What to do, what to do? (1 Viewer)

Buy the 10x42 Legend Ultra HD for $200 after rebate and use the savings over your other OPTICALLY INFERIOR choices to splurge on a nice dinner out for your friends and family so you can boast how wise are. You'll feel like a hero instead of a sap! Unless of course you don't. Either way you can send them back Bushnell within a year if you'r not happy and they'll buy them back.

If I wanted to spend $969 on a pair of binos, for as you say, hunting and glassing game, I would buy the Bushnell Legend Ultra HD's, AND a Nikon ED50 Fieldscope and still gave a few bucks left over.

Tom

I have a Bushnell open bridge Elite 12.5x50, a B & L Elite 8x42, a Bushnell Elite 10x42ED, a Swarovski EL 10x42 WB and a Nikon 8x32 HG LX, among others. Optically, I think the best of these is a tie between the Elite 12.5x50 (stunning in-depth, up close views) and the Elite 10x42ED (for other reasons), both just edging out the Swarovski and the Nikon optically, mostly because of, not sharpness, but brightness, contrast a bit and the brilliance of the view. I most prefer the 12.5x50 and no longer much use 8x binoculars these days for anything. The difference in power and view between the 10x Elite ED and the 10x Swarovski vs. the Elite 12.5 is quite substantial and the difference in visual information sucked in is also marked. The B&L 8x42 lacks contrast and brightness. It is also a tad less sharp than the rest, but has a decent and relaxed view. It is though a measure of how far we have come. I think the better Japanese binoculars are beginning to match or in some regards edge ahead of the European alphas optically in some regards these days. I have a Kenko 10x32 DH MS (Japan) the view from which reminds me of my Swarovski 10x which is still better, but not by much. The European alphas are still a bit ahead I think on ergonomics and minimizing mechanical mistakes and poor layouts, but optically the world is catching up to the alphas and in some regards starting to surpass them. I would unhesitantly go for the Bushnell Elite 10x43 over the Swarovski 10x42 SLC which, as an SLC, is a step below their EL series. However, the Swarovski 10x42 New SLC might be a harder call from what I have read, but since I haven't looked through them I don't know.