The Burris Signature Select 8X32 at $253 from swfa.com (or slightly more from other sources) are a bit more than your stated top end, but you will never regret spending the extra money to buy quality. These are the best binoculars you can buy in a "budget" range. I know -- I have the very expensive Leicas and Swarovskis, and while this Burris model is not up to the quality of the finest European optics, it is darn close at a fraction of the cost. I promise you will love these Burris binoculars but will be disappointed with many of the other models that you may think are bargains now. There is nothing worse than a crappy pair of binoculars when you are out hunting. I have owned several bargain models in the past and wished I had spent the money on the binoculars and cheaped out on the bow and arrows instead of the optics. You spend most of your time looking for the animals, not shooting at them. You might as well enjoy the hunts by having a good time looking, because most of the time you will never get a shot off. It is true that the most important equipment on a bowhunt are your binoculars and your broadheads. Even a $100 used bow and some cheap arrows will deliver the broadhead to the deer if you get close enough, but you have to see the deer first and have to cut through its vitals in the end. I love my bows and arrows too and have spent way too much money on them, but I made sure that I bought good optics and broadheads as my first priority. I recommend the 8X32 model because of 3 reasons. They are small enough that you will carry them all the time. They are big enough and powerful enough to give you adequate light gathering and magnification for most situations. They are much cheaper than the Burris Signature Select models with bigger objective lenses that are of comparable quality, so they are still close to the top end of your price range although still 25% more than your highest price. I took a pair to Africa last month and asked my Professional Hunter what he thought of them. He has a pair of Leica 8X32 binoculars like mine and thinks the Leicas are the greatest, as do I. He told me that the Burris binoculars were "BRILLIANT!!! -- almost as nice as the Leicas" which is nearly the highest complement he could give them. I agree with him. Even though the Leicas, the Swarovskis, the Zeisses and a few other brands (most of them costing over $1000 and some over $2000) are clearly superior optically and otherwise, the Burris binoculars are 95% of the really expensive ones. I only recommend the Burris Signature Select models in the Burris line. Some of the other less expensive models are pretty good for the price, but you need to get above a certain level of excellence or you are just wasting your money and probably ought to just do without any binoculars at all, which in my opinion is the best option if you don't want to spent the money on quality.
Allan
Topic: Re: Binocs for whitetail hunting? (Read 1319 times)
