So what Equipment do members use? and is it like all things: you get what you pay for??? is it all preference,or is there the holy grail of Bins or scopes for birding?
Binnies - Nikon HG are the absolute best but v expensive unless you can do a deal.
Scopes - Kowa 823/824 are the best value for money of all time.
Leica binnies are good optically but the engineering of the focussing wheel with the 'slack' in it make them awful. Many £99.00 binnies have smoother focussing mechanisms.
Swarovski - far too expensive in terms of value for money. The scopes in my opinion for over £1000 are terrible.
Having now upset nearly all the members of this forum one way or another, may I say that each has unique eyes and what may suit one will not suit another so be gentle with me. However, the sloppy focussing wheel of the Leica is nothing to do with eyesight, its just poor engineering.
There is another brand of binnies, sold in WWT shops for £1.99. The spec is 4x16 and although the image leaves a lot to be desired, they must rate as one of the best value for money of all time for binnies. Surely a £600 pair of binnies cannot be 300 times better than the £1.99 ones. (100x better, yes, but not 300x).
*Colin retreats and puts tin hat on*
Controversial Colin
What a very good topic , and one that will be very , very informative for others such as myself . To know what other , more experienced people use , can only be of benefit to the less knowledgeable of us . Personally , I use a Kowa 823 scope c/w 20-60 zoom , and a well used pair of swift 8 X 40 bins , both incidentally chosen by virtue of being bargain buys , and not through any prior knowledge .
Cheers Hugh