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Gift Guide - The best binoculars for hunters

Oct 06, 2016by Jodi Markham

Men hunting

Got a hunting fan in the family? Or perhaps one of your best friends feels most at home stalking deer in the woods? If you want to make then feel extra special this birthday or Christmas why not treat them to some new hunting optics?

Our simple guide for presents for hunters will help you choose the best binoculars for your hunting friends and family. Riflescopes are very personal objects that have to be exactly suited to the rifle that they are mounted on, so despite thinking that a scope would make an awesome present, we’d advise you to leave the scope choosing to the rifle owner, and give them some fantastic binoculars to aid their hunting ventures instead.

Our quick and easy guide to buying hunting optics will help you give the perfect gift this festive period. We’ve highlighted all of the important features that you need to look out for when choosing the best hunting binoculars and recommended a few fantastic present options for you to choose from.

Hunting binoculars

Magnification

Choose binoculars with a magnification of 8x or 10x.

8x and 10x magnifications are ideal for most hunting applications. They allow hunters to get a close and clear enough view of their target, whilst being easy to stabilise. They also offer a wide field of view, allowing as wide a view of the landscape around as possible and making it easier to spot a target.

Objective lens size / Size of binocular

Choose full sized binoculars with 42mm lenses, or opt for mid sized, 32mm binoculars if having light equipment is very important.

Most hunting takes place at dawn or dusk in rural locations away from home. Due to this, having equipment that works well in low light but doesn’t weight too much is important. Full sized binoculars offer the ideal compromise between size and low light performance, as their 42mm objective lenses have good light capturing abilities. If the person that you’re buying for is particularly conscious of the weight of their equipment, and often hunts in open landscapes where more light is available than in wooded locations, then mid sized binoculars with lenses around 32mm in diameter may be adequate.

Waterproof, fog proof and durable

Always choose waterproof and fog proof binoculars that are rugged with a rubber coating.

Hunting can be a hardcore sport where you’re exposed to the elements and surrounded by water and dirt. Make sure that the equipment you buy for your friends and loved one for their hunting expeditions is durable and can withstand all that the environment has to throw at them. Always choose waterproof binoculars that have been nitrogen purged and o-ring sealed to make sure that their optics don’t break if exposed to water, or fog in damp environments. We’d also recommend binoculars that have a rubber coating to protect them against bumps and scrapes.

Lens coating

Opt for binoculars with fully multicoated lenses to help with light transmission.

Most binoculars have lenses that have at least one layer of anti reflective coatings. These coatings help light pass through the lenses in the binocular and ultimately make the images that they produce clear, bright and crisp. The more coatings binocular lenses have, the better they transmit light. Generally, binoculars are classed as having ‘coated’, ‘multi-coated’ or ‘fully multi-coated’ lenses depending on how many layers of coating they have had applied to them. If possible always choose ‘fully multi-coated optics for hunting so that the images produced by them are as bright and clear as possible.