Binoculars

mudgekin

Hi folks

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, please feel free to move it to somewhere more suitable if it is wrong.:o

I am looking to get DH a decent pair of binoculars. I am a novice when it comes to anything like this. I have around the £200 mark to spend and would be so grateful for any recommendations that anyone may have.

thanks in advance

xx

peter_the_piper

Assuming its for birdwatching then you can't go far wrong with Bushnells. My 10x45 are brill.

davester

Birdwatching their Peter? What you like to watch , Great tits and the Giant Booby?:D;)

Savvy_Spender_South

A decent online review site will be a start point, Try googling Bino review, cant go wrong.

Also, £200 is worth £500 we you shop second hand.

Worth a look.

fwor

I've been looking into this, and have been asking any groups of bird watchers that I come across. The opinions that I got back were that if you can't afford Swarovski or one of the top-name makes (I can't, and your budget means you can't either), Opticron is a very good value make. According to the people I spoke to, you get excellent build quality, but you're not paying extra for the name.

Be very cautious about secondhand binoculars. If they have been handled roughly, they may be out of alignment, and it's not cheap to have that corrected.

mudgekin

Many thanks for the replies guys. I knew that somefolks would come through:beer:
I will have a look at both recommended brands. It isn't really for birdwatching but more for a mix of birds, general nature and wildlife as we are both keen walkers and have the luxury of living near some fabulous nature reserves.

thanks again

ukcarper

Could try looking here.

http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=112

sharkie

thought of getting a Spotting Scope instead? Ok, they are larger than binoculars and only one lens, but what they do have is a variable zoom feature.

Owning a good but old pair of binoculars, I would get ones with image stabilisation, also a tripod mount comes handy too

JJ_Egan

Inpro do a good range as do Swift .

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=inpro+binoculars&!!!!!googhydr-21&index=electronics&hvadid=6164067253&ref=pd_sl_371cn4jlq_e


http://www.binoculars-uk.co.uk/acatalog/Inpro_Binoculars.html



If i was in your position and the buy was not needed now i would research first . A binocular can be many may variations of lens distance weight light absorbing etc .
One tip is that a big ocular lens is always better as it lets in more light and once you go above 12 X the image quality drops ideals being 8x 30 10 x 50.

My first pair lasted 25 years Swift 10x 50 still going the battered . next pair InPro 12 x50 took me two years of research to buy .

jje

ukcarper

Here are another couple of Links if you can get into a specialist optic shop you should get some good advice.


http://www.at-infocus.co.uk/choosing_bins.html

http://www.birdnet.co.uk/binsindex.html

http://www.acecameras.co.uk/content/binoculars.asp

I personal have a pair of Leica 3x32s, which are very good, but expensive before that I had Bushnell Natureview 8x42s, which were very good for the money.

totalsolutions

OP: In case you missed this there are some S/H equipment in your price range.

http://www.at-infocus.co.uk/choosing_bins.html

Delta 8x42 BGA £199.00 (DD)
Olympus 10x42 ZCF £99.00 (T)
Opticron 10x42 SRGA £139.00 (S)
Opticron 8x42 HR WP £159.00 (S)
Optolyth Alpin 10x40 £149.00 (T)
Zeiss 10x40 BGAT* £249.00 (T)