good binoculars at a good price?

[brian bearden]

i'm looking fro an affordable pair of binoculars for an upcoming mule deer hunt. here in east texas i don't us them much, so i have a hard time justifying $250+ pair of glasses, but i want something better than your walmart $30 tascos too. any recommendations? something small and light weight is preferred.

 

[sagebrush]

Good small lightwieght inexpensive binoculars. Now there's an oxymoron. Seriously, the Leupold Wind River binoculars are good glass for the money. Not very small or light, but they are priced right and you can use them all day without getting a headache.

 

[MarinePMI]

I believe Sportsman's Guide has Stiener binos on sale.  These are used/reconditioned....but hell, they're Stieners!  For under $200 you can't really beat that.

 

[songdog]

Kind of reminds me of the sign I see every time I walk in to the place where I get my cars serviced.  "Price , quality or service... pick any two".

Seriously though, for about $200-250 you can still get significantly better binocs than you could get when compared to the $29 specials.  Nikon makes some decent glass in that price range.

 

[Shep]

You might want to look in the binocular and spotting scope forum for additional info.

 

[Kernhuntr]

Another company you may want to look at in that price range is a company called Swift. I had a pair of 8x40's that were actually pretty good glass for the money. They are around that price range. In fact my dad still uses them.

Kernhuntr

 

[Passthru]

 I just bought a pair of Nikon Action 7X35 9.3 binos at bass pro,they were listed at 99.99 but it was the last pair they had and was display models,so they sold them to me for 78.00,for cheap binos they are very clear,rubber coated, BAK4,multi coated lenses.
 Just a bit bigger than i wanted but they are not the big heavy binos either,i was looking through them this evening and they gather alot more light than i thought they would.

 

[Brian S]

 I've had my 10x42 roof prism Cabelas "waterproof" model for 3 months now and have had them on allot of scouting trips. They are a bit more than your upper limit at 300 bucks but I am very satisfied  with them. I used to scoff at the idea of lugging binos afield with the extra weight and swinging stuff around your neck. I used the cheapos all those years and never realized what I was missing until I got a chance to look through Hook's Swarovski's. Granted these japanese imports for cabelas are no swarovskis but they are the best In the 300 and under that I have come across. The great clarity, ease of focus and lack of eye strain make these an absolute necessity for any of my hunts and scouting trips.
Brian