What do we love? Well, we love optics, fine glass, lasers, film and anything that make distant objects a little easier to see. We will take telescopes if nothing else is available! This has been a passion for decades and one that just keeps on giving as newer technology arises.As kids we ran around with cheap binoculars in the many wild places available in the U.S. We graduated to rifle scopes used in hunting and with that, we moved into the world of spotting scopes and rangefinders. While all of those things still lie at the heart of our passion, the world of optics is ever growing and new technology is just as enticing to us now as those simple binoculars were 30 years ago.The digital world has opened a whole new world of optics with its own diverse technologies. From trail cameras to the latest digital night vision, this technology makes us eager to explore once again.So what does all of that mean? We have our hands in every piece of optical technology that we can get in our hands and we want to share them. When we find a product we love, we want to get it out there as soon as we can. When there are new developments, those should be shared with our readers.This has all led to this site which endeavors to provide articles on all aspects of the world of optics. From the old technology to the state of the art. We want to see the world up close and we want our readers to engage in this same hobby but to do so without all of the costly errors we once made.We do this by providing a solid knowledge base and a foundation for optics selection. By taking over 30 years of experience and applying it to the current optics market, we can provide insight into the products, technology, and companies that are key to our current world of products.So no matter if you are a shooter, bird watcher, or just a fan of seeing the details up close, we have what you need. We are always working to make it better and share the most relevant information possible. If you have questions or comments, please reach out to us! We would love to hear from you.
Meet Our Team
Contributors & Writers
Alice Jones Webb
Alice Jones Webb is a writer, life-long hunter, experienced shooter, and mother of 4 up-and-coming shooting and outdoor enthusiasts. She grew up flinging arrows and bullets at Virginia whitetails, turkey, and game birds, but her favorite hunting experience is chasing bull elk in the Colorado backcountry. Never one to sit still and look pretty, Alice is also a self-defense instructor and competitive archer. She currently resides in rural North Carolina with her children, non-hunting husband, and a well-stocked chest freezer.
Eric Jezierski
Eric is a former paratrooper and current Army officer with over 15 years of combined military service. He has combat deployments to Bosnia and Afghanistan. He is was trained as an Army Small Arms Weapons Expert in 2006 and has trained at the Mid-South Shooting Academy. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and experience with he firearms community, and can be found at themilspecguy.com.
Mark Grimsley
Mark Grimsley is a former U.S. Army Officer that started his career as an enlisted Abrams crewman. He has served in 3 overseas tours that include Korea in 2002, Iraq in 2003 as a tank gunner and Afghanistan in 2010-11 as a logistics officer. He completed numerous schools in the Army to include Air Assault and Airborne. Currently, Mark is an Army spouse and enjoys running a YouTube channel
Brian Belko
Brian Belko is a freelance writer and blogger. His primary areas of focus include the outdoors and shooting sports. In addition to his freelance work, Brian also writes for Wide Open Spaces and is on the Pro Staff at Military Hunting and Fishing. When he isn’t busy writing, Brian enjoys fishing farm ponds for bass and hitting the spring woods during turkey season.
Naomi Moss
Naomi Moss has been instructing firearms since 2012. In addition to being a NRA Certified Instructor she is also a USCCA Instructor and Training Counselor. She also teaches CA and UT Concealed Carry Weapon Classes, CA Hunter Education, Defensive Handgun and Shotgun, Handgun Diagnostics, Countering the Mass Shooter Threat and Active Shooter Consulting for businesses and churches. When not in the class, you will find her on the range competing in as many shooting matches as she can such as IDPA, USPSA, 3 Gun, Steel Challenge and BUG matches. As part of The Well Armed Woman Shooting Team, Naomi is dedicated to promoting and teaching safe shooting to anyone who will listen. This includes donating her time to teaching at Women In the Outdoor events and leading two local chapters of The Well Armed Woman. In addition to the passion of teaching firearms, Naomi is wife, mom, business owner and forever student of the gun.
Geoffrey Guy
Geoff has a background in professional game and deer management, he has put his years of experience to good use and now lectures at Hartpury College, one of the UK’s leading providers of land based education. He specialises in training game and wildlife managers who will go on to work in professional game management, conservation and other outdoor professions. He has been teaching at colleges for eight years and in that time has worked at some of the most prestigious land based colleges in Britain.He has also worked in lead instructor roles at outdoor education centres and as manager of outdoor centres in Norfolk and Scotland and has also operated his own bushcraft and survival skills training companies for many years. He specialises in providing training in bushcraft, survival skills, wild food, and woodcraft.A keen traveller Geoff has honed his survival skills in New Zealand and Scandinavia as well as his native Britain. He speaks fluent Swedish after spending several years there and has proven his bushcraft ability on many expeditions. Several of these expeditions were on long distance trails in the UK to raise money for Whizz Kidz a charity that supports disabled children, Geoff has hiked over 2000 miles in aid of this charity.
Mckinley Downing
Mckinley is an avid shooter & firearms instructor. He shoots, hunts and loves to spend time at the range. He has worked with and around firearms for several years and enjoys talking to anyone interested in learning more about firearms & their 2nd Amendment rights.
Founder
Brad Smith
Welcome! I’m Brad Smith, an Optics Addict, and I love all things outdoors. I created this website, and hope you find the information here useful. My team and I will do our best to help you find the right gear for you and all your outdoor adventures. Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in our comments section, and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or recommendations you may have. Enjoy the Outdoors!