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Stablzd. binocs for varmints? |
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holzauge
Optics GrassHopper Joined: July/22/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 48 |
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Posted: July/29/2004 at 18:25 |
I'm fairly new to varmint hunting and have discovered that my Minox 8x32 binocs are unsuitable. Their clarity and
light wt. make them fine in the tackle box, in the eastern woods for birdwatching or deer hunting, and I can move the field of view through the brush to find my target. But, I have a slight tremor in the left arm that makes the prolonged scanning required for varmint hunting uncomfortable with such light binocs. I am considering heavier, wider objective, deep field of focus binocs at 7x or 8 x, or maybe even stabilized binocs at 8x or 10x for varmint hunting. I tried a friends stabilized Canons in Australia in Feb. and was astounded at how easily and comfortably I could use them. My guess is stabilized binocs woud also be much more useful that my Minox when hunting deer over Eastern Shore soy bean fields. What do you guys think? Any other info, thoughts or recommendations? |
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ranburr
Optics Master Joined: May/16/2004 Status: Offline Points: 1082 |
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I would suggest a good pair of standard binos and a tripod. ranburr
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holzauge
Optics GrassHopper Joined: July/22/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 48 |
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Ranburr,
I hunt groundhogs in rolling country so I move a lot. A tri-pod to carry and set up in addition to the bipod on the gun sounds pretty impractical. |
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ranburr
Optics Master Joined: May/16/2004 Status: Offline Points: 1082 |
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I am just not a fan of stabilized binos. The higher end ones are good, but they cost a small fortune and in my opinion are hvy and poorly balanced. The more affordable models have the same problems and they do not appear to be very durable. I like my gear to be as basic, rugged, and foolproof as possible. you can get some very lite-wt collapsable tripods these days that fit nicely into a small carry bag. That is the solution for me. But as I said, I just don't like the stabilized stuff that is currently available. ranburr
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Rusty
Optics Apprentice Joined: April/12/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 147 |
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The Nikon StabilEyes I looked through (14 X 40) were not very optically impressive. They were also heavy and expensive. I could tell that the image was somewhat more "still", the image itself was not all that bright, detailed or clear (I was comparing it to Bushnell Legend 8X32). |
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holzauge
Optics GrassHopper Joined: July/22/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 48 |
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Thanks Rusty,
Bright, detailed and clear are definately important but I've gotta be still enough to see. A response I got on another BB suggested that some stab. binocs are not waterproof. That would be a real show stopper where I hunt in MD and VA because it is so often wet. A good standard binoc would certainly work. I'll have to keep gathering data. |
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Chris Farris
TEAM SWFA - Admin swfa.com Joined: October/01/2003 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 8024 |
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I've hunted with the Canon IS and the batteries had to be replaced daily. They also made me feel sea sick from time to time because they seem to move a millisecond behind my actual movement. I hunted out of a top drive truck once that were equipped with regular binoculars and the Zeiss 20x60 mechanical stabilized binos and they worked great. We would use the normal 10x42's most of the time then the Zeiss when we really wanted to take a good look at something. This set up is nice if you have a top drive truck to hunt out of and an extra $4599.99 for the Zeiss binoculars. |
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