Image stabilized binoculars question

[fedupflyer]

I am looking for some image stabilized binos.
Played with some in a non-firearms class and could have sworn they were Vortex but I am not seeing them on the Vortex web site.
I *think* I am looking for something in the 10-12x and trying to stay under $1k but wanting image stabilized.

Any recommendations for general range use and spotting targets out to 800-1000 yds

 

[kthomas]

Maybe you were thinking Sig?

Canon seems to be the biggest player in that space, but I don't have any experience with image stabilized binos so can't comment any further.

Good luck.

 

[db2000]

Steiner also iirc but may exceed budget

 

[spife7980]

Probably the sig, I squaded with a guy that had the imaged stabilized, good enough glass.
It was pretty awesome looking through them offhand- being shaky, turning it on and it all sorts just goes matrix slow mode and it’s so smooth and gradual.

 

[Tiger_Shilone]

Stabilized binoculars are awesome!!! I am dumbfounded that more manufacturers don’t offer them. I prefer using them over a spotting scope. Next time i need binos I am getting stabilized. Hopefully somebody comes out with a stabilized bino with built in Laser rangefinder soon.

The higher end Canons are what I have experience with in the field. Great stuff. Reviews of the lower end canons have pretty consistent complaints against the rubber armor deteriorating.

 

[fanninland]

Canon seems to lead the field in IS binos, probably because they make some badass IS camera lens (their top of the line “L” glass series). My dad really liked his Canon 15x50 IS binos but they are a tank compared to my 15x56 Swaros. I like the Swaros image quality better but the Canon’s IS is pretty cool.

Anyways, I’m not real familiar with their lineup as my experience is limited to my dad’s 15x50’s. A quick Google showed several Canon IS models ranging from around $500 to $1500 for their 10x42 IS L glass binos. Hope this helps….

 

[st1650]

I loved the canons when I was out sailing in my youth. Always been surprised it’s not really a thing in the hunting/shooting world.

Would be really cool to see that tech into a LRF/Bino combo

 

[Rodney65]

Probably the sig, I squaded with a guy that had the imaged stabilized, good enough glass.
It was pretty awesome looking through them offhand- being shaky, turning it on and it all sorts just goes matrix slow mode and it’s so smooth and gradual.

If they could include it with rangefinding binos they would really have something but I have no idea if the stabilization works on lasers.

 

[ToddM]

We used to use Zeiss 20x stabilized at work, they were amazing. https://www.zeiss.com/consumer-products/int/hunting/binoculars/specials/20x60-s.html. Big and heavy though. Canon has an L series 10x42 that is water proof (one of the downsides to many of the canon stabilized options is they are not water proof). The L will have by far the best glass.

That said the Canon's are pretty good, it seems like the 15-18x versions don't do as well as the 10-12x ones, at last from what I've read on forums, the 18x especially seems to be pushing the limits. They also typically do not have large objective lenses, so the are often not as bright, so in dark conditions they lose out to larger/brighter options. The plus side being they are quite small and light.

It really depends on your use case, if you are using them often off something that stabilizes them (tripod, backpack etc), the glass is not going to compare resolution wise with higher dollar options, even similar dollar non-stabilized versions. However they are nothing short of amazing used off-hand. I used to shoot 3D archery a lot with a set of 12x stabilized canon's and lots of guys had Swarovski/Zeiss/Leica binos, but most were amazed how well you could see scoring rings because of the stabilization, we tried the same experiment trying high end binos hand held reading license plates and everyone could read better with the Canon's than high end binos until it got dark. Of course you put those same binos on a tripod held solid and they spank the Canon's.

 

[Alec Cochran]

I played around with the 12x Sig stabilized binos and they were great. I think they’re around $1k.