Best 10x42s under $500?

[100%DIYazCOUES]

I love my vipers,and they blow the ed3s outta the water in my opinion

[Sonof12]

For my eyes the Zenray ED3 easily beats all the mid priced Vortex line (vultures, vipers, talons) and I've looked through them all. In fact, besides being bigger (15x vs 10x) I think my ED3's give my bros Kaibabs a run for the money on clarity, resolution, and brightness. Do your research on bird watching forums and you'll see most people that actually use these things daily agree that the only complaints against Zen and the the ED's are from folks who are caught up on the "made in China" debate and frankly have never touched them. In the end though you need to test them out against each other outdoors and then decide what works for your eyes. Unfortunately nobody local carries Zen Rays but I would feel fine letting you look through mine up against those Vipers anytime - in fact come on down to 35B this weekend where I'll be looking for big bucks. You can help.

[Sonof12]

Great point Lance - Cabelas does make good stuff - a few extra coins gets you into the Meopta made Euroline which are really good.

[Sonof12]

This is why 12x50's are justifiably so...the new rage. Next up for me are the 12x50 Meopta's or Euro's unless Zen Ray finally wises up and makes something bigger than the 10x.

[backcountry_brad]

vortex diamondbacks are phenomenal

[Norteno]

vortex diamondbacks are phenomenal

You've obviously never looked through anything else. DBacks are good for the money, but this is a discussion of binos two classes better.

[backcountry_brad]

I know they're nowhere near as good as most glass but for optics under $500 they are great

[YoteHunter]

I currently have nikon monarchs, zenray ed3, and vortex Viper hd's and the Zenrays are by far the best to me. I really want to save for some swaro's though.

[Havasuhunter]

My buddy brought out brand new Viper HDs on our hunt a week and a half back. They were sharper and had better color contrast than my old Leupolds, but I was not blown away.

I looked through a pair of 12x50 Swaros recently though and everything else seems to suck! I'll have to own a pair of those someday. For now I'm still looking at various 10s, trying to decide. I have the German BL 15x56 Minox and have been playing with them on the tripod. They are very good for the money I'd say. Been looking out on the lake and over to the CA side from my house and I'm quite impressed For the price.

Thanks for all the comments and opinions.

[muledeerarea33?]

I love the bino debates. Yes there is better glass and worse glass, stuff you can afford now and stuff you gotta save for. Many good choices under 500 and I'm willing to bet most folks started in that price range and some are still there. Best advice I can give is to look thru several pairs. Eyeballs don't have a standard viewing perspective, distance apart from one another, or the same vision. Just like binos, eyeballs are different from pair to pair. Just because an expert on here tells you something isn't great doesn't make it true. It may be great for your peepers but not theirs. I use zeiss 10x56 victory and they work great, also have my wind river 10's from several years ago.

[Havasuhunter]

Probably the same ones I have. Mine are the wind River Cascades. I refer to them as Leupolds since that's who made them. Think they were only $300 back when I bought them and have been very good for the money too. I'll keep on looking for there replacement. A good pair of 10s is probably the most useful thing you can have on a lot of hunts.