If you’re looking for a new pair of binoculars and are looking for the best, you’ve come to the right place.
Here’s the thing, though. The binoculars I think are the best may not be your favorite. Sure, I can tell you if one pair has terrible glass or image clarity compared to the others. I can also tell you if a pair of binos fog up every time I use them and if water has gotten inside the housing. Fortunately, that’s not the case with any of the seven pairs in this article.
Key Binocular Features That Matter Most Under $300
When I started researching this topic, I noticed several words in product descriptions I didn’t fully understand. Words like prism, dielectric coating, phase corrected, gas purging, and fully multi-coated, to name a few. I want to give you some very brief, rudimentary information based on what I gathered about these terms.
The short version is that all of these binoculars use a similar roof-prism design to reflect and align the image you see. They all use BaK-4 glass, which means you’re getting clear images with good edge sharpness and accurate color. All but the Hawke and Sig pairs have a dielectric coating on their prisms, which is also supposed to improve image quality, color, and clarity. Every pair is also fully multi-coated, which is a big deal. That means there are multiple layers of anti-reflective coatings on every air-to-glass surface, helping improve light transmission, clarity, and overall image quality.
Additionally, every pair is sealed and gas purged, with the interior filled with an inert gas to help make them waterproof and fogproof. I’ll point this out below, but most of them use nitrogen, which does a good job of displacing fog-creating outside air. A few use argon, which is generally considered slightly better because it’s heavier and leaks more slowly. Of course, good O-rings are what really seal the deal (pun intended). And all the manufacturers boast at least “HD glass,” which I’ve learned is really just a marketing term without a specific definition.
So that brings us to your preferences. And much of what is best for you depends on how you’ll use the binoculars and what is most important to you. If you will need them for distances beyond 300-400 yards, you may want to look for the highest clarity available. If you’re hunting, you’ll need the best low-light performance. If you are using them during bright daylight for shorter distances, the binoculars in this article may be even more than you need.
To make things simple, we’ve narrowed down a few things, so these factors are consistent across all pairs:
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10x42 magnification
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Twist-up eye cups
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Right eye diopter adjustment
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Eye cup and lens covers
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Tripod-ready when an adapter is screwed in
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Lifetime warranty
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Made in China
As I mentioned, all of these binoculars are under $300. Actually, as I write this article, I found all of them for $250 or less!
OPTICAL CLARITY
What really matters to most people when buying binoculars is optical clarity. What does the image your eyes see look like? You want a crisp, sharp image from edge to edge, with accurate colors and high contrast. And, especially for hunting, you want to see clearly in those low-light, high-activity times of the day.
I tested this out fairly extensively, and I have to say that they are all so close in quality that I had a hard time choosing a clear winner. If I HAD to choose, I would say the Sig Canyon may produce a slightly crisper image in the daylight. I went back and forth so many times, I may change my mind the next time I look through them. At low light, they were all very close again with no obvious winner. The Sig, Athlon, Vortex, and Hawke were so close I couldn’t choose the “best,” and those were only very minimally “better” than the others.
MODEL-SPECIFIC FEATURES
Now we’re going to break down each pair (in alphabetical order) - sharing the standout highlights of each. Hopefully, this article will help narrow things down and help you decide which pair is best for you.
Athlon Argos G2 UHD ($240)
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The most compact pair in our survey at 5.7”x5x3”
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Athlon specifies that these have “ED glass,” which is one of the higher-end options for clarity and color quality. None of the others specifies the type of glass.
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Uses argon for gas purging, which is slightly better than nitrogen.
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The body has a rubberized coating and textured grip for durability and ease of handling.
Burris Droptine HD ($250)
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The body has a rubberized coating and textured grip for durability and ease of handling.
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Well built with solid glass.
Bushnell R5 ($206)
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One of the 3 pairs that comes with a very nice chest-pack bino harness, which can easily save you $40 or more.
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The grip is textured, with grooves for your thumbs, making it easy to hold.
Hawke Vantage HD ($239)
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The lightest pair in the group at 20 oz. Every little bit counts when carrying your binos around all day or for several miles.
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The body has a rubberized coating and thumb grooves for improved grip comfort.
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These don’t specify having a special coating to repel dirt/debris (all the other pairs do).
Leupold BX-2 Alpine HD ($250)
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These are still pretty small, BUT they are the heaviest at 28 oz.
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Comes with a chest pack bino harness.
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The only pair that uses an Abbe-Koenig prism, which is supposed to be slightly better than the Schmidt-Pechan used in all the other.
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Leupold advertises using a “proprietary gas blend” for purging, but doesn’t specify what it is.
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And they advertise using their “Elite Optical System,” but again, I couldn’t find specifics on what that means.
Sig Sauer Canyon HD ($250)
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Rubberized coating with light texture
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Large focus wheel
Vortex Diamondback HD ($209)
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The lowest cost of all the options in our survey
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Comes with a chest pack bino harness
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Rubberized coating and nice thumb grooves for comfort
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The next lightest pair at 21.3 oz.
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Argon purging for improved fog-proofness
SUMMARY
Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer as to which of these is the best binocular under $300. They are all great options, and it really depends on which ones you like best. In a perfect world, you would have the opportunity to hold each pair to see which one best fits your hands and compare image quality yourself before you buy.
The good news is, you really can’t go wrong with any of them.