Can anyone recommend a good pair of binoculars?
April 24, 2010 by
Filed under Bushnell Binoculars
I am thinking about investing in a good pair of binoculars, ones that I can use for a variety of purposes (especially for star-gazing). I was thinking about the Bushnell Legacy series (either the 10×50 or 12×50), but was hoping to get some suggestions first. I’m willing to pay up to around $200, and I would prefer to get ones that are meant to be used as hand-held (I don’t really want to have to mess with a tripod…). What are your recommendations?
Everyone’s eyes are different, and if you want to use them for an activity like star gazing where you will be looking through them for a while, especially at night the only thing you can do is go to a store with a wide variety and try as many out as possible.
There is nothing worse then planing a night of star gazing or a day of bird watching and having to suffer through head aches and/or eye fatigue.
So it really kinda comes down to which ones are you most comfortable with.
For star-gazing I would recommend a telescope. MUCH higher power than binoculars and NOT that expensive.
For binoculars; Bushnell, Nikon, Leupold, etc. 10×50 good for most uses. 12×50 better but more limited field of view, AND more expensive.
10×50 is probably the most common size used. (Some even have built in digital cameras and/or range finders!)
The Nikon Superior E 10×42 (or 8×32, and 12×50) for the price they are hard to beat when compared to other brands.
Excellent eye relief and sharpness and plenty of focus travel even for near sighted eye glass wearers. Has great contrast and tends to show dimmer stars better than comparable brands.
Telescopes are an option but some astronomical objects such as comets, open star cluster, constellations are better observed with a binoculars’ wide field of view than most telescopes’ narrow field of view.
More info go to http://www.stargazing.net/david/binoculars/index.html