NL Pure 12’s or 14’s

[nphunter]

Curious for those that have owned / own both. I know the 12’s are great, I’ve used them a lot but I also loved my Meopta 15’s. I just sold my 15’s and ATC with the plan to buy a pair of 14’s. I’m a little on the fence, I feel like I’ll still need my 10’s on my chest with the 14’s and in big country I’ll still need my spotter.

Curios what others have done or how they like them. Can they be used on the chest like the 12’s for a Quick Look at an animal or are they too much? I know 12’s and a spotter are pretty nice but I’ve had times where I’d rather be looking through my Meostar 15’s than the NL12’s.

 

[nphunter]

Anyone?

 

[fbhandler]

Kinda went down the same road myself recently…

I think if you were to only have one do it all bino for out west the 12x42nls or 12x50els are the best compromise of magnification/fov, size/weight, and usefulness on a tripod. That said, I went with 14x52s and 10x42s nls and think for my uses this is the most versatile over all “set up” albeit expensive.

I always carry a spotter and found for me that no binoculars can ultimately take their place. So with that, and preferring to glass from binos on a tripod and not wanting to carry 2 pairs of binoculars and a spotter, but wanting the highest magnification binos to glass from, I choose the 14s.

I can handhold them well enough that I don’t feel like I need a smaller pair as well. They carry nice in the bino harness (size/weight/form factor) and being nls (larger fov) the 14s effectively do everything the 12x50els can do, only a bit better.

The 10x42s will be used for lower mag/lighter weight situations (back east/heading into known thick timber/etc.). 8x42s would work well here I think, but I opted for a little higher mag as they’ll still end up on a tripod. I also have the option that “if” I needed to have 10s on the chest but also wanted the higher mag. then I still could pack the bigger binos and spotter but at an even lower weight and volume of the carrying 15s.

To summarize though… if your not set on glassing with 15s (or similar mag) and only want one pair of binos or can only afford one pair for use in the mountain west, the 12s in either the els or nls (edge going to the 12x50els) I think would be the best do it all bino. The 14s are awsome but I wouldn’t want them as my only option, and to me having 12s and 14s just didn’t make a lot of sense.