go to Cabelas to look at binoculars. You can directly compare $200 to $2000 binos. You will know your budget and can compare binos in your price range. I did this and that is the only way to see differences. I was surprised how well less expensive binos compared to more expensive ones. It wasn’t until binos got really expensive that I thought I could see a noticeable difference.
I'm going to echo the buy once cry once sentiment.
As far as a pack goes, if you're going to be killing game a few miles from the truck having a solid pack that can carry a heavy load is going to make that not suck. Kifaru, exo, mystery ranch, Seek Outside, and Stone Glacier all make great packs. Ideally you're going to want to try a couple if you can and see what fits you best. I recently tried a Seek Outside for a year but went back to my old kifaru as I couldn't quite get it to work as well. It would be worth checking the Rokslide classifieds as there are guys there that have to have the latest and greatest each year and there are lightly used packs and gear to be had for pretty good discount from new.
Binos. If you're wanting to efficiently to engage past a couple hundred yards I'd recommend getting a set of binos with the rangefinder integrated. Leica seems to have a very rapid development cycle on their geovids, which means the old version goes on sale quite frequently. They also have a version of their geovids that doesn't have on board Ballistics that are significantly cheaper than the .com or the pro line. The Vortex and Sig Rf binos have impressive rangefinders and on board Ballistics, but their glass leaves alot to be desired to my eyes. You'll spend the majority of your time looking through binos on a western hunt so I'd find a set that you really like looking through. If a separate bino and rf is what you go with the leica RFs do well, I've been impressed with the sigs as well.
I use a havalon for processing game. Works well.
I have spent more money in the long run trying to get cheep gear to work. I have had good luck buying quality gear (especially optics) used.
I hope you enjoy hunting. I would also recommend hunttalk.com. to me it seems to the PF of hunting forums and it really opened my eyes to the political challenges, and competition that goes on surrounding public access and who gets to make money off of a public resource.
I’m only going to comment on the knife recommendation. I have become an enormous fan of Montana Knife Company. They can be tough to get when the Thursday night drops happen, but Apple Pay has been a successful strategy for me. MKC makes a Whitetail knife intended for whitetail hunting, as well as several other blades. I started my collection with their Blackfoot model, and it is an extremely versatile blade. The nice thing about MKC is that they are fundamentally a hunting blade manufacturer. They are also completely made in America, if that matters to you. Perhaps buy once, cry once, but your grandchildren can inherit and use the blade. They’re that good.
That is really funny, I was just looking at those earlier today. My plan is to get one of their knives, I am a big fan of passing a blade to my son.
Some changes to my gear load out for this coming season. I have a Kifaru pack from last year that I LOVE, will run that again and far prefer over the EXO 4800 I had the previous season.
CI have found having the gear separated into small pullout bags ( I used the Kifaru ultralight ones):
Kill kit - Skinning knife, small saw, new blades for havalon knife, Chem lights 3x 4x pairs of nitrile HD gloves
Possibles kit - Small tool kit for bow or rifle, spare batteries for rangefinder or optic, Leatherman,
Water, first aid - Chap stick, booboo kit, small blowout kit, water tabs, hydration tabs/packs, small pack stove and one can of propane
Food - day's food, snacks, 1 extra meal
Raingear
Gamebags - changing to kifaru washable bags
Comms/Nav. - Garmin inReach, phone, HAM radio handheld
It make it simple and easy to move around from a smaller pack for scouting, final stalk/approach, etc.
A few items that really helped last season:
*Solar blow up or pop up camping light. We used this for quartering up a bull at midnight and provided good lighting around the space we were in. They are lightweight, flat and easy to pack.
*para cord - countless uses
*USB Battery bank for phone/gps
*Lightweight foam pad to glass on
*gloves 2x
Kit that I will be running for 2024
Kifaru Bedlam or Hoodlum pack & ROKMAN Scout 3800 (weather dependent)
Sig Kilo 10K in a Kifaru chest harness (for scouting or rifle season) OR Leupold B4-X 10x for archery season & handheld Sig Range finder
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