Bino's for £150 ish??

[Stuart]

Cant afford the top of the range swanky things, but Im looking for any suggestions or websites that would suggest a good roof prism bino 8x30 for around £150-£200 ?? Looking at Warehouse express gives Nikon sporters or Bushnell H20's or Legends,B+L discoverer at the higher end,there does seem plenty of choice,but nobody seems to review this end of the market!! I know you got try em first, but Ive had my old swift porro's for ages and fancy buying myself a prezzie.

Cheers B (:

[pduxon]

There was a review in Birdwatching a while back.

The Bushnell's get good write ups and the Nikon's are very impressive for what warehouse express are charging. Also have a look at the Opticron range.

Bear in mind that a porro will probably outperform a roof £ for £ at that level. Roofs are quite expensive to make.

And do try them.

[scampo]

My wife has the 8x32 Sporters and my brother's wife the 10x32. Both are excellent but, for me, the 8x32 are the better buy - and are a bargain at the new Warehouse express price (a local shop has them in the window at almost double their price). Bushnell also produce a fine pair called H20.

[SimonC]

Another vote for the Nikon sporters 8x36, Steve (scampo) can't be fully awake yet if he thinks they're 8x32! ;)
If you can, I would urge you to test them out first (maybe at a local camera shop?) because the twist up eye-cups are a tad on the loose side (as has been mentioned many times here!)
But if you don't find that a problem I reckon you'd be suitably impressed.
The close focus is superb (under 8' or ~2.40 metres - on mine at least ;))
Ideal if you plan to watch Butterflies/Dragonflies etc. as well as birds.

Good luck with it :t:

[bill lord]

Cant afford the top of the range swanky things, but Im looking for any suggestions or websites that would suggest a good roof prism bino 8x30 for around £150-£200 ?? Looking at Warehouse express gives Nikon sporters or Bushnell H20's or Legends,B+L discoverer at the higher end,there does seem plenty of choice,but nobody seems to review this end of the market!! I know you got try em first, but Ive had my old swift porro's for ages and fancy buying myself a prezzie.

Cheers B (:

I have a pair of Delta porro prism 8x42 which are In Focus's own brand which are very adequate, my wife has a pair of Swift Ultralite 8x42 which had I seen them before I bought mine I would probably have bought, though there is not a lot of difference. In a similar quality you will also find the Opticron Imagic 8x42 Imagic binos would do the business. When I was looking a couple of years ago I could not find any Roof Prism binos that gave the same sort of quality image as these for less than £250.

[marcus]

Cant afford the top of the range swanky things, but Im looking for any suggestions or websites that would suggest a good roof prism bino 8x30 for around £150-£200 ?? Looking at Warehouse express gives Nikon sporters or Bushnell H20's or Legends,B+L discoverer at the higher end,there does seem plenty of choice,but nobody seems to review this end of the market!! I know you got try em first, but Ive had my old swift porro's for ages and fancy buying myself a prezzie.

Cheers B (:
Hello Stuart
I have Nikon Sporters, (I'll admit though, 10x36) and the Bushnell H20 and I'll can tell you, the Nikons are a lot better.
marcus

[Tero]

I now have th Nikons, I was impressed with them over Bushnells and other common brands. They run around 150-200 $ here, both 8x and 10x. Ihave not gotten to try them out much, officially I don't get them till my birthday a month away. They weigh 700g. All the light weights seem to be 25mm binoculars. Price goes up in the 35-40mm range, and so does the weight.

The ones my wife uses are Minoltas, some sporty name, and they are also very bright, but those small porros. Much lighter. 8x25 and 10x25 Minoltas and probably Nikons are under $100.

[Tero]

There are actually fewer 30mm than the 25mm and then over 30mm models. The good Nikon 8x25s run
Product Code: NI-BI-Travelite-7470

Regular price: $139.99
Sale price: $114.99
You Save: $25.00
Nikon 8x25 Travelite Binoculars

So if you are unhappy with what you have and they are already 8x25, then move up to 8x36 or bigger, and pay the higher price. That is my take on this.

[scampo]

Another vote for the Nikon sporters 8x36, Steve (scampo) can't be fully awake yet if he thinks they're 8x32! ;)

Good luck with it :t:
It was quite late and i don't know about you, but I do have to rush these replies these days as there is so much activity on BF. I knew the Nikon's weren't 40/42mm!

[SimonC]

It was quite late and i don't know about you, but I do have to rush these replies these days as there is so much activity on BF. I knew the Nikon's weren't 40/42mm!
Only joking with you Steve :D

[scampo]

Doh! You see, Simon - I was even too slow to notice the joke. Ho-hum - a long day!

[Stuart]

Thank for the tips folks, the Nikon does seem like a cracking price, esp at w/h express, Ive looked online and its by far the best price.I must try and get my hands on a pair to try em out...

cheers again B (:

[Geoff Brown]

Yep, those Warehouse Express Nikons are really good for the money. I got a pair a few weeks ago. :-O

[RAH]

Stuart,
I think a really good binoc that fits your requirements is the Pentax 8x28 DCF MP. They are roof prism, phase corrected, waterproof, twist-up eyecups, long eye-relief (20mm). Weigh only 16 oz, and are therefore somewhat smaller than regular 8x32. They got a glowing review from Birdwatchers Digest.

Most places seem to sell them for $259, but I got mine at Willoughby's (http://www.willoughbys.com) for $195. There was a $30 rebate (i.e. final cost $165), but that period has expired, unfortunately.

[pduxon]

The Pentaxes are really hard to get over here but you can get them from Amazon for £130.10

[normjackson]

Yep, I was going to suggest the Pentax 8x28; the mention of 8x32 suggested perhaps you wanted something a nice bit lighter than the average 8x42 which the Nikon 8x36 perhaps is not. Maybe for non-specs wearers the Pentax eyecups might stay up a little better than the Nikons'? Smaller FOV a bit of a downer though. Here's info on Pentax :
http://www.pentaxusa.com/products/binoculars/bino_overview.cfm?productID=62610

If you are looking towards something lightweight, the following two models might also be worth a look. Haven't seen them as heavily discounted as the other two hence would probably be at top-end of budget.
Helios AM-6 8x32 :
http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/products.asp?D=47&P=124
Opticron Traveller 8x32 (in £150-£250 section) :
http://www.opticron.co.uk/
Might also be worth looking at something like the Zeiss Conquest 8x30 or Nikon EII 8x30 porro (not so great with specs) just to see what an extra £100 buys.

Happy hunting.

[Stuart]

I guess the hard part about looking online is seeing the bargins, but not being able to try em first, thats why I looking for first impressions...

Nobody seems to be rubbishing certain brands or models which I though was going to happen!!So may be a case of ordering the Nikon sporters from W/H express and tryin em for size, they are a very tempting price!!

Cheers again for all your thoughts

Stuart B (:

[scampo]

I can't think you'll get better value - a top name at an unbelievable price, really.

[marcus]

Steve is absolutely correct. Get em! Those Nikon Sporter's. Get em!

[scampo]

I just saw a pair in a Leicester shop (Youngs Cameras) at £229-00 for the 10x36 Nikon Sporters. They just have to be good value at ~£100.00.

[AnnieW]

I guess the hard part about looking online is seeing the bargins, but not being able to try em first, thats why I looking for first impressions...

Nobody seems to be rubbishing certain brands or models which I though was going to happen!!So may be a case of ordering the Nikon sporters from W/H express and tryin em for size, they are a very tempting price!!

Stuart - I bought the Nikon's (10 x 36) completely on spec. from Warehouse Express as I was after a new pair of bins. I ordered them Thursday evening. They arrived approximately 12 hours later and IMHO they are excellent value. I wasn't at all disappointed. The eye cups are a little loose (as noted somewhere on this thread) but I can live with that ... as so far, this is the only negative I've noted.

[jpoyner]

Have to agree also with the posts below re. Nikon Sporters. Have been using a pair of 10s for a few weeks now and they are excellent bins for the price. £125 from Warehouse Express........think you will find them hard to beat in this price range.
A nice "feel" to them, light, compact and very sharp.

JP

[Tero]

I used my Nikon Sporters for the cranes over the weekend and other viewing. They seem to be what I wanted all along. Mine cost $200 here.

[marcus]

Stuart
You must get the message now, right? You're going to get those Nikon Sporters. But of course you may have done so already.