Best < $500 binos

[Redthies]

Nikon stopped making rifle scopes, maybe it was a money thing but to me it seems anti-hunting. Therefore I would NEVER recommend or own anything Nikon. F#%k Nikon

Time to wake up. (But not in a “woke” way!). Nikon makes some of the best optics out there. I have their scopes on all but one of my rifles, and own 2 sets of their binos, and have $30k worth of their camera gear. Nikon are not actively anti hunting, they just happened to have a division head who didn’t like the optics ( ) of building riflescopes. It sucks, but it’s the world we live in. I take great pleasure in saying MY effyou to them by regularly using their products to cut tags.


I’ll add another vote for Monarchs. I have the 5 as well.

[BradC]

Spend your money/support whoever you like, I personally would never recommend or buy anything Nikon.

[sako79]

Nikon warranty is Not as good as all the others

[Timberjack]

Nikon Monarch 5's are almost as good as my vortex razors in my opinion.

I'll second that - Nikon are excellent and fly under most people's radar...

[Husky7mm]

I recall 15 years ago purchasing a set of Leopold Cascade binos for under $500 and being very impressed for clarity, size and overall use. Looking for a set for my nephew who is new to hunting. What do you say is the best all around binos for $500 or less?

I had the exact same pair and felt the same about them, very good optics for the money, wasn’t much difference in image quality then binos that were more than 2x the price. On day about 10-15yrs in the rubber eye piece pulled out so I sent it for a repair. They sent me back a new pair of binos that were worth about $500 or so. The cascades were discontinued. I think the cascades were maybe a hair better but I am happy, they were worn out. I hunt and scout all year long so tons of use.

My vote is for anything Leupold, and second would be Nikon.
My son bought a pair of vortex around the same price and they have a quality image but been in for warranty 2 times in 3 years, just like everyone else with vortex binos. Not cool.

[kevingm1987]

Nikon warranty is Not as good as all the others

Too many people thinking companies have a warranty or return process like Amazon or Vortex now a days...

[kevingm1987]

I'll second that - Nikon are excellent and fly under most people's radar...

I own the Nikon 7s, Monarch 5, and HG. All great binos for the price range they fall in too. One set did suffer from the famous Nikon poor eye cup, but a little super glue and its never been an issue again. Nikon has been making glass for a long time, they know what they're doing.