[arry02]

my daughter is always trying to look through my binos but obviously it cant be in focus ,are there binos out there designed for children ,

[TheThing]

The ELC do some but they aren't great. RSPB do a pair too,but I've not looked thru them. I bought a pair of Bresser/Meade 10x50 for my 5 1/2 yr old boy from Lidle or Aldi for £20 but they are too big and heavy.

He's settled on my Option WP PC 8x42 roofs instead! Means I been to find a new pair!

[ehrodz]

I once bought my grandson of the same age a pair sold by National Geographic that were always focused (I forgot the right term for this) that worked well. I don't know if these are still available.

[squidge]

The opticron savanna has a reduced ipd especially for children.

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/savanna.htm

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/savanna_wp.html

Ger.

[dalat]

Ideal are binos designed from 2 toilet paper rolls and tape. Easy to focus, and not too much of investment.

With 6 or 7 years, real binos in 6x30 or similar configurations start to be interesting.

[TheThing]

Originally Posted by dalat

Ideal are binos designed from 2 toilet paper rolls and tape. Easy to focus, and not too much of investment..

Still my favorite alphas!

[dwatsonbirder]

How about these:

http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/rspb-puf...inoculars.html

Think they are designed for children.

[tangerine]

a lightweight and inexpensive monocular might do the trick for a 4 to 5 y.o.

[tangerine]

one thing to watch out for is that young children can like to keep advancing on their subject until their optics collide with it!

[Farnboro John]

Weight is important, but they will get used to it. Don't make the dude mistake of thinking smaller person = smaller magnification required (seen too many his and hers couples his 10X40s, her 8X30s and a good deal of whining about not being able to see details).

Also childrens' eyesight can make better use of good optics than yours can (no offence) so spend on them what you would spend on you. It will fire their interest whereas knowing they have second best will turn them off.

John

[dalat]

My comment above wasn't purely joking. From my own experience, a real binocular for 4-5 year old kids does not make much sense. In this age, kids want to do the same thing as daddy does, they are not much interested at actually seeing things bigger. Very much like with phones, they can do endless phone calls with a toy phone in this age.
I bought a 6x30 Yosemite for my son when he was 5, he liked it, but he only starts to actually really look through it since he is 7.
So before you buy something, try and construct a toilet roll bino together with your kid, I bet that will be a success.

[Robert Wallace]

Just received the RSPB catalogue today. They sell a starter pair for youngsters aged 7 plus costing around £27 - 6x17 and a more expensive pair around £50.

[Steve Babbs]

I started my kids using my 8 x20 Swarvoskis thinking they'd find them easier as they were light but they found them hard to use and my full size bins much easier. I'm sure there's a technical reason for this. but it does seem that children actually want better bins than adults! I think we forget that using bins actually takes rather a lot of getting used to, as it's second nature to us.

[14Goudvink]

My son has enjoyed his Pentax Papillo 6.5x21 since he was 5 years old. From the beginning he has really used them (not just mimicking daddy). They are also great for bugs with their 50 cm close focus.

I think low weight, small size and a somewhat lower magnification to reduce image shake are aspects to consider. What I also like about the Papillo is that there are no moving external parts that get sand in them. My son manages to fall with every time he uses them so no external moving parts make for easy cleaning.

George