wanderer55
Well-known member
Well I've been looking thru and trying many binoculars now. I have some thoughts about what I will have to find. From what I can gather and figure out, I need to keep the FOV narrow. I am finding that anything past 6.0-6.2 degrees AFOV or more than 330' FOV causes me to see a rather semi-opaque outer ring. The wider the FOV, the larger the ring is. I believe it's my eyes, not the binoculars. I could use something with a wide FOV, but the semi-opaque ring tends to aggravate, since my eyes want to be distracted by it instead of just using the center of the field.
So, I need to find something with a 6.0 degree or 330' or less FOV. I have a budget of $175 and that's stretching it past the limit. I want to stick with 8x. I shake too much for 10x and in open field viewing, 6x is not enough magnification.
There are a couple so far that I found to be very good. The Bushnell Legend 8x42 roof was really what I would call excellent.......... Except the one I bought was used and I believe it had been banged up and the collimation was way off. I could center the left eye on an object and the right would be all the way off center and a little high, so I feel it had been banged up. I got rid of it. I also found the Vortex Diamondback 8.5x50 to be excellent, but my IPD is less then 59 and the minimum of the Vortex was 60.
I have not found anything else that does not give me the semi-opaque outer band in the FOV. I need to find something with a narrow FOV.
So far I feel that a new Bushnell Legend 8x42 roof would work. Also there's the Pentax WP II 8x40 porro that has a narrow FOV. Unfortunately it has the recessed eyepieces, so it might not work with my eyeglasses. I find that I need 16-18mm of eye relief to see the full FOV with my glasses.
I figure some of you might know of some other possibilities in the under 6.0 degree or 330' FOV, 8x power, over 16mm eye relief and under $175 Price range. I am not finding much and there may not be any recourse other than to just let well enough alone and stop birding, but I really hate to do that. After seeing how clear and sharp the Vortex was, I just will not go back to the old Sears porro.
So, I need to find something with a 6.0 degree or 330' or less FOV. I have a budget of $175 and that's stretching it past the limit. I want to stick with 8x. I shake too much for 10x and in open field viewing, 6x is not enough magnification.
There are a couple so far that I found to be very good. The Bushnell Legend 8x42 roof was really what I would call excellent.......... Except the one I bought was used and I believe it had been banged up and the collimation was way off. I could center the left eye on an object and the right would be all the way off center and a little high, so I feel it had been banged up. I got rid of it. I also found the Vortex Diamondback 8.5x50 to be excellent, but my IPD is less then 59 and the minimum of the Vortex was 60.
I have not found anything else that does not give me the semi-opaque outer band in the FOV. I need to find something with a narrow FOV.
So far I feel that a new Bushnell Legend 8x42 roof would work. Also there's the Pentax WP II 8x40 porro that has a narrow FOV. Unfortunately it has the recessed eyepieces, so it might not work with my eyeglasses. I find that I need 16-18mm of eye relief to see the full FOV with my glasses.
I figure some of you might know of some other possibilities in the under 6.0 degree or 330' FOV, 8x power, over 16mm eye relief and under $175 Price range. I am not finding much and there may not be any recourse other than to just let well enough alone and stop birding, but I really hate to do that. After seeing how clear and sharp the Vortex was, I just will not go back to the old Sears porro.