Anyone use exclusively 15s?

[lcall47]

Looking to buy my first pair of binos and to use for everything from texas WT to audad and elk. Looking at either a 10x50 size or 15x56.
I don’t mind the weight and size of carrying bigger and am leaning towards just getting 15s.
Anyone exclusively carry 15s on the chest?
I’m early 20s and don’t have money to invest in high dollar glass.

 

[rclouse79]

I would guess your advice will be 50 to 1 to get 10s. 15s are great from a tripod when you are on a vantage that lets you see a lot of country. As a chest rig, they would have too small of a field of view and would be shaky. I would also guess that cheaper optics would be closer in performance in the lower magnifications.

 

[dwhicker]

Split the difference and get 12’s! In all reality 15’s are just too big to reliably handhold and use in thick timber/woods.


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[Felix40]

I use 15s more than anything else. On hunts where you need them, you really need them. I’m not going to carry two pairs of binos so they get used off hand quite a bit. I have no issue doing it. They would definitely not be my first choice for whitetail hunting unless I needed to glass super far sometimes (a mile or more). For aoudad and mule deer where I live, they are ideal.

 

[WoodBow]

I use 15s exclusively for anything "out west". A friend has 10s or 12s and I have looked through them on the same trips and they suck by comparison, at least when you are spoiled to 15s. The only downside to 15s is your fov is going to be fairly small if you are glassing real close. Like sub 400 yards.

 

[kota]

I have had 15s, 12s and 10s. All I have now are 10s because I could not use the bigger glass freehand in a way I needed. They were all fine to scan for critters standing out in the open, but were too wiggly to be able to get any detail once you tried to look at a fixed spot.

With the 15s I had to carry 10x on the chest harness, and also a spotter in the pack for longer range glassing. They were sure nice off a tripod though…

Even with the 12s, I blew stalks because I couldn’t make out tiny details or relocate bucks because of the wiggle. As the buck bounds away…I guess that was an antler and not a branch…

This last fall I was glassing deer at well over a mile with 10s on a tripod, so I don’t feel like I am missing much by having lower power binos. YMMV

 

[GetWestern]

I used a pair of SLC 15s exclusively for 2 years. In hindsight I should have bought a pair of 10s but I loved how deadly they were off the tripod and at the time I couldn’t swing another swaro. I made it work and just had to play to the strengths and weakness. Up close and personal glassing was somewhat a battle but I made it work, any archery stalks I just used a cheap pair of 10s. Quick target acquisition was challenging at first especially while hand holding them, but I got used to it and felt like I got better at glassing cause it took a lot of practice to use them as hand helds. Now I have a pair of EL 10x but those 15s usually always stay with me in my bag on most of my hunts.

 

[4th_point]

Not sure how helpful this is, but I have used 15x and 16x binocs for the past 11+ months, on a near weekly basis. Sometimes daily. Both are image stabilized though, so I can't comment on the shakes.

Given enough practice, you can get on targets surprisingly fast freehand. With time, the human brain adapts. But it may not be in a handful of sessions. But keep in mind that mine are stabilized.

As much as I love my 8x42 binocs, I will usually grab the 15x50 for just for walking/hiking and checking things out, or casual glassing from a vehicle. When actually hunting I use the 8x42. Even stationary, the 8x42 goes on a tripod looking for movement as the FOV is more important to me than the magnification.

The biggest downside to using a 15x/16x to me is DOF. That higher magnification has less DOF compared to an 8x or 10x. No way to get around it simply due to the magnification, so you'll be focusing a lot if scanning close.

I think that a 10x50 is a great idea. I really don't need more binocs, but if I bought another 10x it would be 50mm.

Good luck and please let us know what you decide!

 

[Honyock]

I would find a pair of 15s whether in a store or from a buddy and try freehanding with them. You might be able to use 15s freehanding but I can't. Anything over a 10 has to be on a tripod for me.

 

[PNWGATOR]

Zero chance I chest carry and hand hold 15x binos. I use 15x almost exclusively off of a tripod, but would not choose them as an only pair of binos.

If I were in your shoes, I’d save and buy a set of ‘Alpha’ grade 10x rangefinding binos.

 

[JGRaider]

For everyday use, I wouldn't even consider a 15x at all. A $500 10x42 or 10x50 around your neck, or occasionally on a tripod will do all you need to do.

 

[Kurts86]

I bought SLC 15’s and ran my old Nikon monarch 10’s for a season then bought SLC 10’s the next year. If I had to do it again I would buy alpha 10’s first.

I use my 15’s 75% of the time but my 10’s go out 100% of the time while hunting.

15’s are a specialized tripod based option and hand holding them is not really a thing you can do effectively.

15’s are also more demanding of having the best glass than 10’s are. You can do a lot with mid range 10’s from a tripod or offhand.

 

[left hunter]

Short answer is no, buy the highest end 10’s you can afford.

My nl pure 10x42 binos would be the ones I kept if I was forced to own only one binocular and yes I do own Swarovski 15x56 slc hd’s as well.

No way would I attempt to use the 15’s for everything. They would be useless in the woods

 

[Beendare]

I have one buddy that carried his 15x for everything....otherwise everyone I know carries [in order of most to least] 10x, 8x, 12x

 

[NV HUNTER]

15s only... on my chest.

 

[BzoneBryan]

You're thinking about this all wrong. You need to be running the binos, not using them.

Seriously though, I was out glassing, I had both my 9x and 15x binos. The 15s were nice for the extra magnification because the 9s were so much better glass and easier to look through. Eye fatigue is a real thing. That was on a tripod. Free handing the 15s is just a silly idea for me. There may be some that can hold them steady enough, but I am not one of them. Chances are you aren't either. Keep in mind that it is harder to see movement in the brush when the view through the binoculars is shaking all over the place, which is why people use tripods.

I agree with the others' advice that you should buy the best glass you can afford in the 10x range. Maybe even 8x, depending on where you're hunting. The good news is that there are a lot of really good options in the mid price range for those kinds of optics.

 

[zrodwyo]

I run 10x and 15x SLCs and the 15s aren’t bright enough for me in low light.

 

[CMF]

Describing how much of each type of hunting you do might help with suggestions.
I can't imagine running around archery elk season with 15s. I can spot elk 2-3 miles away with 8x42 Diamondbacks. But if you mostly deer and audad hunt bigger would probably be better.
I have run 12x50 Diamondbacks on my chest, but couldn't see going bigger and prefer 8x.
I got some 15x56 DB for an Oryx hunt this year and ran them off a tripod, but I feel like we wouldn't have missed much running smaller better glass. I'd recommend better quality glass than DB's if going 15x, but it's what I got for now.

 

[lcall47]

Thanks for all of the helpful input guys. Think I am going to go for the best 10s I can afford and later down the road get some better ones and higher power binos when I really need em.
Looking at some vortex viper hd 10x50s
Any others in that range to look into?

 

[10ringer]

Thanks for all of the helpful input guys. Think I am going to go for the best 10s I can afford and later down the road get some better ones and higher power binos when I really need em.
Looking at some vortex viper hd 10x50s
Any others in that range to look into?

Nothing will compete with a viper 10 x 50 in that price range. The Achilles tendon of the vipers is glare control when glassing early morning and evenings. If the lighting is not perfect, you get a lot of washout making them nearly unusable for picking out animals in shadows along timberline. However if lighting is perfect, the image is absolutely amazing. In low light these blow away my slc 10x42. But due to the poor glare control issues I no longer use these for Hunting, they make a great scouting binocular/truck Bino.