Best Binos for $1000

[Huntingpreacher]

Can anyone comment on the Leupold bx4s?

 

[Newtosavage]

Can anyone comment on the Leupold bx4s?

Not impressed. I've looked at all the new Leupolds in the past month, and I'm very disappointed with the direction they are going. The old gold rings used to be pretty good (if not heavy) bins. These new ones smell of "made in China" and they all have narrow fields of view - a cheap way of making bins "look good" around the edges. And I have no idea what's going on with the saucer-sized eyecups. That's just weird.

 

[Huntingpreacher]

Not impressed. I've looked at all the new Leupolds in the past month, and I'm very disappointed with the direction they are going. The old gold rings used to be pretty good (if not heavy) bins. These new ones smell of "made in China" and they all have narrow fields of view - a cheap way of making bins "look good" around the edges. And I have no idea what's going on with the saucer-sized eyecups. That's just weird.

Gotcha. Thanks for sharing the info.

 

[hunt1up]

I saw another forum member mention these. Well they dropped the price again today. I ordered another pair for my father. $647.99 shipped. It said "1 left" when I purchased mine but they're still there. Worth a try for someone.

Leica Trinovid HD Binoculars (10x42)

 

[realunlucky]

I saw another forum member mention these. Well they dropped the price again today. I ordered another pair for my father. $647.99 shipped. It said "1 left" when I purchased mine but they're still there. Worth a try for someone.

Leica Trinovid HD Binoculars (10x42)

Shows zero left now.

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[hunt1up]

Shows zero left now.

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Dang. Guess I lucked out. That was just too cheap to pass up.

 

[Newtosavage]

I saw another forum member mention these. Well they dropped the price again today. I ordered another pair for my father. $647.99 shipped. It said "1 left" when I purchased mine but they're still there. Worth a try for someone.

Leica Trinovid HD Binoculars (10x42)

That was a fantastic deal. You will love those little gems.

 

[bozeman]

That was a smoking deal! Really like my 8x32......good snag!

QUOTE=Newtosavage;1050822]That was a fantastic deal. You will love those little gems.[/QUOTE]

 

[gdpolk]

I use 8x30 Swaro CL Companions and couldn't be happier. I know there is glass out there that can technically outperform these but only by some VERY small margins. I'm particularly sensitive to crummy binos because I have a few eye issues and I spend a lot of time glassing. To me, I can use these all day long without fatigue. They also happen to be among the smallest/lightest binoculars available that aren't flimsy pocket binos. I can get beyond dark thirty with them regardless of lighting conditions. I see no downside to them.

 

[Newtosavage]

Finally my Conquest HD 10x42's are on the way. They have been my benchmark $1K binoculars against which I've compared everything else, and so far nothing has stacked up as well. Sure, some are lighter, some are smaller, some have "great" CS, etc. but all those others have some characteristic that I find annoying after extended use. Even my brand new Leica Trinovid HD's went back because the eye cups just didn't extend "quite" far enough for the eye relief, and I found myself continually having to hold them further from my eyes than I wanted. It became very annoying after a few days of use. These are the things you can only figure out about a bin after owning and using them for a while.

Everyone is different and we're all willing to make trade-offs to get what is most important to us. The Conquests aren't as small and light as my Teton HD's or Razors or Nikon HG's, but they have fantastic image quality, a very good field of view, a reputation for durability and maybe the best eyecups in the business IMO.

For $1K I was willing to try a lot of binoculars before I committed. I tried just about everything I could get my hands on between $300 and $1K - some multiple times. Lots of good options out there. You just gotta find the "one" for you.

If I wasn't willing or able to spend $1K on a pair of binoculars and wasn't so averse to chinese bins, I would have just bought the new Viper HD's and been done with it. They are so good for the money that you have to spend 2x as much to do better IMO.

 

[TimberHunter]

Can anyone confirm if those Trinovids accept a tripod adapter stud or would one have to use the strap on bino adapter to put the trinovids on a tripod?


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[hunt1up]

Can anyone confirm if those Trinovids accept a tripod adapter stud or would one have to use the strap on bino adapter to put the trinovids on a tripod?


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No stud for the newer HD model. I’m going to order the ring clamp style attachment from Outdoorsmans. I believe their Leica stud will fit the previous model of trinovid.

 

[wind gypsy]

Finally my Conquest HD 10x42's are on the way. They have been my benchmark $1K binoculars against which I've compared everything else, and so far nothing has stacked up as well. Sure, some are lighter, some are smaller, some have "great" CS, etc. but all those others have some characteristic that I find annoying after extended use. Even my brand new Leica Trinovid HD's went back because the eye cups just didn't extend "quite" far enough for the eye relief, and I found myself continually having to hold them further from my eyes than I wanted. It became very annoying after a few days of use. These are the things you can only figure out about a bin after owning and using them for a while.

Everyone is different and we're all willing to make trade-offs to get what is most important to us. The Conquests aren't as small and light as my Teton HD's or Razors or Nikon HG's, but they have fantastic image quality, a very good field of view, a reputation for durability and maybe the best eyecups in the business IMO.

For $1K I was willing to try a lot of binoculars before I committed. I tried just about everything I could get my hands on between $300 and $1K - some multiple times. Lots of good options out there. You just gotta find the "one" for you.

If I wasn't willing or able to spend $1K on a pair of binoculars and wasn't so averse to chinese bins, I would have just bought the new Viper HD's and been done with it. They are so good for the money that you have to spend 2x as much to do better IMO.

To the point of differing opinions- the conquest eye cups crack easily and they have the shallowest depth of focus of any bino that I can recall.

 

[TimberHunter]

No stud for the newer HD model. I’m going to order the ring clamp style attachment from Outdoorsmans. I believe their Leica stud will fit the previous model of trinovid.

Are you referring to this? Will this fit the new Trinovid that you bought? Does it then allow you to use a standard threaded bino tripod adapter?

I really dislike the strap tripod adapter Leica makes for those Trinovids... so much that I would only considering buying them only if I could figure out a way to mount them to my tripod via the threaded Bino tripod adapter in the second picture below

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[hunt1up]

Are you referring to this? Will this fit the new Trinovid that you bought? Does it then allow you to use a standard threaded bino tripod adapter?

I really dislike the strap tripod adapter Leica makes for those Trinovids... so much that I would only considering buying them only if I could figure out a way to mount them to my tripod via the threaded Bino tripod adapter in the second picture below

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This one:

Outdoorsmans Ring Adapter 42mm

The one you linked to doesn’t fit the new HD Trinovid. That was my preference as well since I like the Outdoorsmans stud design, but I think I can live with their barrel clamp. I don’t tripod glass THAT much anyway. And it seems like it’ll work great anyway. Others may have more experience with it.

 

[Akicita]

I’m wanting to upgrade to a nicer set of binos and my budget is $1000. I’ve been looking at the mavens but I don’t know much about them or anyone that has used them. I do not want to go over my budget. Any recommendations?


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No question for me the best binos in that price range is the Steiner Shadow Quest

 

[bmanb940]

You definiitely need to check out Nikon's MONARCH HG bino's. Sub $1000, and I have yet to read a review that didn't rave about them. They can be found at most of the larger Nikon Dealer's as well as from Doug at Cameraland.

 

[Newtosavage]

Monarch HG's can be had brand new for $750 right now at LLBean.

Having said that, I just picked up a pair of clean, used Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42's. All I can say is wow, and I'm done. Spent the whole evening glassing and wondering what took me so long. After using these, I can't even imagine paying $1K for Vortex Razors.

 

[tdhanses]

You definiitely need to check out Nikon's MONARCH HG bino's. Sub $1000, and I have yet to read a review that didn't rave about them. They can be found at most of the larger Nikon Dealer's as well as from Doug at Cameraland.

I get your prostaff but a guy just sold his Swaro’s and picked up the Nikon HG and Leica Trinovid HD, the Leicas for him blew the Nikons away, look for the thread on downgrading optics.

 

[tdhanses]

Monarch HG's can be had brand new for $750 right now at LLBean.

Having said that, I just picked up a pair of clean, used Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42's. All I can say is wow, and I'm done. Spent the whole evening glassing and wondering what took me so long. After using these, I can't even imagine paying $1K for Vortex Razors.

I’ve had both the 10x42’s and 8x32’s in the Zeiss Conquest HD, money well spent and I personally think the 8x32’s are better then the 10x42’s.