Thread: The Case for 15x56 Binoculars

I'm weighing up a pair of these and whether there'd be any point for me. Hunting in Taranaki but do have access to some open farm land including a station with some big valleys and ridges (1km long and some places where I can see a couple of km). In some spots I'm looking over 500m+ of valley into burnt manuka, punga, and bush edge. I have a couple of decent low power pairs of binos (Athlon 8x42 Midas, and Leupold BX4 10x42). Would there be much point me having 15x56s as well? What would be the minimum distance you'd think would require such magnification?

to hold 15x steady one really needs to have them on a tripod - so why not just get a spotting scope - say 20-60 usefull for sighting in as well - I use 10x binos and they can be hard to hold still - one of the best setups I have come across recently is a mate who has a thermal that combined with a spotting scope bees knees - I guess soon a manufacturer will make something that does both

These work great for long range glassing. Wilsons Hunting and Outdoors - Sig Optics

Unless you carry a tripod 15x will be worthless.
Putting a pair of 10x binos on a tripod shows how bad hand holding is with 10x, 15x will be considerably worse.

Personally I wouldn't think you need more than 10x until looking past 800m, and you wont want to be trying to look any closer than 300m as the FOV will be really narrow.
If you have access to a tripod then I'd be taking that and using the 10x binos, you might be surprised at how much difference it makes.

The problems with higher magnification is you sacrifice on the closer distances, so if you are looking in terrain inside of 400m 90% of the time, 15x binos will be a disadvantage the majority of the time.
I've got a pair of 6.5x binos and inside of 500m they are brilliant, the massive FOV is great, especially for use inside of 100m. I have no idea how people use 10x binos for these distances.
Put them on a tripod and they are effective to some pretty long distances.

My rough bino magnification guideline is something like:
0-300m <7x
100-600m 8x
300-800m 10x
500m+ 12x or greater

Thanks Gents, I do have a tripod of sorts (Primos trigger stick and adaptor). I was thinking I'd have my 8s in my chest harness and 15s in my pack and put the 15s on a tripod when I sit to look far. I definitely prefer the 8s over 10s for hand holding (FOV and strain). Would having the 15s in the quiver give me much over just alternating 8s and 10s based on average distance at a given spot?

Or should I sell my 10s and get 15s?

If you are gonna go to the effort of carrying a big set of bino's, and possibly a smaller set, then get a quality carbon tripod first, with the appropriate adaptors to mount said bino's. From experience I think you will find a huge improvement on the 10X with aid of a decent tripod. And no, Trigger Sticks dont cut the mustard for a good steady hold when looking long. And you will probably find that if you try it with 10X first, you may not want to buy 15X. @blair993 on here has some excellent tripods, very stable.

Should have said it's the sitting length trigger stick. 10x on the tripod is definitely a lot better than handheld

@hamishg I got a pair of varipower Binos (8-24x50 ) for the reason you listed in the OP however, they sit in the lounge and I take the 10x with me. I find the heavier pair simply did not get used. At longer ranges of 600m to 1km+ I could see the animals with the 10x and we used the spotter to get a better look. In most cases the more distant animals were undisturbed and we would get closer to check them out if we saw nothing nearer to us.

We also found that we would spend time glassing the areas futher away from us atthe expense of paying better attention to those that were within reach. In some ways the 8x and 10x made me concentrate more on what was closer to us before moving and we found we missed less animals withn our proximity....

Originally Posted by hamishg

Thanks Gents, I do have a tripod of sorts (Primos trigger stick and adaptor). I was thinking I'd have my 8s in my chest harness and 15s in my pack and put the 15s on a tripod when I sit to look far. I definitely prefer the 8s over 10s for hand holding (FOV and strain). Would having the 15s in the quiver give me much over just alternating 8s and 10s based on average distance at a given spot?

Have you tried using your 10s on that tripod setup?

If you have 8s on your chest then no real downside to 12x or 15x binos in your pack.

If you've been using the 10s on that "tripod" setup and find it's steady enough and still not giving enough magnification, then yeah I'd be looking at more magnification.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

Have you tried using your 10s on that tripod setup?

If you have 8s on your chest then no real downside to 12x or 15x binos in your pack.

If you've been using the 10s on that "tripod" setup and find it's steady enough and still not giving enough magnification, then yeah I'd be looking at more magnification.

I have here and there. I find I prefer my 8x for hand holding though and where I hunt involves a lot of near-field scanning and some thick stuff so I don't know if I'd take the 10s out over the 8s. I also don't see any point taking 8s and 10s together. The 8s are just a lot easier on the eyes too and I can get them pretty steady pinching my cap or resting on the rifle yoke on my tripod or a trekking pole end. I'm thinking it could be a good plan to have my 8's in my chest harness for scanning as I go and 15s in the pack for where I sit down to scan the valley heads etc?

10x I sit and rest elbows on knees....or elbows on beer belly if standing.

I've got some minox 15x56. Found them really good even without a tripod.
Always spotted animals at very long range first.
Unfortunately they've gone out of alignment.

Forgive the noob question, but what makes a trigger stick tripod less stable than others? Is it the weight being up high? What would be a good lightweight alternative?

Originally Posted by Beetroot

Unless you carry a tripod 15x will be worthless.
Putting a pair of 10x binos on a tripod shows how bad hand holding is with 10x, 15x will be considerably worse.

Personally I wouldn't think you need more than 10x until looking past 800m, and you wont want to be trying to look any closer than 300m as the FOV will be really narrow.
If you have access to a tripod then I'd be taking that and using the 10x binos, you might be surprised at how much difference it makes.

The problems with higher magnification is you sacrifice on the closer distances, so if you are looking in terrain inside of 400m 90% of the time, 15x binos will be a disadvantage the majority of the time.
I've got a pair of 6.5x binos and inside of 500m they are brilliant, the massive FOV is great, especially for use inside of 100m. I have no idea how people use 10x binos for these distances.
Put them on a tripod and they are effective to some pretty long distances.

My rough bino magnification guideline is something like:
0-300m <7x
100-600m 8x
300-800m 10x
500m+ 12x or greater

12x42 Swarovski NL Pure.

Thank me later.