what are the best binoculars?
April 28, 2010 by
Filed under Zoom Binoculars
I want to get a pair of binoculars with a zoom for birdwatching. Can someone recommend the best ones to get? I’ve heard that the zoom is just a gimmick that doesn’t work well. Any personal experience and recommendations? I want something fairly compact and light.
go to a hutning store and ask. i reccomend you to bushnell just because it’s what i know. zoom is not a gimick. other alternative, particularly for birdwatching could be a spotting scope?
whatever you get, look at it first. handle it. look through it, twiddle the knobs and look again, do you like the clarity, does it work at dusk or in low light? is it too heavy? does it have the range and magnification?
good luck
There are good zoom lenses, like the Nikon 200-400mm lens. But that lens cost around $5000. It’s a camera lens btw, but that’s the point. Binocular manufacturers don’t make very expensive zoom binoculars. That’s the reason there are no good zoom binoculars. If they do decide to make a good one, it’ll cost a small fortune. Binocular optics are already very complicated as it is, compared to spotting scopes, to add zoom to that complexity is just a bit much.
With binoculars, the resolution of the lens and brightness means so much more than just power. Actually that’s true with all optics. You can have a 60X scope, but if the lens is poorly made you won’t be able to see the same thing that you can with a 20X well made scope. With binoculars, there’s a huge jump in quality when you go from the under $100 binos you can get at walmart, to the $200-$300 binoculars. When I had an old tasco that was a 10×50, my eyes will get tired very quickly, the images weren’t as bright, the edges not so sharp. Then I looked at the $299 Carson XM HD, it was a 8×32 model. Much smaller, less power. Yet when I looked through it my eyes felt very relaxed, like I can look through that thing all day, the colors were so vivid and bright, I can read the numbers on a thermostat from 30m away when that thermostat was in a rather dark corner of the room. I couldn’t do that with the Tasco.
Then after the $200-$300 range, the next jump is to the $1000+ range. The quality jump there is not as noticeable as when you jump from $50 to $300. But if you have money to burn, then by all means, those top of the line binos are sure nice. The Swarovski, Zeiss, and Leica are the big 3. Crystal clear lenses, nicely built eyepiece, bright colors.
If you are looking for binos under $100, make sure you buy a fixed power, porro design bino. These are the ones where the objective lens is at an offset from the occular. Porros are wider than the Roof binos. But Roof binos cost more to make, so cheap roof binos usuall have cheap glass and are poorly made. Bushnell, Nikon, Pentax, all make good under $100 porros. The Legend series from Bushnell, and the Travellite from Nikon are the two I’m familiar with.
In the mid price range, Nikon Monarch is king, then you have the Carson XM HD, Vortex makes some great binos.
Get one with a factor of 5 or greater. Example: 10×50 = 5 or 7×35 = 5. Anything with a lower factor (10×25 = 2.5) makes it very narrow to see through.
For bird watching almost all birders will agree, I think, that either 8 power or 10 power are the best. Most will select 8 power because of the wider field of view which is important when trying to find the bird in the field of view among the clutter of tree limbs or even flying across the sky. Stability of the image is important and above 10 power the image tends to shake so much that a tripod is recommended.
I have both 8 power and 10 power and I prefer the 8 power. Zoom is not a gimmick but in binoculars it is impractical because of image shake. If you want zoom, it is best to get a spotting scope with a tripod. An inexpensive spotting scope with zoom is this one.
http://www.astronomics.com/main/product.asp/catalog_name/Christophers/category_name/4E42GTNES8B58JFF5C943TT2R6/product_id/K65SS
I took it to Ecuador with me and was quit satisfied. You will also have to purchase a tripod to use with it the little tripod that it comes with is worthless.
As for binoculars, how much do you wish to pay?
The very best cost well over $1700. But I do not own such a pair. Seems like a waste of money to me. For the extra money I can finance a trip to South America.
This pair is inexpensive, fairly compact, water proof and fog proof, has a decent field of view and is marginally adequate if you wear glasses. What it does not have is a locking diopter adjustment. A refinement found in more expensive binos.
http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=3623
This pair is more expensive but has a somewhat wider field of view and a closer focus.
http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=4144
If you are not on a budget, then these are among the best that do not cost an arm and a leg. They do have locking diopter adjustment. I took this pair to Estonia.
http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=4449
If you want a very compact pair, you will have to sacrafice eye relief.
Here is a good pair.
http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?pid=4487