Hi all,
I found this forum last night, while searching for info on binoculars. I've spent a good number of hours reading and it's given me some help, but I need more...
I want a binocular for general use while out in the countryside; might be birding in woods, watching foxes at dusk, bat spotting around church steeples or spying on the herons on the other side of a lake. Anything goes really; hope you don't mind that it's not just birding but this looks the most informative place I've found to ask. Most of the places my wife and I get to don't have so many trees, it's more often moorland and hillsides. Given the types of use I envisage, I've come up with some features that I think are important.
My budget is up to around £400; I could probably go a bit higher for something significantly better. I would rather pay more for something I'm happy with, than save a bit and be unhappy. I'm not particularly bothered about brand names, and would consider well cared for used items. I'm a bit wary of buying on eBay though - been stung before there!
So, my supposed criteria:
hi rick and welcome
i found myself pretty much in the same boat as you about a year ago. i new what i wanted but was completely baffled with hundreds of binoculars to choose from unfortunatly there is an awfull lot of bad stuff out there and i bought some of it.
£400 should get you a fine pair of binoculars and away from most of the rubish stuff, thats not to say there arnt a few good bins out there for less but i eventually settled for after looking through dozens of pairs of binoculars a pair of opticron "imagic" BGA SE 8x42 roof prism binoculars costing £359 new. i did compare them back to back in the shop with a pair of swarovski ed 8.5x42's costing £1000 and couldnt really see any differance, they were and still are IMO the best roof prism bins in there size and price range and are ideal for general use, superbly sharp(i also have very good vision), very good in low light (i've used these at night and can see detail where it apears quite black with the naked eye) and water proof. i think 8x magnification is the ideal for hand held use as 10x can get a little shakey, i had the 10 times version and didnt like them, i can actually see more detail with the slightly lower mag. also 42mm is a good size if your useing them in low light.
mine are not cumbersome to carry around all day and they come with a nice padded wide strap that doesnt cut into your neck.
they have good eye relief if you ware glasses, i dont notice any CA unless i really look for it and then its minnimal at the very edge of fov, they are 100% water proof/fog proof, image was at least imo 99% as sharp as the swaro's costing three times as much they have a good close focus down to 2 meters and only require one full turn of the focus wheel from close to infinity. after 6 months of hard use i just cant fault them, comments i get when i let others have a look through them are pretty much allways the same with things like "WOW" "these are better than my eyes" i have a job to get them back sometimes.
they also have a 30 year waranty
there worth a look if you can get your hands on a pair
regards mark
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the welcome and the recommendation. I've just been reading your opinion of the opticron on cloudynights. I like the sound of it quite a lot and the price is livable with.
I'll try to find a stockist so I can give them a try.
Cheers,
Rick.