Another which binoculars question!

[Julz S]

Thinking of investing in my first proper binoculars and after much research have decided on 8x42 roof prisms, with a buget of approx £100,

ones I have found so far:

bushnell H20 8x42
bresser safari 8x42

Anyone got any thoughts on these or any other suggestions? :t:

[marie b]

Thinking of investing in my first proper binoculars and after much research have decided on 8x42 roof prisms, with a buget of approx £100,

ones I have found so far:

bushnell H20 8x42
bresser safari 8x42

Anyone got any thoughts on these or any other suggestions? :t:


While I'm not terribly experienced with binoculars, being extremely satisfied with my Fujinons and not having looked through any others that I found to be of comparable image quality, I did have occasion recently to look through a couple of Bushnell H2O 8x42s and was quite favorably impressed -- with bright sharp image, good field of view and ease of focus. Of course they don't match the Fujinons in low light situations. I am intending to get one for backup (or some, for my daughter and granddaughter as they are also quite light, easy to handle). Good value for money IMHO.

Marie

[NoSpringChicken]

Thinking of investing in my first proper binoculars and after much research have decided on 8x42 roof prisms, with a buget of approx £100,

ones I have found so far:

bushnell H20 8x42
bresser safari 8x42

Anyone got any thoughts on these or any other suggestions? :t:

You could have a look at the Opticron range. I bought my partner a pair of Opticron Discovery 8x42s and she really likes them. (She might be being polite but she has started pointing out birds to me before I have seen them!) They have fully coated optics, phase coated prisms, twist up eyecups with 20mm eye relief, 122 metres field of view, and are nitrogen filled and waterproof. They are also a bit more compact than most 8x42s.

You can find details on Opticron.co.uk under 'Binoculars £100-£250'. They are available from some places such as Sherwoods for about £109.

I have no experience of the models you mentioned but other people may be able to help.

Ron

[stuart C smith]

birdwatching magazine . - feb 2008 budget comparison test. rate the swift reliant 8x42 as the best of the eight they tested. optics 8 design 9 value for money 9 . £116.00 or better. :t: quickly looking online i see sherwoods photo have them for £105.00 and pyser s.g.i. for £99.01. !!! they maybe even cheaper elseware.

[J. Moore]

Welcome to the forum Julz. I would take a look at the Vortex Diamondback (confusingly, also called Vortex Sidewinder and Stokes Talon). They have been well reviewed, have decent eye relief (important if you wear glasses), are lightweight, and have an exceptionally wide field of view (420 feet) for an 8 x 42 given their low cost and eye relief. I saw one site where they were advertised for 135 pounds.

Here is a list of some binocular review sites if you are interested (all are American with American prices):

http://www.birdwatching.com/optics.html
There are a number of excellent articles on this page. In particular, notice the Midpriced Binocular Roundup link with the accompanying chart, as well as the "Binocular Picks for Every Price Range" chart.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/buying_guide.asp?cid=4
The above is a list of Eagle Optics (a very well respected American optics dealer) "staff picks" for birding binoculars in various price ranges.

http://www.birddigiscoping.com/2006/12/closer-look-at-binoculars-advice-from.html
If you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you will see a list of binocular picks for various price ranges. The author works for Vortex Optics, though I think he is actually very objective in his opinions.

There are also various sites with out of date information. I would take their recommendations with a grain of salt because they do not include consideration of more recent models such as those from Vortex, but they have some good info:

http://www.betterviewdesired.com/index.php

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/LivingBird/Winter2005/Age_Binos.html

Hope this helps,
Jim

[John Cantelo]

At the risk of sounding like a cracked record, at this price point you are much more likely to get better optics in porro prism design. To put it somewhat simplistically, roof bins are more difficult and hence more expensive to make than porros so more of waht you pay is spent on the glass etc in porros than roofs. If you must have a roof design I'd try to spend a little more,

John

[P H]

I have the Stokes Talon 8x42 made by Vortex, Sherwoods doing them at £125. Excellent first roof prism bino wide FOV, waterproof, good eye relief, twist up eye cups, very sharp and bright and good handling and unlimited life time warranty. I had Opticron Imagic 8X32 costing twice the price with hardly any difference in terms of optics I dont regret changing. The new Swift Reliant,s are small for 8X42 but with a black and silver finish not to everyones tastes. A good porro are bushnell 8X42 natureview optically very good but they are not waterproof and they are bigger than others mentioned for around the same price.

[P H]

Sherwoods also do the Minox 8X42 BV roof prisim binos at £110 these are smaller than the Vortex but optics wise very good seen these for £160 + may have gone for these over the Vortex if I'd seen them first.

http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/minox_bino/minox_bino_fs.html

http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/vortex_binoculars/vortex_binoculars_fs.htm

[Perry Grin]

I haven't looked through them myself, but I've heard a number of less than favourable comments on the H2O's. I used to own a pair of Busnell Natureview roofs, I thought they were excellent value for money - you should be able to pick these up for a little bitmore than £100.

What ever you go for try before you buy and see what suits you best. If you can, try a few different examples of the same bins, at this price range you can get quite a variation between individual units of the same model.

[stereotruckdriver]

If one wanted to I think Optics Planet still has the 8x32 Browning on sale? I also like Pentax PCF II poro in 8x40. Great inexpensive bino's.

[trashbird]

I second -- or actually third -- the recommendation of the Vortex Diamondbacks or Vortex Stokes Talons at 180-200 dollars American, and apparently available across the pond in your price range.

It really is possible to get a very good pair of roof prism binos for less than $200 US these days. Phase coated, fully multi-coated optics, well-built, fully waterproof.

I sometimes suspect J. Moore of working for Vortex, but they really have a nice line of binos -- I've been impressed by the models I've looked through.