Vortex Binoculars

Trumpetier

Trumpetier

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Anyone have these ?

Looking at the Crossfire range. What would you guys with binocular experience recommend for general use and maybe a bit of use hunting, 8x42 or 10x42 ?
 
Not a lot in it, but 8x42 will offer a brighter image as the light fails.

The only Vortex binoculars I had were a set of 8x32 Diamondback. Very nice, but suffered with a bizarrely high amount of chromatic abberation, I had to return them.

With binoculars, a great returns policy is a valuable thing…
 
I really like my 8x32 diamondbacks, no problems with them at all.
Tried a few brands before settling on the vortex (y)
 
I have a very nice pair of Leica 8x42 binoculars which perform brilliantly but are too bulky to carry around hunting. More often than not I take poorer quality but much smaller and lighter 10x25s
Depends on the type of hunting you do, if it's from a vehicle then bulky may not be a problem.
 
Trumpetier said:
Anyone have these ?

Looking at the Crossfire range. What would you guys with binocular experience recommend for general use and maybe a bit of use hunting, 8x42 or 10x42 ?
Click to expand...
I am no binocular expert by all means, but back in early summer I purchased the Diamondback 8x42 and I am thoroughly impressed with the glass/image quality.
 
Driver said:
I have a very nice pair of Leica 8x42 binoculars which perform brilliantly but are too bulky to carry around hunting. More often than not I take poorer quality but much smaller and lighter 10x25s
Depends on the type of hunting you do, if it's from a vehicle then bulky may not be a problem.
Click to expand...

I think most deer stalkers would disagree!
 
Driver said:
I have a very nice pair of Leica 8x42 binoculars which perform brilliantly but are too bulky to carry around hunting. More often than not I take poorer quality but much smaller and lighter 10x25s
Depends on the type of hunting you do, if it's from a vehicle then bulky may not be a problem.
Click to expand...
I'm pondering on some 10x25 at the moment.
 
I'm a little wary as the last binoculars I bought, when I looked through them, I saw double :oops:

But when we visited our lasses son in New Zealand last year, he had a pair of Vortex bins, and I had no problem seeing double. I remember the sight quality being excellent. If memory serves me right, I think they where the Crossfire variant, a little cheaper than the Diamondback.
 
Driver said:
I have a very nice pair of Leica 8x42 binoculars which perform brilliantly but are too bulky to carry around hunting. More often than not I take poorer quality but much smaller and lighter 10x25s
Depends on the type of hunting you do, if it's from a vehicle then bulky may not be a problem.
Click to expand...
This is exactly my experience and preference for 10x25 despite much better image through my 8 x 40
 
Trumpetier said:
I'm a little wary as the last binoculars I bought, when I looked through them, I saw double :oops:

But when we visited our lasses son in New Zealand last year, he had a pair of Vortex bins, and I had no problem seeing double. I remember the sight quality being excellent. If memory serves me right, I think they where the Crossfire variant, a little cheaper than the Diamondback.
Click to expand...
I have a cheap pair of high mag' zoom binoculars and with a little adjustment the double vision practically disappears.

How many glasses of red wine had you had when you saw double Dave?😀
 
I have some of the older non-HD diamondbacks. If you're set on Vortex I'd stump up the extra for a pair of Diamondback HD's as you shouldn't go wrong for the money provided your eyes get on with them and you're not expecting a pair of Swaro's for 200 quid.

Don't underestimate the importance of the size for your actual use, and don't get carried away with magnification (or even objective size for that matter) . 8x with genuinely good optics is usually much as you actually need for general hand held stuff. I sometimes struggle to keep higher mag than that properly steady without using a rest.

For what it's worth, my current easy-grab bins are some Hawke Frontier EDX 8x32 unless I specifically need something bigger on the day for either field of view, more mag or particularly low light (which tbh I usually don't).
They're small, not too heavy and relatively decent optics for the price, albeit they're more than the Vortex and if I was on a tight budget I'd probably go for some Diamondback HD's.

The site below is a half decent starting point for comparisons - he seems to know his stuff and of the ones I've looked through or owned, his reviews seem to match up with why they're genuinely like.

The Best Binoculars & Binocular Reviews Website

Advice, Buying Guides and In-depth Reviews on the Best Binoculars, Monoculars & Night Vision Devices for Bird Watching, Wildlife, Safaris, Travel, Hunting, Sailing and much, much more
www.bestbinocularsreviews.com www.bestbinocularsreviews.com

The one proviso as with all glass is there's no substitute for actually looking through them first, ideally in a realistic situation, rather than just 20 yards up the road in good light.
 
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