Lighten Your Gear Load: The Case for Rangefinding Binoculars

No hunter should ever be afield without a good set of binoculars. If you are in the market for new ones, this Buyer's Guide to Binoculars will help you make a good choice.

A Must-Have for Hunters is a Rangefinding  Binocular

No too long ago, a hunter had to carry a rangefinder and binoculars separately in the field. I can't speak for everyone, but there have been many occasions when I ended up with just one of them around my neck because I'd either forgotten the other one back in my truck, or I'd purposely left it behind because I didn't think I'd need it or I didn't want to carry the extra weight. Well, those days are over.

Hunters now have the luxury of opting for an all-in-one rangefinding binocular, which combines the features of these two indispensable items.

The concept first became available a number of years back. As binoculars, early models lacked the optical brightness and clarity of top-quality glasses; as rangefinders, they often lacked the range of rangefinder-only units.

And as a combination, they were heavy, bulky and expensive. But you knew that the concept was sound and that eventually technology would make it a winner.

Popular Rangefinding Binocular Manufacturers

Leica, Swarovski, Sig Sauer and Zeiss have long been known for producing the finest quality European hunting optics, including binoculars, rifle scopes, spotting scopes and rangefinders. These same manufacturers, along with homegrown Bushnell optics, which has been making high-performance sports optics for over 60 years, now offer rangefinder binoculars that offer the best of both worlds, with quality on par with their finest binoculars.

The Leica Geovid 10x42 3200.COM Bluetoo Rangefinding Binoculars, the Swarovski EL Range and the Zeiss Victory RFT (some of which are offered in both 8 or 10 power) combine the finest lenses and coatings, together with the most advanced laser rangefinding technology, to achieve the highest level of combined clarity, brightness and precision that money can buy.

Quality always comes at a price, and these optics all run around $3,000, which is a bit more than each company's top-of-the-line binocular offerings. If your budget is a bit more modest, the Bushnell Fusion Binoculars Laser Rangefinder runs just over $1,000. Although these are not inexpensive, when you combine the price of a top-quality binocular plus a top-quality long-range laser rangefinder, you are actually paying about the same for the combined unit.

One Advantage of Combination Optics

Besides ensuring that you will never be without one or the other, the final big advantage of these combination optics is speed of use. I must confess that I have missed shot opportunities in the field because by the time I spotted an animal with my binoculars, got a range on it using my rangefinder, and then got my rifle up, it was too late for a shot.

With these units, you can spot, assess and range the animal all at the same time, leaving precious more seconds to take the shot. At the end of the day, that's what really matters.

Not surprisingly, these combo units do weigh slightly more than plain binoculars, but carrying rangefinding binoculars is not only lighter than carrying two separate optics, it's also a whole lot less bulky. I don't know about you, but even with a good bino harness (highly recommended, by the way), I still don't like two things hanging around my neck.

These new all-in-one rangefinder binoculars are worth a serious look.

Tip: Another must-have for hunters? Laser rangefinder Binoculars.

Good hunting.