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Best Porro 10x50 or 12x50 for under $500 (1 Viewer)

craig braddick

Active member
Hi People:

I was telling another racecalling colleague of mine about this site the other day and he asked me to pose the following question.

He currently uses Nikon Action EX 12x50 Binoculars on a stand for racecalling and is reasonably happy with them.

He wanted to know about recommendations for porro prism binoculars, either 12x50 or 10x50 for less than $500.

To him, a wide field of view would be helpful and the feeling they are not going to fall apart. I suggested a used pair of Dekarems/Jenoptems would fit the bill perfectly but he is unsure about buying used. Weight is not so much of an issue as they will be on a stand.

Also suggested these: http://www.bigbinoculars.com/ultra50.htm

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Craig.
 
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It is pretty hard to find any 10x or 12x with a wide field. Eagle optics used to have a good way to search for binoculars by both size and price together but under their new system it can't be done without going through a dozen or so pages.

Would he be interested in a Canon 10 x 30 Image Stabilized binocular which have porro prisms. It's field is 315 feet and it costs just under $400.00.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/canon/canon-image-stabilized-10x30-binocular

Bob
 
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It is pretty hard to find any 10x or 12x with a wide field. Eagle optics used to have a good way to search for binoculars by both size and price together but under their new system it can't be done without going through a dozen or so pages.

Would he be interested in a Canon 10 x 30 Image Stabilized binocular which have porro prisms. It's field is 315 feet and it costs just under $400.00.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/binoculars/canon/canon-image-stabilized-10x30-binocular

Bob

Hi Bob:

I think the only issue would be would the 10x30's be bright enough an hour or so enough before sunset or under stadium style floodlights (which I appreciate may not be natural birdwatching conditions.!)

Craig
 
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Standard 10x50 should work, Nikon Pentax etc. What he has. The image stabilization would just give steadyness. There are other models of IS binos.
 
Craig,
For 12x50, I don't think your friend could do better without jumping to the way overbudget Nikon SE.

For 10x50, that Oberwerk is optically the best, and also the best built (and weighing over 3 lbs), in that price range. This top quality Chinese model, variously branded Orion, Garrett, and William Optics, is highly regarded by the astrobuffs at Cloudy Nights forum, and is considered only a small step below the best in class Fujinon FMT-SX, the only relative deficiency being the field edge is only average sharp, unlike the Swarovision-rivaling Fujinon.

Still, there are issues with it to watch out for for this usage, that don't bother stargazers. The individual focus eyepieces may be a nuisance if refocusing is necessary for different parts of the racetrack. And, just to "project" from my experience with a 10x50 Fujinon I owned, scattered light suppression was not good, not up to the other excellent standards of the binocular, and sort of killed the deal for daytime use in any but relatively nice lighting conditions. I don't know if the Oberwerk suffers from this or not, but as it is pretty much a Fujinon copy, I would watch out for it. I imagine bright lights around the track would demand good performance there.

And finally, even if that 10x50 turned out to be perfect beyond compare, a merely good 12x would show more, mounted on a tripod.

Everything considered, I think his current setup may be hard to beat within that budget.
Ron
 
Canon IS 12x36. He´ll get better views with this, even in low light, than most 12x50 non-IS. And it´s relatively cheap. And light.
 
Hmm.

Nikon hi-end Porros costs more, than 500.

If you search "Best Porro 10x50 or 12x50 for under $500", you can try
Vortex Razor 12x50.
Yes, its roof, but with ED glass.
 
For brightness I think he would be better off with a good porro or a roof with dielectric prisms over a roof with silver coated prisms.

Bob
 
I'd look at some Swift Audubon porros in 8.5x44. Those have a very wide field (430') and the difference in 8.5 and 10x is not much, to me anyway. Those are probably the best quality sub $500 porro. They should be plenty bright enough too. Another thing is wide fov and 50mm objectives are not typically found in the same optic.

The Swifts can be problematic for some as they have very large diameter eyepices and will not fit small eyes or narrow pupils well in some cases.

Lots of good 42 mm choices in roof prisms in that price range any more, so there is a far better selection there than in porros.
 
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I second Ron's suggestion of the Nikon 12x50SE even if they are beyond the requested budget. Here is my reasoning: (1) after using a 12x binocular I cannot see the user being happy reverting to a 10x glass, (2) refocusing individual focus binoculars would be a pain in the rear when following horses running around a track, (3) the advantage of image stabilization is largely wasted in this situation since the binoculars are mounted, (4) the user wants a porro prism binocular so that rules out any of the roof prism options, and (5) the user wants a new binocular which rules out my second choice, the Docter 12x50B Nobilem. If the budget cannot be raised I suggest that the user stick with what he has since he is "...reasonably happy with them."
 
The center focusing Nikon 10 x 42 SE porro prism is very sharp, with exemplary edge to edge sharpness too, and it is also very bright; but many people have eye placement problems with it (and with all of the SE's) which cause "kidney beaning" blackouts. If he tries one of these and finds that he can use it he will be very pleased with it. It is as well constructed as a binocular can be that is not water proof and it will last him for many years.

It also is also easily hand holdable. The 12x might cause some problems there if he can't use it while braced up in some kind of fashion.

Bob
 
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