The Numbers - What Do They Mean?
Keep in mind that early morning and late evening performance is essential for the hunter, and the objective lens is a good indicator of size. One common mistake I've seen is when a hunter chooses a small, inexpensive roof prism compact as the main hunting glass, only to end up frustrated after glassing for a very brief period of time.
Full size binoculars are best for hunters because of the brighter image, greater eye relief and more comfortable grip, even though they are larger and heavier than compacts.
8x binoculars are most popular for the all-around magnification and wider field of view than with a similar model of higher magnification — important for following fast-moving wildlife from a close distance.
10x binoculars may be the better choice if you will be doing most of your glassing at long distances even if more difficult to hold steady.
Bigger objective lenses allow more light to enter the binocular.
Bigger objective lenses also mean bigger, heavier binoculars.
Though compacts are fine for bright daylight, a 10x pair of binoculars takes a steady hand. If you're not concerned with size and weight, a 50mm set of binocular objectives offers the greater light gathering ability.
Finding the best binoculars for you will be much easier if you understand what some of the numbers mean. I am talking about the magnification and objective lens diameters. Whether they are discount or high-end binoculars, they will have numbers on the side of them that say something like 8 X 32. The number on the left is the magnification, or how many times bigger an object is in the binoculars than can be seen with your own eyes. For the best magnification, choose binoculars with a higher number on the left. But always remember that quality of optics plays an enormous role in the quality of image and the higher the magnification, especially in discount optics, can mean a magnified terrible image.
The number on the right is known as the objective lens diameter. The better binoculars tend to have a higher objective lens diameter, but it is not necessarily a definitive indicator of overall quality. A larger objective lens diameter lets in the greatest amount of light and a bigger field of view. In a good quality set of binoculars, a magnification of 7 to 10 and a objective lens diameter of from 32 to 50 is a very good, all around choice for scanning, viewing, and tracking.
