GUIDE TO HUNTING OPTICS

When It comes to hunting in the Southwest you can bet that you will be glassing hills and far off open areas looking for the game that you are pursuing.

In this article we are going to over the differences in optics and understanding optics a little better.

Glassing patience is key you can spend all day looking over the same hill, valley, or ridge over and over.

TYPES OF OPTICS

When it comes to choosing the right Optics for Glassing there are many choices to make from the optic company you want to choose and then what type of Optic you want. From Binoculars to Spotting scopes it may seem that you have unlimited options.

When it comes to choosing the right optic It is really up to your preference and price point. Optics can range any where from 100 dollars all the way up to 3,000 plus dollars. One of the factors that you will want to take in when it comes to purchasing optics is the game you are going for. For example if you are hunting Mountain Goats in the Rocky mountains or the Coyotes of the Sonoran desert you are going to want two different types of Optics. I typically use Riton Optics HD 10X42

WHAT DO THE NUMBERS ON YOUR OPTICS MEAN?

So What does it mean when the Optics you are looking at say 8×42 or 10×42. It means when you see “8×42”, the first number followed by an “x” is the magnification. So in this example, the binoculars have an 8x magnification and thus it will make whatever you look at through them seem eight times (8x) closer (or larger) than what they would with the naked eye.

Binoculars with 10×42, 10×65 or even a 10×52 in their name will all magnify the image ten times (10x)

The number that comes directly after the magnification when looking at the name on a binocular indicates the size (diameter) in millimeters of the main objective lenses (those are the bigger ones on the end of the binoculars).

So using the examples above, an 8×32 binocular has 32mm diameter objective lenses. A 10×42 will also have the same size (42mm) lenses, but with a higher magnification.

Whilst the 10×32 has 32mm objective lenses and those on the 10×26 are 26mm across.

The size of these lenses is important in many ways:

Firstly it plays a major factor in determining just how physically big the overall instrument will be: the larger the lens, the bigger and heavier the binocular.

So why would you want larger lenses?
Well a good way to think of it is like looking through a window. A larger window lets in more light than a small one.

This is the same with lenses: The increased surface area of larger objective lenses means they are able to capture more light and thus play a critical role in determining the brightness or more accurately the low light performance of the binocular.