Sub £150 Binocular Recommendations

[Mulligatawny owl]

Originally Posted by AU

I'm looking to replace my ageing no name 7x50 binoculars. I have a budget of £150 I would like to spend less if possible I Spend most of my time birding and wildlife watching in woodland and farmland. I would prefer full size binoculars compared to compacts but I'm open to suggestions. There is a bewildering amount options in my price range and I could do with a little hep narrowing it down to a few models to go looks at. here is a list of a few I have noticed.

Opticron Trailfinder II 8x42
Opticron Discovery WP PC 8x42
Nikon Action EX 7x35
Vanguard Platinum LDT 8x42
Viking Vistron 8x42
Pentax PCF WP II 8x40


Any help and advice is most appreciated.

Not tried any of the ones you mentioned but at that price I'd personally go for a porro like the nikon action EX rather than a roof prism as you tend to get a much sharper image than a similar price roof. That said I quite like the opticron explorer roof for £155.

You might be able to pick up a Hawke frontier ED for about £230 if you shop around, I got mine for that price from London camera exchange. Great binos, a big jump in image quality over most roofs at even higher prices. ...That said I much prefer the opticron HR WP porro, I think they are completely wonderful, got mine ex dem for £120.

Check out also the opticron imagic TGA WP porros for around £150, these are supposed to be a very high quality image, though I havent tried them myself.

[nightshade]

The Nature View are porro and very good

[Mulligatawny owl]

Agreed on the natureview porro, I had the natureview plus 8x42 for many years, nice and sharp compared to comparable roofs with a fairly wide field of view too. Not fogproof though.
I like the 3D image that porros give, roofs always seem to me to have a flatter image although they are usually better for close up viewing.

[AU]

Thanks for all your help, I ended up going with the Opticron Discovery WP PC 8x42 after trying them at sherwoods.

[Xurek]

What would be the major differences in performance between the some of the models mentioned above and my no-name "10x50 Multi-coated Optics: 99m/1000m"

Some of the models mentioned that I have checked would have less magnification or a higher distance at 1000m, would this matter? Or would it only be at extreme distances and the quality of the view would make up for it anyway?

Hope some of that makes sense.

[nightshade]

The main differences between cheap binoculars and expensive ones is the build quality and resolving power/clarity of the lenses.
I have a nice pair of 8x40 binoculars not cheap but made a long time ago and they have a slight yellow fringing on distant objects, multicoating goes a long way to stop this even on cheap binos. I like my Bushnell Nature View, but they cannot hold a candle to Zeiss, Leica or Schwartzkopf the difference in the amount of detail revealed by these top brand binos needs to be seen to be believed.
Incidently Sherwood optics have, some Nikon 10x50 on offer under £80!

[wizzo]

As a previous owner of Leica and Zeiss binoculars, I'd have to say that they are nice bins. However, I recently bought a pair of Hawk Frontier ED's at a little over £300. I'd say that they are every bit as good as the overpriced (imo) top brand bino's. I've said before on the forum that most of the guys I bird with, own Swarvo's and most of them are not even willing to have a look through mine. says it all really. If you want to impress people and you're into labels, I'd go for the impressive looking top end models. If you want a pair that are virtually as good if not actually as good, I'd save myself some money and get the Hawk's. It's a complete no brainer I think. Incidently, I've just bought some 'in car' travel binoculars by Opticron. They were on offer for £35 from Jacobs and for the money are just superb. Wizzo

P.s....I'd avoid Jessops like the plague!

[Xurek]

I wonder if you guys could help me with an issue I have.

I recently bought a pair of Binoculars from Sherwoods (this is where I have to say the guy on the end of the phone definately had a bad attidude). I didnt realise at the time of ordering that they only post to a business address or the billing address which is fair enough. Basically it ended up I had to have it delivered to my "proper" home back in the Highlands of Scotland.

Anyway for this to happen I was told that it would cost an extra £20 because it is the Highlands even though I live outside Inverness which is a city! But I didnt question it because I know this is the case with some couriers. So I was offered no extra charge if I forget the free lense cleaning kit and RSPB book (worth over £21.00 according to the website). To which I said fair enough and the guy says he will send it out next day delivery for Monday (I ordered on Saturday)

The package came today (Wednesday) with Royal Mail (no special courier) and it didnt even need signed for!

So my question is, did I get screwed over here? The package weighs less than 2kg and it said Special Delivery. Would this really be worth £21 or more?

Thanks for reading, I know it's a long one!

[freiston]

Originally Posted by Xurek

I wonder if you guys could help me with an issue I have.

I recently bought a pair of Binoculars from Sherwoods (this is where I have to say the guy on the end of the phone definately had a bad attidude). I didnt realise at the time of ordering that they only post to a business address or the billing address which is fair enough. Basically it ended up I had to have it delivered to my "proper" home back in the Highlands of Scotland.

Anyway for this to happen I was told that it would cost an extra £20 because it is the Highlands even though I live outside Inverness which is a city! But I didnt question it because I know this is the case with some couriers. So I was offered no extra charge if I forget the free lense cleaning kit and RSPB book (worth over £21.00 according to the website). To which I said fair enough and the guy says he will send it out next day delivery for Monday (I ordered on Saturday)

The package came today (Wednesday) with Royal Mail (no special courier) and it didnt even need signed for!

So my question is, did I get screwed over here? The package weighs less than 2kg and it said Special Delivery. Would this really be worth £21 or more?

Thanks for reading, I know it's a long one!

I don't know if this is the case here, but a friend who used to work for Parcelforce tells me that the private courier companies sometimes use Royal Mail/Parcelforce for more 'out-of-the-way' deliveries because Royal Mail are duty bound to deliver anywhere in the British Isles at a flat rate (irrespective of distance/destination) - they [the couriers] save money by using Royal Mail instead of delivering the parcel themselves!