Optics
Riflescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, rangefinders and thermal, sorted so you can shop by price or by what you actually hunt. Free shipping over $99, and most of what is on this page carries a lifetime warranty.
Optics Buying Guides
- Best Budget Spotting Scope
- Best Long-Range Scope for the Money
- Best Budget Crossbow Scope
- Best Hunting Rangefinder
- Best Budget Thermal Scope
How to Choose Optics
Buy glass before you buy magnification. The number on the box is the easiest spec to sell and the least useful one, because mirage caps usable power around 40x on a warm afternoon regardless of what you paid, and inexpensive lenses go soft near the top of their range well before that. A 15-45x scope with extra-low dispersion glass will out-resolve a 20-60x without it.
Match the optic to the distance and the light. Inside 100 yards in timber, binoculars and a rangefinder do more for you than a spotter will. Glassing open country, or calling shots for someone at a range, is where a spotting scope earns the space it takes up. First and last light is where objective diameter and lens coatings stop being marketing copy and start deciding whether you see the animal at all.
Check the warranty before the price. Athlon's is lifetime and transferable with no registration, which is worth more over ten years than the fifty dollars you save buying an unbranded scope from a marketplace listing.