Topic: The Best Binoculars for Hunting of 2022 (Read 127 times)
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Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Inside the NL Pure’s revolutionary exterior design is the best glass in the category, delivering a stunningly bright and crisp image. The curvaceous lines allow users to lock the unit in hand, making our 12-power test sample as easily to stablize as a 10-power. It’s pricey, but the heirloom-grade Swarovski sets a new standard for premium binoculars.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
A super-premium European binocular, the NL Pure is marketed to birders and wildlife viewers, but it has wonderful attributes for hunters, starting with its grippy hourglass design that makes operation with one—or both—hands a cinch. Its field of view is the widest in the category, and the oversized focus wheel is precise and silky. It has lovely balance, making its 29-ounce weight feel much less. The NL Pure ships with Swarovski’s proprietary neck strap and locking connectors.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The TORIC is a high-magnification binocular with good balance and top-notch glass at an appealing price.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
High-magnification binoculars aren’t for everyone or for every type of hunt. But they are very capable optics for the sort of sit-all-day glassing that defines Coues deer hunting in the Southwest or ridgeline elk hunting in the Rockies. At 15-power, this offering from Tract splits the difference between a binocular and a co*pact spotting scope. You’ll need a tripod to stabilize the optic and get the best image, but the TORIC’s high-transmission glass makes those images bright and clear, and the focus is easy to ramp from close to infinity in just a single smooth revolution.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
This is a good choice for a beginning hunter who wants field-worthy optics and enough money left over for a decent gun or bow.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
It’s easy to spend upwards of $1,000 on hunting binoculars, and generally speaking the more you pay the better the durability of the optic, and the brighter and crisper the image it produces. But that’s a hefty price for most of us, which is why my review includes more accessibly-priced binoculars.
The Crossfire is an adequate entry-level hunting binocular, it carries nicely and will perform most basic field tasks. Its construction may not take years of hard knocks, but Vortex’s fully transferable lifetime warranty will co*fort those who push it to the point of breaking. The no-click eyecups are a nice touch, and the Crossfire HD balances nicely in either one or both hands.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
One of the few ultra-co*pact binoculars in the best binoculars for hunting lineup, the Forge stays out of the way until you need it.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
This co*pact binocular hits way above its weight and size. The 10-power magnification is a lot of optical horsepower in a wee frame—although 8-power would be a better fit for whitetail woods. The 30mm tubes tuck out of the way and do a decent job of delivering images, but this is not a twilight optic; you’ll be disappointed in the dark image. But for a go-everywhere binocular that’s at home in a treestand, turkey vest, or ground blind, the Bushnell Forge is hard to beat.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
A middle-of-the-road hunting optic, the Signature HD is co*pact enough to use in the tight quarters of a ground blind or tree stand but has enough horsepower to reach out across Western vistas.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
A utilitarian all-round binocular priced right in the middle of the cost spectrum, Burris’s Signature HD got a design lift this year with an open-bridge configuration that enables one-hand operation. The controls are good, if a little sloppy, but the oversized hinges imply durability and long-wearing operation. The glass is adequate, but I noticed some peripheral distortion and color fringing.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
Leupold’s BX-4 Pro Guide does everything: its open-bridge design enables one-hand operation, which is a key feature for bowhunters. It has tasty controls and good-enough image for most purposes. And its highly textured armor is stylish, in a running-shoe sort of way.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
I love these open-bridge binocular builds, largely because they enable one-hand operation, a key feature for bowhunters and anyone else whose other hand is otherwise occupied. The highly-tactile texture is easy to hold, even with wet gloves, and the focus riffs from close to infinity with a single turn of the wheel. Leupold’s best-in-class warranty gives this a nod for all-around hunting.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The glass and coatings on the Monarch M5 are among the best on the market for this price point. The controls are tight and precise. And the balance and handling are adequate for just about any sort of hunting or field sports.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
This co*pact 8-power binocular does everything well enough that it wins my budget bino nod. It’s not a high-end optic; its glass is good but not great, and its build feels alternatively heavy and a little flimsy. But it brings a whale of a lot of horsepower to the field. It has very co*fortable tapered eyecups and nice balance.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
This is a great example of a mid-priced binocular that hits above its weight. The Euro-styled Frontier APO has premium ED glass in a magnesium-alloy chassis, very good coatings, and nicely contoured eyecups for a custom fit.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
While Hawke is better known for its excellent riflescopes (particularly for airguns), the Frontier APO line of binoculars is worth a look. They have a good quality of glass, image-sharpening apochromatic lenses, and color-enhancing coatings. The mid-priced 8×42 version is capable of any hunting task, but is best suited for whitetail hunting, and the unflashy warranty is one of the best in the business.
Key Features
Why It Made the Cut
The MeoPro Air is a first-rate hunting binocular, with good glass and excellent coatings in a durable, functional package.
Pros
Cons
Product Description
What you get from the MeoPro Air is a high-performing bino at a much lower price than similar products. Thanks to lower operating costs in the Czech Republic, Meopta brings European glass, style, and optical performance at about half the prices of models from Leica, Zeiss, and Swarovski.
One of the field tests I subject all binoculars to is ease of use with a single hand. That’s especially an important consideration for bowhunters.The Meopta’s open-barrel design is one of the m