While checking my winter field gear, I wondered if I should get a better pair of pocket bins for bird viewing. I keep bins in my pockets so they keep warm enough so that the eye lenses don't immediately fog up from warm eye vapors.
I keep them in either the outer pockets of my leather/down coats that need a few days to dry out between uses, or the British Navy ice-breaker issue outer pants I always wear when trekking through snow covered hills. I prefer bins that can be dropped on hard ice or bounced down hills hitting trees on the way, because I can drop things when wearing heavy gloves. I have a 7x50 Fujinon monocular mounted on my Leki or Stitz monopod but this has the fogging problem I mentioned after 10 minutes outside in sub-freezing weather.
If I wear mittens I can keep a monocular inside but these are pretty dim and just about useless at dawn and dusk. Normally I've used Steiner or Hendsoldt 8x30 military binoculars or Zeiss Diafuns (Hendsoldts with no snow, Steiners with some snow and Diafuns with total snow cover) because they are very sharp and the coatings are very good. But they aren't very bright. I have a pair of Czech or Hungarian VOP 6x30 military bins and they are very good but I haven't tried them in winter conditions yet. (I don't know if VOP is now part of Meopta as these were made in the 80s). The VOPs might work out, but I also wondered about the Minox 6.5x32 bins. If anyone knows Doug's Bird Forum name (is it gr8fldoug?) let me know please.
I have a pair of Nikon Sporter 8x36s & Swift Trilyte 7x35s and 8x40s that sort of fold up small enough for the coats but certainly not for the pants pocket. They are all reasonably sharp but not as sharp as the 8x30s I've mentioned (or the VOPs). The FOTON 7x35s I tested are sharp enough and very bright but they don't fold up small enough. I got a pair of the military KOMZ 7x30s that Holger Merlitz rates as the sharpest bins he's ever tested and while optically they are ideal and super-rugged, they are too big for any reasonable pocket. Even my Leupold 10x30s and Sharper Image 8x25s with their chunky reverse porro shape are difficult to get in and out of pockets and they aren't any brighter than the Steiners or Hendsoldts anyway.
I'm not willing to risk my Zeiss 8x30 BT*P bins because a wrong fall can destroy the objective lenses. So I'm seeking a smallish pair of really sharp, bright bins (ideally exit pupil of 5 or greater) that will cost me less than US$180 so I won't gnash my teeth if they do break. I might find a pair of Monarch 8x32s at that price but I don't know if they will be bright enough. All the Nikon Action Extreme models would be bright enough and cheap enough but they are too big. I was considering ordering from Japan a pr of Sigma 8x32 Eagle Series bins that aren't distributed in the USA. Does anyone know what these are like? They would cost about 1/2 of what Nikon 8x32 Monarchs would cost.
A friend has loaned me a pair of Gander Mountain phase coated 10x42z with extremely small rubber coated housings. They fold down to the size of the Nikon 8x36s or the Trilytes but they are much sharper. The problem is that they aren't really brighter than the Steiner 8x30s and not even close to the VOPs. Oddly enough the Fujinon 6x30 FMTs I have are rugged and fabulous optically but like the KOMZ 7x30s they don't fit in a pocket. So it's back and forth, and back and forth.
The 6.5x32 Minox BDs seem the best bet so far, unless someone on BF has tested the FOTON 5x25 or 5x30 bins. I might just put the Fujinon 7x50 monocular into a pocket and then try to put it onto the top of the monopod when I see something, but usually by then it's flown off. I'd buy a used Steiner 7x35 that is in the same format as the 8x30 if I could find one, but they are rare in the USA. A used 7x35 Jenoptik might work as well because they are in the same squat "pancake" shape as the Steiner and Hendsoldt 8x30s. But they are also rare in the USA. If the temps are only in the range slightly above freezing, I can use full sized bins inside my coat and then zip down the zipper to pull them out when there is something to be seen. But at 20 degree F (-8c) it's too cold for that.
Have you looked at the Leupold 6 or 8 x 32 Katmai Roofs? http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=4587.
I think it is the smallest one in the market. And if you can live with a monocular Orion Telescopes sells an 11 oz. 8 x 32 Roof with a 4' close focus and 7.8 degree FOV for about $140.00.
Bob
Thanks Ceasar. I guess the Leupold 6x32 Katmai would be sharp enough and brighter than what I currently use, but it is too expensive to risk damaging in the winter. I was hoping the Minox 6.5x32 would work out because DVD thought they would be under my $180 limit to buy. I can carry my Fujinon 7x50 monocular in my pocket but monoculars seem less steady than binoculars and so I usually only get good results with them on a walking stick/monopod. But even the Minox bins seem to be at the very limit of my budget, so I came to this forum to see if there was something even less expensive that would work.