Binos

Can't afford Swaro's. Looking at Ziess vs Steiners vs Maven. I have Leupold McKenzies right now and boy are they terrible. What do you say?

Would highly suggest buying some used optics and trying multiple....then sell the ones you don't like.

Would look at some higher end Mavens, those get really good reviews. Zeiss makes good glass too, just don't hear too much about them in the hunting world for whatever reason. Steiner has some good stuff but their form factor seems a little "too large" for hunting in my mind...more a marine form factor.

Bigger question would be how will these be used and what is the expected distances you want to see?
Buying a good pair of bins to get you out to several hundred yards to judge a deer is very different than hunting in west Texas and trying to judge a mule deer at 1.5miles.

Another option to consider is weight vs magnification and also using a tripod or rest to help steady the binos for better clarity.

Little more information about your desired uses will help direct the answer.

What's your budget, and do you want them to have range finding capability?

No range finder. Only looking up to 400 yds with a rare trip to KS or west Texas. Low light is very important to me. Weight is important, I rattle and coyote hunt a lot. Under a grand.

RF binos did a lot to change my hunting for the better. See it, range it, dial or hold, shoot it. For right at a grand you can get Sig Kilos with RF that is very accurate and super fast. You know what you need, just wanted to share my experience.

Take a look at the GPO Passion HD's

I really enjoy my tract torics for the money. Meopta line is good too. Doug gets access to everything so I’m sure his recommendation is solid.

I have the GPO 10x50 Rangeguide binos and they are bright, clear. The GPO Passion HD's 8.5x50 would be a great set of binos. Give Doug a call great to do business with.

What’s his number?

look at his sig line above

516-217-1000

I have the Meopta 10X42. very clear glass. Very impressed with it.

are you close to somewhere you can look through several in your budget? Look through them, see what you think.

do you wear glasses? very important if you do. You need one with long eye relief, 17mm+

What is you most used hunting method, walking and spotting or sitting in a blind? Weight come into question here.

Probably 70% use 10X42's

I switched to 10X42 rangefinders; they are great albeit heavy.

I’d add Tract Toric to the list.

I have the high end Maven 10x42 and are very pleased with them. I paid $950 brand new from Maven. Nice folks to deal with. Also, high end binos are going to be on the heavier side.