Thread: 10x42 vs 8x42

G'day, i'm in the process of buying a pair of binos, and i'm deciding on whether i should buy the Vortex Diamondback HD 10x42 or 8x42. I do a lot of open country hunting and spotting, so i'm wondering if 10x42s would make a big difference or not, considering the price difference. Cheers

Originally Posted by 7mmwsm

Depends a bit on your age. If you are in your twenties or thirties 8x will probably be ok, depending on what you want to do with them though. But once your eyes start fading 10x will probably be better. That's what I'm finding anyway.

I'm 14 so 8x10s should be right

Haha - I hit 50 last week and need the magnification!

The Diamondback 10x42s suffer from quite bad aberration at the edges... There are reviews that confirms. That mine are average.

I can't speak for the 8x. See the pics - same view in the centre and again at the edge. The blue margin appears from about 1/3 way from the centre, and gets worse the closer you get to the edge - especially when there is high contrast. Other than that, they are well built and sharp and for the money, not a bad buy.

Edit: PS...
I'm quite fussy about things with lenses but live on a tight budget...
The pics are from a mobile and quite heavily cropped. The actual image has much better colour definition and is sharp across almost the entire field.

Originally Posted by Bol Tackshin

Attachment 140069
Attachment 140074
Haha - I hit 50 last week and need the magnification!

The Diamondback 10x42s suffer from quite bad aberration at the edges... There are reviews that confirms. That mine are average.

I can't speak for the 8x. See the pics - same view in the centre and again at the edge. The blue margin appears from about 1/3 way from the centre, and gets worse the closer you get to the edge - especially when there is high contrast. Other than that, they are well built and sharp and for the money, not a bad buy.

Edit: PS...
I'm quite fussy about things with lenses but live on a tight budget...
The pics are from a mobile and quite heavily cropped. The actual image has much better colour definition and is sharp across almost the entire field.

Thanks for the pictures and good input, i'm pretty easy in terms of quality of glass. These will be my first pair of binos and i'll probably upgrade sometime next year, i just need something for spotting animals on the farm. My dad has a pair of 17 year old Leica Geovids (10x42) and he's buying a new pair of 3200s in a few months so i'll get them, so i might just buy some 8x42s so then i'll have 10x42s and 8x42s. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

No worries, mate. The 17 year old Leicas will outperform 1 month old Vortex, any day. You're a lucky young man!

I run a pair of Sightron 8x and rate them really highly, actually prefer using them to my mates Swaro 10x42s

8x will be faster to FIND animals but the 10x will be better to look at them properly....Ive got both the 10s took a bit to get used to as scaning has to be more systematic....used 10x for years before got given good 8x set,either will do job fine but the 10x will be better to tell you if distant stag worth going after.

As micky duck said 8 power has a wider field of view and generally they are a bit lighter and compact, usually you have a scope that has a higher end magnification than that so use that for a closer look.

I've recently changed from 10 power to 8 (but better glass).

8 power with a larger objective gives you a good compromise between magnification and light gathering.

I'm 50, but have good eyesight. Can't tell a huge difference in magnification, but the light gathering on my 8x42 Leicas is significantly better than the 10x42 Nikon Monarchs I had before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oENTX3p7F0

A lot depends on your "eye habit" rather than how "good" they are. For me, 10x is like looking through a tube, and I much prefer 7 or 8x. I've hunted with a lot of guys with the top end Swaro and Leica 10x, and have never failed to spot my share of game with my Leica 8x's (and the 7's when I had them)

I like 10’s , some guys do find the 8’s better when doing heaps of glassing but if you are using top shelf Bino’s go the 10 x 42