Binoculars - advice?

[BugBear99]

I am quite new to birdwatching, but only have a small pair of binoculars for watching my garden birds. I have read a few reviews of binoculars for birdwatching, but would like to know what you guys would all recommend? My budget is quite flexible as I want the binoculars to last me a long time. Some of my birdwatching will be on walks, some in hides. I do have a soft spot for birds of prey, so was thinking of x10 magnification, but am open to suggestions on this front!
Oh and I wear glasses
Thanks for any advice!

[Acipiter]

You need to find a centre where you can try out what's on offer, the general consensus seems to be 8x42 or 8x32 for mag, there are roof prism and porra prism to choose from, but really at the end of the day, its what suits "you" that counts. good luck.

[solus]

8x or 10x are the best for birding - go to an RSPB Reserve shop or an "In Focus" shop or open event at a reserve and try a selection. Most reasonable quality binoculars have fold-down/screw-down eye-cups for spectacle wearers, although having said that I have never been able to get on with glasses and bins together so I lift my specs on to my head and do without them, having adjusted the binoculars accordingly with the dioptre setting.

Remember you are likely to be wearing them round your neck for long periods, so they shouldn't be too heavy for you, and also that you will probably need to focus them in freezing weather while wearing gloves so the position of the focus wheel matters too. It matters even more if you have very small hands as it's no good if you need to stretch your fingers out in order to reach the focus wheel! Weight also comes into consideration as you will be holding them up to your eyes for longish periods and there won't always be a convenient shelf to rest your elbows on so they need to be of a weight you can comfortably hold steady.

Prices vary enormously so go for the best you can afford. The RSPB's "own name" ones can be surprisingly good in the mid-price range.

EDIT: I've just noticed you are in East London. Perfick! Get yourself down to the In Focus shop at the London Wetland Centre and see what they have to offer - try before you buy in a real field situation!

[slimrbp]

Sorry can't offer advice on Bins but we bought my girlfriends spotting scope from the In Focus shop at the WWT London Wetland Centre in Barnes.
The gentleman who worked there was very helpful and Nichola was allowed to try all the various combinations she was interested in before making a decision.
Also on top of that Barnes is a great place to visit

[RobS]

Spend as much as you can afford.

10 x 42 gets my vote. I have several pairs:

1) 10 x 50 Swift of 1960s vintage, way too heavy but excellent optics
2) 10 x 42 Steiners - pretty good about £280
3) 10 x 42 Bushnells - these were a present for my wife but I use them all the time, very good. I got them at a fantastic price because of contacts but I think they are also about £300.

One day I will buy another pair possibly Swarovski or Leica but I am not sure that five times the price of what I have will be worth it!

Rob S

[bob.phillips]

As already stated above, try before you buy. I have 8x42, which are good for me. I tried 10x but found them difficult to hold steady. Like all optics, the price increase for a small improvement in quality is enormous.

I ended up buying Opticron for about £100, although I did try a pair of Leica which were a little better, but 10 times the price.

Regards,

Bob P.

[natureshooter]

i have got to say the hawk frontier 8x43ed are going to be the best £299 you have ever spent,rival the "alpha" class of binoculars.

I tried mine before i bought them other day,compared to a pair of £1300 zeiss they honestly give just a nice view,brightness and sharpness all taken into account.

Just my 2 penniesworth.

Oh i have tried over the years lots of binoculars and these are by far the best,withoput spending well over a grand.

Ta Gaz

[Jim Ford]

These 10x42 bins. are waterproof, nitrogen filled and just under £20 inc P&P

7dayshop.com - Online Store

I've got a pair, but they're not as bright as the Bresser 10x50s that Aldi occasionally have in, but the Bressers are heavier, not nitrogen filled and waterproof.

Jim

[larachmor]

When it comes to optics, be it binoculars, 'scopes or lenses I'm a great believer in that you tend to get what you pay for. You have to pay for top quality glass, you simply cannot get it cheap. My money tends to go in the camera department, but I have a pair of Opticron 10x42 - which I am very happy with, and they come in at around £500. But my son has just bought himself a pair of Swarovski 10x42, round about three times the price of my humble bins and they are simply superb, and I've still to try them in low light where their quality will show even more. All I would say is, set your budget, and visit a dealer that provides a suitable environment where you can test the different types. Pick a gloomy day, as the low-light conditions help show up the better quality models. Then it's simply down to personal choice. Buy the best you can afford.

[CharlieCreek]

My advice would be that bins are so personal a thing and depending on what you opt for a fairly major purchase is to try a few out and decide what suits you.

A trip to In Focus is well worth the effort. They are impartial, offer good advice and are reasonable on the prices.

Set yourself a maximum price for example £500 and ask to try out a few bins upto that price maximum. My experience is that they then will let you try side by side (for as long as you want) a number of pairs from quite cheap upto your maximum. At this point don't let them tell you what each pair costs but just look through them and find what you like. You will be suprised that the pair you like the most quite likely won't be the most expensive.

Things to look out for as you try the bins side by side are:

• How bright is the image
• How sharp is the image
• How natural are the colours (some bins slightly change the colour eg slightly yellow tinted etc.
• How wide is the image..(this is called Field of View of FoV). A wider FoV at the same magnification allows you to see more of the area around the bird. This is good because you see more that is around and also because it tends to be less tiring on the eyes. Some bins make you feel like you are looking down a tube, ones with a wider FoV feel like you are looking normally at the scene but with improved vision if that makes sense.
• Does the image towards the edge start to become distorted.
• Do you get strange colours going on at the edges of the image.
• How heavy are the bins, do they feel comfortable
• How smooth is the focusing ring when you rotate it
• What is the minimum focusing distance... sometimes you might have something quite close like a butterfly

What you will find is that say if you have a line up of seven pairs, quite quickly you will dismiss 3 or 4 of them and then you can really try the last finalists side by side for a while.

I've probably missed a few things, but half a day spent at somewhere like In Focus is well worth the time and effort.