Buying Advice High Power Binoculars

[Carl Bert]

Glasses or scopes, in my opinion you can't beat Zeiss. Not cheap, but worth every penny. I have tried a lot, but always wind up going back to Zeiss. They are just a pleasure to use.

 

[tcreeley]

Buying porro prism saves you some money vs roof prism - let's you get better quality than otherwise.
Do some research. Christophers and Eagle Optics (I purchased from both) provide you a real range of choice with good descriptions and their blunt assessments. I find that Cabellas, LLbean, etc sometimes carry good optics- but they also carry the lessor quality in the brand. Not all Leicas are the best, etc. The brand name binocs have their good ones, but they also have their less than good ones. I like to be able to compare all of the features - look at the intended audience, and what the binocs are designed for. I thing birding is the most demanding of binocs, but I would never buy anything with the name "Audubon" - a crowd pleaser name. You are paying for the trendy name.
Read about the binocs, then go look through a bunch. Read the reviews. Keep an eye out for birding conventions- the binocular dealers follow them around with their optics to demonstrate and sell. Except for the 7x35 Leica that I checked out, the Baush & Lomb Elite were as good in the higher magnifications.

 

[EddieWalker]

What do you want them for? At that maginification, you will need a stand or tripod to support them.

I hunt and consider my equipment to be extrememly important to my success. Nationwide, hunters enjoy a less then ten percent success rate, but those who are in that ten percent, get animals almost every year, and usualy see many before taking one. The reason is because of their knowledge of the animals, the terrrain and the equiment they use.

Just like tooks, there are the cheapy, piece of junk binoculars, the middle of the line that are fine for during the day, in mild temps and clear skies. If what you are looking at will be out in the middle of the day with full sunlight, then you will be happy with most anything under $200.

If you want the most light gathering ability possible, before the sun comes up, and after it sets. If you want to spot a sleeping buck a thousand yards away, under a tree, or if you want to be able to see if the animal is legal or not before spending hours trying to get closer to it, then you really want to spend the money for quality.

The European glass makers have had an edge over their grinding and coating process for decades. Zeiss, Lecia, Swarvarski are as good as you will ever want, or be able to find. They are in the thousand dollar range on up. They are also worth every penny if you are a hunter who is in the mountain four hours before daylight when it's raining and 40 degrees out. You will see more animals. GURANTEED.

The Japanese camera makers have been coming out with some decent optics in the past decade or so. Nikon, Pentax and Olympus are all decent, middle of the range optics. You wont get the same results as the premium optics, but if you only hunt locally, and are not spending ten grand on a hunt to Alaska, or something really severe, you won't be disapointed in them.

Leopold is good, but I wouldn't touch anything else.

10 x 50 will give you the best light gathering ability in a power that you can hold and still tell what you are looking at when it's far away, in low light. Anything more powerful, and you are carrying a lot of extra weight, and not going to see very much out of them.

Be very careful of anything Russian, or cheap. Both are junk and not worth carrying into the field even if you got them for free. If you want to find what you are looking for, don't carry something that doesn't work.

Other factors to consider are the quality of the seals to keep fog out of the glass, the dryness of the Nitrogen and the coatings on the lenses.

Good luck,
Eddie

 

[zmjc]

This is a bit off-topic, because the OP wants inexpensive binoculars... but if anyone is shopping for binoculars, they should try the Canon image-stabilized binoculars. They are truly amazing! I have the 15x50, which I mostly use for star-gazing. You can enable/disable the stabilization, and the difference is dramatic. The stabilization really, really helps provide a more usable image if you are not using a tripod. The spastic jerkiness just goes away like magic...

But they cost ~$1000...

 

[JDGreenGrass]

Oh my. I must say I did not expect so many good and diverse replies on this topic. Here is my intended use. I live on a 76 acre farm. My house is bordered on three sides by woods, a 2 acre pond and soy bean/hay fields. I love sitting by my window and checking out the wildlife which is plentiful.

Right now I have a set of 7x35 el cheapo binocs. I stand corrected if 20x70's do not exist. I thought I saw that on the web, but I guess I am mistaken. My cheap binocs do not give me the magnification I desire over long distances, plus they are difficult to focus and keep focused.

For instance I can see a buck, tell if the rack is small or large, but cannot count the points. I was thinking that the more magnification the better. After reading these posts I'm not sure any more.

A typical use for me is to walk by the window, see deer, turkeys, ducks, geese or the occasional fox and grab the binocs. All in all I doubt I look through them more than 5-10 minutes a pop, but I may grab them several times a day.

Thanks to all for the suggestions. I clearly have more research to do if I want to obtain something to fit my needs.

This post helps a lot.

I recommend a pair at 7x35 or 8x40 and then get yourself a spotting scope in the 60x range. You will love the spotting scope.:thumbsup:

I personally wouldn't spend much money on either. Look for stability and clarity and ignore brand.

 

[JDGreenGrass]

This is a bit off-topic, because the OP wants inexpensive binoculars... but if anyone is shopping for binoculars, they should try the Canon image-stabilized binoculars. They are truly amazing! I have the 15x50, which I mostly use for star-gazing. You can enable/disable the stabilization, and the difference is dramatic. The stabilization really, really helps provide a more usable image if you are not using a tripod. The spastic jerkiness just goes away like magic...

But they cost ~$1000...

Love star gazing with the binoculars.:thumbsup:

Try this....Focus on a bright star or even the full moon. Then, gently begin to wobble the binoculars in a circular or oblong motion. It makes for a sort of kaleidoscope image.:thumbsup:

 

[cowski]

l have a pentax dcf 8x40 .i would recommend them.

 

[Rancher Ed]

I sounds like you want a little more power but I love our 7x50. They are made by Fujinon Inc. and they don't say what model they are. They say they are Mil spec. and Made In U.S.A. on one side and 385ft at 1000 yds and nitrogen gas filled on the other. They are at least 6 or 7 years old and I would guess they are closer to 12 or maybe even 20 years old.

They are too big/heavy to carry around all day but for having in the truck or sitting by a window they are great. What I like the best is there is no focus thing, they are always in focus at any distance. They give a shart, clear picture at 30 yards and at 1000 yards or anywhere in between without having to refocus them.

We keep them in our upstairs window so we can look out in the pasture which starts about 40 yards and the tree line is close to 1000 yards in some places. Often we will see dear or coyotes and every once in a great while an elk and they give a great view and make it easy to tell if it is a buck and if so, how many points it has.

Ed

 

[Treemonkey1000]

I didn't finish reading all of the post here but you may just cruise the Pawn shops and see if they have any binocs that are of any quality for a good price. And don't worry you might be able to talk the price down on them.. For your application a lower power telescope on a tripod might work.

 

[Scooby074]

I was going to also suggest a scope.

Anything above 8x and i find it too bouncy.