Awhile ago at a gun show I picked up a pair of what I considered to be "generic" binocuars.  I was skeptical when I first started looking at them considering their price.  The brand is NcSTAR.  But, I was impressed with their clarity...especially at about $50-$60. They are 20X70...and here they are



...and their site...

www.ncstar.com/

Well, I just spotted a fox prowling about (who pounced on something...I think it caught a mouse...twas pretty cool to watch) and realized I wouldn't mind something more powerful.  Also, I live somewhat high on a hill here in Beautiful and Scenic Northern Kentucky and like to look around off my deck once in awhile...looking for details in the distance i haven't seen before...I like to think of it as a puzzle.

So, if I want to go more powerful...what would you recommend?  NcSTAR does manufatcture a variable powered 12-40X70...so that's an obvious consideration based on my experience with the binoculars I own now.

I KNOW these are budget rate optics...and my experience has been that with optics...the general rule is you get what you pay for...but I'M TELLIN YA...the binoculars I have aren't bad.

Just looking for options.

Thank you for your time and patience.

I see them at the gunshows all the time but never pay attention to them.

However! The C&R guys use NC Star LER pistol scopes for El-cheapo scout scopes and they swear by them!

www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=130728

be careful when buying high-power binos. The more juice, the more "shakes" you get while looking through them. Without a stable rest it gets real hard to use them. I useually dont recomend high pwer binos to people, thats what spotting scopes are used for

See "optics for the hunter" by Barsness. Higher power is not always what you want. For a given objective lens size, greater power means the size of the final image at your eye is smaller, which makes the image look dimmer.  For most things he recommends 8X42s rather than the more popular 10X42s. But most consumers think that "more power = better", so the 10X42s are more popular in the market. Also, when the power gets too high image shake becomes a problem. Maybe you should look into a spotting scope with a larger objective lens, higher magnification, and a tripod to stablize the image. Maybe a 15-45X60 or something.

I use my binoculars mostly for hunting.  I have Bausch&Lombs.  One pair are the small compact Legacy series, 9x-21 which is great in a treestand and the others I use for scoping fields for groundhogs or at night spotting deer.  These are Legacy's also but 10x-50, bright as hell and a great crisp image.  The formula is to divide the objective diameter by the magnification.  The result should be as lose to five as possible as this is somehow related to the dialation of your pupil or something.  All I jknow is that my cousin went wild and bought a pair of 16x-50 binos and at dusk you cant see shit.

Gotta NCStar 2.5x illuminated LER scout mounted scope on my Marlin 45-70 1895GG. Got it cause it was cheap. I wanted to see if I liked the scout setup before blowing the bucks on a Leupold. Kept it because it keeps working. The illumination is nice too. Yeah, maybe only 90% as good optic clarity as the Leupold, but 1/6 the price. If it breaks, I won't cry, but I haven't been able to and I've been shooting 460 grains at 1800fps that kick like all hell.