Hi All.
Looking for a nice pair of bins suitable for 6 hour hikes. Weight is important and they will be mainly used for birding.
8x32's should be fine and hopefully give me the compact size, light weight and brightness I need. I've kind of narrowed it down to the Opticorn Discovery 8x32 (Nice and compact and under 400g) and the Helios AM-E4 8x32.
Has anyone got any of these binos and give me there thoughts or point me in the direction of an online review. They maybe others of similar size and price (150 quid ish) you can recommend.
Thanks alot, Tez.
[quote=tezza_v;1291321]
8x32's should be fine and hopefully give me the compact size, light weight and brightness I need. I've kind of narrowed it down to the Opticorn Discovery 8x32 (Nice and compact and under 400g) and the Helios AM-E4 8x32.
Has anyone got any of these binos and give me there thoughts or point me in the direction of an online review. They maybe others of similar size and price (150 quid ish) you can recommend.
[/quote]Hi. Tez. Of the two you mention, the Opticron seems to fit your criteria best. It's very light and has a good field of view and excellent close focus. The only downside is that it will be mediocre optically, being at the bottom of the range. The Helios is much heavier, but I don't know how it will rank optically. If I had to guess I'd say it's probably a little better than the Discovery. It wouldn't be worth the extra weight for me. Other 8x32s that have better optics, like the Bushnell Excursion are also too heavy. One that you might add to your list is the Viking Vistron. Narrower field of view, less good close focus and a little heavier than the Discovery, but better optically. You can get it for £136, including carriage. The best thing would be to try them out and just go with the one that suits you best.
Michael
The Nikon Monarch 8x36 are a good buy, handled a pair myself on a few occasions and quite liked them, good field of view combined with good close focus makes them a neat package!!
I think they can be had for around the £189 mark if you shop around...
Matt