Okay, here’s a “too long, didn’t read” option for you: I like this binocular. No, I love this binocular. After testing the SIG ZULU6 on two pronghorn hunts and over the course of an entire season looking for blacktail deer in Oregon’s coastal range, I’ve concluded that I’m not glassing or hunting without it until something better comes along. Sure, you could stop reading now that you have the gist of the article, but there are a few caveats. So, give me a few minutes and you’ll see why all things considered, I think this is an effective tool for hunting.
A binocular is mandatory for hunting. End of story. Fight me if you want. It just is. A higher magnification binocular, like 10X or 12X, is great for open country and greater distance. The problem with a higher magnification binocular, however, is that holding it to your eyes for any prolonged timeframe without additional support results in shaking, often to the point that it is unusable, especially when glassing at distance. Without a way to steady your binocular such as with a tripod or some other rest, the field of view will inevitably start bouncing around like an onside kick. It’s impossible to glass effectively when that happens. So, higher-magnification binoculars are great, but they come at a price. You can’t just pull one from your harness and quickly start glassing, at least not effectively; and having to set up a tripod or some other support makes one slower to use. But what if that additional support wasn’t required?
Enter the SIG Sauer ZULU6 HDX Pro Binocular. This is an internally stabilized binocular that lets you effectively use a higher magnification optic—14x50mm, 16x50mm or 18x50mm—without additional support. That means you can spend more time glassing, glass more efficiently and cover more ground. But let’s come back to that in a minute. First, let’s talk about the binocular itself.
The ZULU6 HDX Pro binocular comes in a padded carrying case and includes the required AA batteries, a neck strap and eyecup covers. I’m sure there were also instructions for operating my 14x50mm test unit, but I don’t remember because using the ZULU6 HDX Pro binocular is so intuitive that I didn’t even need to look for them.
As a premium-priced binocular, the ZULU6 HDX Pro has a lot of features you would expect, albeit in different form factor than a traditional binocular. It has an IPX7 rated waterproof body with a tan rubber armor covering , a center focus wheel, a right eye diopter adjustment, telescoping eyecups for use with or without eyeglasses and strap attachment points. SIG Sauer’s “HDX PRO” designation refers to their optical system that combines redesigned ED glass lenses, prism, and prism coatings that are claimed to deliver significantly enhanced light transmission and glare reduction. External lenses also have a scratch resistant coating they call LensArmor.
In the case of the ZULU6 HDX, form follows function. The binocular body doesn’t consist of two barrels joined by a hinge. Rather it’s a unibody affair, where only the eyepieces swivel in an arc to adjust for your eye spacing and eye relief. This design accommodates the gyroscopic stabilization system. The objective lenses are in a fixed position. You have to contain it all somewhere, and it probably doesn’t make sense trying to stabilize two binocular barrels independently. Although unique, I felt the form factor resulted in some good ergonomics. I even liked the location of the battery housings on each side that fit perfectly into the crook of the index finger and thumb, providing a natural grip on the binocular body.
Okay, so the ZULU6 HDX Pro has the right features for a premium binocular, but how does the stabilization work? In a word, great. It really does. Honestly, I thought it would be gimmicky at first, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well it stabilizes the image. Removing the debilitating shake that you notice when trying to use an optic above 12X enables much better observation and attention to detail. This is critical when glassing. It can mean the difference between finding a deer hiding in the shadows or not. The stabilization system is more complex than just gyroscopic stabilization. The ZULU6 HDX Pro family uses technology that SIG Sauer calls OmniScan.
This is a software update to this line of binos that uses a digital accelerometer to automatically adjust the degree of stabilization based off movement. The slower the binoculars move the more stabilization is applied and vice versa. Sometimes I did get a bit of a “yo-yo” effect where you bring the bino to an abrupt stop and the image continues to move for a moment, but it stabilized before you could really start looking in earnest.
Two pronghorn hunts and time glassing and hunting for blacktail really allowed me to put this binocular through its paces. The image quality is solid, with no perceptible distortion around the edges. Low-light performance was good, albeit not amazing, but that’s mostly a function of the ratio of the objective lens diameter and the 14X zoom. With equal lenses, something like a 10x42mm binocular is going to perform better in low light. The resolution is quite good. That said, the vividness of the colors seemed a bit muted to me when compared to other binos I had on hand. The ZULU6 HDX Pro was subjected to a ridiculous amount of dust on the pronghorn hunts and torrential downpours and constant exposure to water during the blacktail season, all without any adverse effects. Overall, the ZULU6 worked great. It absolutely helped with glassing, allowing me to quickly deploy something equivalent to a spotting scope at its lower power, without setting up a tripod, with the added benefit of glassing with both eyes, which results in less fatigue.
While this binocular performed quite well, is the ZULU6 HDX perfect? No. The rubber armor housing is devoid of texture and pretty slick, enough so that it slipped from my wet hands a few times while moving to another spot to glass. I would love to see some texture on the top and the bottom of the battery housings. The included little black eyecup caps seem to be useful only to protect the lenses during shipping. They are not connected to each other, nor are they able to be tethered to the housing, and they are not snug fitting, meaning they do not stay on the eyepieces. It was a lot of fun looking for them in the black interior of a rented SUV. I ended up MacGyvering another manufacturer’s eyecup cover to fit and made a lanyard to keep it on the binocular, which worked great. Also, the image stabilization is turned on and off via a toggle switch located on the housing, and if you leave the image stabilization turned on, lower the binocular for a bit then bring it up to use again, often image was swimming around like a hula hoop. So, turn it off while not in use. These binoculars are also longer by comparison, so there are less harness options to choose from.
Let’s address the elephant in the room as you don’t get something for nothing. The SIG Sauer ZULU6 HDX Pro binocular sacrifices some optical performance to add the image stabilization and still hit a desired target price. That’s just a fact. But in this instance, it’s okay because the optics are still good. When combined with the image stabilization, the ZULU6 HDX Pro allows the user to glass more effectively and potentially see more than he would using more expensive optics. The overall performance is great.
Are there better binoculars optically than the ZULU6 HDX Pro in a similar price range? Yes, but I’m not hunting without the ZULU6 HDX anytime soon regardless of what brands I have available to me because the stabilization is a benefit that’s too good to leave behind.
Sig Sauer ZULU6 HDX Pro
- sigsauer.com
- Type: image-stabilizing binocular
- Magnification: 14X (tested), 16X, 18X
- Objective Lens Diameter: 50mm
- Focusing Range: 18 ft.-infinity
- Eye Relief: 18mm
- Field of View @ 1,000 Yards: 210 ft.
- Coatings: multi-coated; SpectraCoat; LensArmor
- Construction: thermoplastic body; HDX Pro glass; Schmidt-Pechan prism; OIS SIG Optic Stabilizer System w/OmniScan; rubber armor w/flat dark earth finish; waterproof; fog-proof
- Dimensions: 2.63" height, 4.79" width, 8.0" length
- Weight: 33.61 ozs.
- Accessories: AA batteries (2); foam carry case; neck strap
- MSRP: $1,499.99
