I need help with binoculars, posted in optics

[Davyalabama]

First, this is for turkey hunting and squirrel hunting, period. I have 8x42 SLC for long range, too heavy and cumbersome for turkey and squirrel hunting.

Alright, I've gone to Grok, now it's you guys in the woods. I need help with my old eyes. I've even gone to wearing my glasses turkey hunting that I only use for driving. I can't see well enough with my naked eyes nor with glasses to tell beard lengths even at shotgun range, non TSS. I have an old pair of Bushnell instafocus 4x30, awful using glasses, have to put my glasses down to look through them. I need some quality binos in the under 18 oz., great glass for early, late, and foggy conditions, fit in a cargo pocket for carrying, and not cost over $500. $500 is my absolute top. Yeah, save a little, wait a few years, buy the Zeiss Victory or Swarovski Curio bins, nah, I'm going to need them for next year. I can't see spending that money, sorry. $500 is more than I want to spend, I prefer to stay under $200, but went a little above, see in a minute.
I've considered in no particular order
Pentax Papillio 6.5x21
Vortex Bantam 6.5x32
Zeiss Terra 8x25 $229 at Midway right now, ordered a pair and waiting for them to come.
Kowa YF II 6.5x30
Swarovski My Junior 7x28, I'm considering these, the problem is no diopter adjustment.
Swarovski Pocket, 8x20,
Bynolyt Seagull Ed 8x25 or DDoptics Lux Hr 8x25
This is really frustrating, I killed a small 6 1/4" beard, decent width, Jake 2 days ago thinking it was longer. This is my third of the year by the way. I've got no business shooting those things. The first day of the year, I had a turkey at the edge of gun range and couldn't tell his beard well, ended up being thin, but hey, sometimes you only get one small opportunity. I chalked it up as fog, well there wasn't fog the other day, just fairly thick woods. Now I'm not knocking anyone that would kill one of these, I've killed too many over the past 50+ years to fool with these, I'm not bragging, it's just a fact.

My eyes, due to unforeseen circumstances, can not be corrected further even with surgeries, been through this since the 80's. The eyes are just getting older now and dimmer.

Like I've said, I've done the Grok, I've done the internet birding forums, now I need real world experience from hunters.

Thanks, in advance.

 

[chizelhead]

If you like your SLCs, I would try a harness strap or bino harness first if you haven't already. It can be a game changer as far as dealing with weight and being cumbersome. From my experience, fog can't be improved with better glass. Early and late light is best helped by maximizing exit pupil first.

If you understand exit pupil, read no further, otherwise, I wish there were an easy way to determine your maximum exit pupil—essentially the widest your pupil can dilate—since it affects how much light reaches your retina. That can be a limiting factor if images appear dim to you.

For example, with the Swarovski Pocket 8x20 binoculars, the exit pupil is 20 ÷ 8 = 2.5 mm. If your pupil can dilate larger than that, you're not getting the full amount of available light, which can make the image seem dimmer.

Exit pupil size generally decreases with age or certain conditions. As a rough guideline, someone around 60 years old typically has a max pupil size of 4–5 mm. Based on what you're describing, your exit pupil may be smaller than average.

However, if you have macular degeneration, the limiting factor may not be your exit pupil at all.

After that, glass/lens coating quality—you usually get what you pay for—and lens cleanliness contribute to image quality.

You may want to try Maven C2 7x28. Exit pupil = 4mm. ED glass. $225. I haven't tried them, but their specs look good enough to try.

Good luck.

 

[Davyalabama]

I considered the maven 7x28, did I not list them? They were so close in price, I ordered the Zeiss to try.

 

[fry0083]

Very interested in this as well. Considering the Maven C2s for whitetail hunting. Sight lines would be to 400-500 yd max. Curious on some feedback for the Mavens on this use case

 

[Davyalabama]

The zeiss came, they are soooooo small. They fit in a cargo pocket of pants or the small zippered breast pocket of a coat just fine. The double hinge will take a little to get used to and deploy. I haven’t really been able to run them yet.

 

[MtMadewell]

Check out the Minox x-lite series. They have a 10x34 that weighs 15.8oz

 

[T-y-ler]

Vortex Diamondback 8x32s are 15.9 oz and $209. I have the 10x32s and with a cheap harness they carry very nicely. Also pretty decent glass for the money. Optics planet has both in stock