lubbockdave:
I am in my late 50s and of slight build, and presbyopic.
The BinoBuddy is useful for carrying any binocular, but it does negative work for the total weight of your binocular assembly when it's attached to YOU.
I have owned Leitz (not Leica brand name, but same manufacturer) Trinovid, Zeiss-Jena, Zeiss-Wetzlar, and Nikon binoculars, Presently I use Zeiss 8x30 B/GA IF Olive binocular with ocular and objective lens protectors. Total weight, including harness, protectors, and snow filters is less than 28 ounces.
Large binoculars -- that is, heavy (34 oz+) or bulky (Objective lenses 40 mm+) may appear to be wonderful tools when you try them at the store, or practice with them in decent weather. Unless you are a HARD CORE hunter (all CAPS is important in description), you will discover that large binoculars are unpleasant to use, for example, hunting elk at altitude. You will almost certainly be carrying other stuff -- rifle, ammo, clothes, boots, rucksack, etc. When you add the weight, you begin to realize the extra weight of the harness and larger-than-necessary binocular is no fun to carry. The longer your hunting day, the more strongly you'll agree with me.
The solution I suggest is to obtain an excellent quality binocular --perhaps at a once-a-lifetime ridiculous cost -- whose quality of design and construction offsets being smaller than most. For example, Zeiss-Jena's 7x40 EDF roof prism binocular is superb, with Schott optical glass. With lens covers, harness, snow filters they weigh nearly 42 oz. and are bulky. My 8x30s are about 60 percent of the bulk and much easier to deal with all day. Snow filters are desirable to use over snow fields and water. Glare can be annoying.
Please note that I tend toward best-quality when considering a binocular because:
1. It's not easy to build durable assembly of two telescopes whose points of view converge, and remain correctly coverging for a long time. Best-quality binoculars will last, as you bought them, for your lifetime so long as you don't try the "let's fall off the cliff" test.
2. Out-of-alignment or budget binoculars are extremely uncomfortable to use for long periods. And that's what you'll be doing. Most hunting in western US or high country is "looking." Your rifle is dead weight for all but maybe 40 seconds of your hunt.
3. Some binoculars are available with mil scale rangefinding reticles. These are a quick-and-dirty way to estimate distance to quarry, or its size. While nowhere near as precise as a laser rangefinder, additional weight is zero. Most military binoculars have the reticle. Zeiss offers it for some of their commercial binoculars. At least one vendor offers one after-market reticle.
4. My experience from many people who own high-quality binoculars is that German and Austrian binoculars tend to have glass and coatings more scratch resistant than others. The key here seems to be Schott optical glass. Dunno why, though.
5. When using binocular for hunting, as opposed to birding, you tend to make your diopter adjustment once, then use them. Again my experience -- and most western armies, too -- is that individually focussing eye pieces tend to be significantly more durable and water resistant than central focussing. Once you get past the mental barrier of adjusting them correctly, you never notice your loss of convenience.
6. I wear eye glasses. But regardless of binocular's eye relief, I strongly recommend you pay no attention to differences among the class of binocular you search. Although eye relief can imply superior depth of field, don't worry about it. If you wear spectacles, remove them when using binocular. Trust me. It's an uncoated air-to-glass surface. And you will be more comfortable using binocular for long periods without them. However, if you have a severe astigmatism, ignore what I wrote; you'll need your glasses.
7. One last thing. Much will be made of "light gathering" of large objective lenses. Maximum pupil dilation when you're young is 5 mm. When you reach my age, maximum has been reduced to about 3.75 mm.
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Guys, please don't jump on me too hard, okay?
