Advice on Inexpensive Roofs Sought

[orbitaljump]

Im fairly well informed about binoculars. But Ive always been a porro man myself. I have for instance 10x70 Fujinon Polaris and 7x50 Nikon Prostars. What I want to know is any recommendations for inexpensive roof prisms. Both of my two listed binos are way above my real budget. Im thinking below $250. Also, I am especially interested in older binos that I may be able to find on ebay used for good prices. But also, more recent roofs that are inexpensive. I have extensive experience with porros and little experience with roofs. Ive looked through Zeiss Classic Roofs and Swarovski 8x30's but just casually. I know that these are way out of my budget.

Any wisdom you share with me on the matter would be immensely appreciated. I know you birders love the roof prism binos and have extensive knowledge in this area.

PS---Im more of a stargazer than a birder. Though I love optics and have a growing collection of binos of all sizes.

Kind regards

orbitaljump

[downunder]

I just purchased a pair a Carson 8x42 XM roof prism binoculars from eBinoculars.com for $168. I don't have a lot of experience with binoculars but these are 1000% better than my 7x26 Tasco eyemax binoculars. They are phase coated, O-ring sealed waterproof, have extra long eye relief (22mm), rubberised coating, and a limited lifetime warranty. They have also received good reviews at such places as www.naturephotographers.net/articles0404/je0404-1.html and at www.archerytalk.com/vb/showthread.php?t=115013&highlight=carson. In every way they appear outstanding value for money. As a stargazer you might be more interested in their 10x50 set. They seem to indicate on the eBinoculars website that international buyers cannot use their credit card but I did, ordered the binoculars on Thursday and they arrived at my address in rural Australia the following Monday.

Im fairly well informed about binoculars. But Ive always been a porro man myself. I have for instance 10x70 Fujinon Polaris and 7x50 Nikon Prostars. What I want to know is any recommendations for inexpensive roof prisms. Both of my two listed binos are way above my real budget. Im thinking below $250. Also, I am especially interested in older binos that I may be able to find on ebay used for good prices. But also, more recent roofs that are inexpensive. I have extensive experience with porros and little experience with roofs. Ive looked through Zeiss Classic Roofs and Swarovski 8x30's but just casually. I know that these are way out of my budget.

Any wisdom you share with me on the matter would be immensely appreciated. I know you birders love the roof prism binos and have extensive knowledge in this area.

PS---Im more of a stargazer than a birder. Though I love optics and have a growing collection of binos of all sizes.

Kind regards

orbitaljump

[ILRookieBirder]

Just doing some research on field glasses too and found this site very helpful, but seriously intense:

http://betterviewdesired.com/RefSet.html

Hope it helps you close in on a pair of roofs for you. I settled on the Swift 8.5x44 Audubons for my budget. Hope you can make time to read the reviews and the article on picking a pair of glasses

[solentbirder]

...I am especially interested in older binos that I may be able to find on ebay used for good prices....

Personally, I'd avoid buying older roof prisms. The current crop of mid to low price roof prism binos are very much better than they were a few years ago. In particular, phase coating is now common in the lower price range and this can make a big difference to the performance of roofs (not needed in porros although you still find salesmen who'll tell you roofs are better because they're phase coated !!!). You'll find a lot of people are very positive about the Nikon Sporter 8x36 in the low price range and the Nikon 8x42 Monarch is well regarded in the mid-price range. Hope this helps.

P.S. you do well to find any binoculars that can match your Fujinons and your Nikon 7x50 ProStar for pure optical performance.

[downunder]

You will find a lot of favourable comments about the XM Carson series of binoculars if you do a search on Carson in the binocular forum of OpticsTalk.com.. These discussions include comparisons to some other binoculars.

[orbitaljump]

What are the top binocular/spotting scope discussion forums?

[Chris Oates]

I settled on the Swift 8.5x44 Audubons for my budget.

Me too - I was birding with a pair of Chinnon 8x20s & Nikon porro zoom but the experience wasn't good - I could have bought any binocular but wasn't sure I'd be birding for long (silly idea) so I decided to buy a low/mid range bin - was going to get the Nikon Sportster but the eyecup problem and lack of waterproofing nudged me to get the Swift 828.
If I was never to own another binocular I'd be quite happy, great for use with glasses, perfect for people with small IPD (eyes close together) and the view is very neutral with no panning distortion.

[FrankD]

What are the top binocular/spotting scope discussion forums?

I have yet to find one that equaled this site in terms of format, quality of information and friendly folks in general. Opticstalk is informative as well but I believe the approach is a bit different than what you find here. Opticstalk is more of a hunting related site while this place takes the perspective of birders. Nothing really wrong with either but you have to take that into the context of the recommendations usually given. Birders and hunters can and do value different attributes of binoculars and spotting scopes.

To answer you question, my best suggestion would be the 8x42 Nikon Monarchs. I have seen them listed as low as $224-$249 on a few places on the web. Out of all the mid-low priced roofs that I have tried on the market they strike me as offering the best optics for the price. They have their drawbacks just like every other bin but just about everyone I have spoken with or read about that has tried them has commented favorably on them.

The Bushnell Legend series, Pentax HS, Windriver Cascades and Nikon Sporters would also all fit into that same general price point, depending on where you buy them, and I would suggest trying them out as well.

[Tero]

try amazon.com
It has Nikon Sporters etc starting from $80 thru an optics company. Monarchs too. Eagle Optics is good, but I did not see the cheap Sporter there anymore, it is 8x or 10x.