15x binos

[Chino Tom]

I have the Meopta Meostars. I wear glasses and the eye relief is not very good. They are great without glasses
on (YMMV). Mostly just take my 11x33 Vortex spotting scope (along with 10x42 Swaros) with a tripod. The Vortex
is lighter.

 

[BrianID]

Stop messing around with those 15x's

I agree that 15x for certain applications isn't enough. In general I prefer 15X for glassing mule deer that are a mile or less. Really big glass is nice for coues and glassing 2+ miles for mule deer.

If I could only have one optic to glass with, it would be 15X binoculars. I could strap them to my chest and use them for quick glassing when I don't set up a tripod and I can usually evaluate antlers well enough with them that I sometimes don't pack a spotting scope.

 

[Walleye Steve]

Save your money. Swaros are heavy . Leupold all the way

 

[littlebighorn]

Well one more for Swaros. I don't leave home without them, but they require a tripod to do what they are intended to do.

 

[Jared06]

I looked through some Leupold Santiam HD 15s mounted on a tripod at an outdoor archery shoot a couple years ago, and maybe the conditions were perfect but they looked great. Personally, I bought the swaro at 1950 sale price and they are probably some of my most used kit.

Looks like the Leupold are 1100

 

[8x68s]

I recently bought a pair of Vortex Kaibab 18x-56 and am using them on a tripod with a Manfrotto geared head for my glassing setup. I had a compact spotting scope that got sold immediately after the bino purchase. Glassing with binos is so much more comfortable than spending all day hawkeye-ing thru a mono-scope! No more headaches, neck aches or eye fatigue and I don't need to be able to look into tomorrow with them. The Kaibabs may not be the super high quality, high dollar, effusively reviewed competition but just a plain great value.

 

[500000KV]

Best 15x binos less than $1500. I've been looking at the UHD Razors, Kaibab, BX-5's. Or should I just save up longer and buy the Swaros.

Find a used set of Swaros. Rokslide is great great place to look for them as well as here.

 

[mrjashu]

I own the Leupold Bx-5, but I got them on the killer EuroOptic deal for $800. I've compared them to Swaros (15x56 SLC), various Vortex, (12x diamondbacks and 12x razors) and I've looked through Meoptas (Meostar 15x56) on a different occasion, I didn't have them side-by-side with anything.

Here's my ranking by quality of the binos I've looked through:
Swaro
Meopta
Leupold
Vortex

I hunt a lot of Coues and premium glass is a must have.

For the price I got the BX-5, they're really outstanding, but I wouldn't pay full price for them. If I hadn't gotten the super deal I would have a pair of the Meopta's. The Swaros are still better but it's such diminishing returns at that price point. The various Vortex offerings are good but I've never personally been impressed with anything in the Razor line I've looked through, not for the money anyway.

With all that said I really like my Bx-5's and I plan on running them for years to come. I don't feel disadvantaged at all sitting side-by-side with buddies that have Swaros.
I just glassed up a nice group of mule deer with them this morning in fact.

 

[Robby20]

I own the Leupold Bx-5, but I got them on the killer EuroOptic deal for $800. I've compared them to Swaros (15x56 SLC), various Vortex, (12x diamondbacks and 12x razors) and I've looked through Meoptas (Meostar 15x56) on a different occasion, I didn't have them side-by-side with anything.

Here's my ranking by quality of the binos I've looked through:
Swaro
Meopta
Leupold
Vortex

I hunt a lot of Coues and premium glass is a must have.

For the price I got the BX-5, they're really outstanding, but I wouldn't pay full price for them. If I hadn't gotten the super deal I would have a pair of the Meopta's. The Swaros are still better but it's such diminishing returns at that price point. The various Vortex offerings are good but I've never personally been impressed with anything in the Razor line I've looked through, not for the money anyway.

With all that said I really like my Bx-5's and I plan on running them for years to come. I don't feel disadvantaged at all sitting side-by-side with buddies that have Swaros.
I just glassed up a nice group of mule deer with them this morning in fact.

Yeah I should have bought the BX-5 through eurooptic when they were in sale this summer. Looking into the meoptas

 

[TheFishBox]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned mavens yet. I wouldn't say they are as good as the top three but for the price you pay the 18x56 I bought are pretty stinking good.

 

[8x68s]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned mavens yet. I wouldn't say they are as good as the top three but for the price you pay the 18x56 I bought are pretty stinking good.

I had compared the Mavens up against the Vortex Kaibabs and the Mavens got the better reviews but the money was tight at the time, otherwise I'd have chosen the Mavens. I guess I'll not know what I'm missing.

 

[logman48]

Save for the Swaros!! You will never regret it!!!