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New to Birdwatching - Which binoculars? Tight budget! (1 Viewer)

rjmartin

rjmartin

Well-known member
Hey There,

Would like to start off by saying how glad I am to have joined the forum.

Anyway I'm very new to bird watching and I am looking to buy my first pair of binoculars, now I am a student and so therefore am on a very, very tight budget (£50).

Is there anything half decent I can get for this?

A couple I have been looking at:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5800267/Trail/searchtext>BINOCULARS.htm

http://direct.asda.com/Celestron-UpClose-10x50-Porro-Binoculars/000624612,default,pd.html

What's the difference between the top link and bottom link (bar the saving of £13?!)

Somebody also suggested these:

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/Praktica/birding/binoculars/CN10x42G-roof.html

Feel free to suggest any items from Argos, Tesco Direct, Asda Direct, Amazon etc

Or would a telescope be better?

Thanks very much for your help!

Cheers, Rob
 
Hi,

And very welcome to birdforum.

First, at your price range you'll get the best optical performance from a porro prism bino (the kind of W-shaped ones in your first links). The practica roof prism (H-shaped) is probably not as good optically.

Most birders (I think) including me tend to prefer 8x binos over 10x due to greater image stability and they are less tiering to the eyes in the long run. Also the 8x binoculars have a bigger field of view compared to similar 10x. A bigger F o V makes it easier to find and keep the birds in view.

Unless you are going to use them much for low light birding I think 30mm objectives are good. Then you get some more F o V and saves some weight compared to 40-50mm ones.

Maybe this 8x30 can be worth the £15 extra. I haven't tried this model myself, but I have an other Opticron porro that I'm very happy with, and I've heard much good of Opticron in general. These are within your budget, but I don't know anything about them.

You could also look for used binos, for example at the Classifieds - For Sale
or
Kayoptical
or
CleySpy
or some other place.

If you stretch your budget a bit the Nikon Action 8x40 might be a good choice. But you could probably stretch it even more and end up with a Swarovision! ;)

That's my advice, and I'm sure you'll get more and different ones from others. From reading this forum now and then I've come to notice that optical preference is a highly individual thing. And that makes it even more fun!

Good luck with the binoculars hunting, and enjoy your new hobby!:t:
 
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Welcome from the other side of the pond......are you anywhere close to a shop that handles some binos? If so, the first thing to do is head there, handle & look thru some. That'll give you a pretty good idea of where to start. Opinions here will vary widely, and after you've had a chance to examine a few of different powers, size, etc, you can narrow it down, then post your considerations here, and see what everybody sez. My tuppence....
 
Welcome Rob.

Being in the Wets Mids you cant be a millions miles from Focus Optics nr Coventry so I strongly suggest you go and have butchers at some bins side by side and see what you're getting for your money. Tim Fallawell and his team are brilliant.
 
Rob,

you can do a lot worse - and spend a lot more doing so - than these.

I own a pair (an older version) and - hand to God - they compare surprisingly well to my Leica 8 x 32 BAs, which are extremely good bins. The 7 Day Shop bins have a rather long minimum close focusing distance, but optically and in construction terms, they're amazingly good.

If I didn't know the price of 'em I'd have guessed well into three figures.

I posted this years ago, and stand by the opinion I expressed then.
 
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My suggestion is to take a look at eBay, and then search for Deltrintem or Jenoptem 8X30 made in DDR by Carl Zeiss Jena. Many of these have T3M multicoated optics and you should be able to get something well within your budget that will serve you well for many years. It won't be new and it might look a bit old-fashioned, but so what?
Something else worth keeping a look-out for is binoculars that were made in USSR. These were sold in the 60s, and 70s at prices way below their true value and as a result were thought by many to be of poor quality, but were in fact excellent, and remain so today. They have a faint yellow tinge but this is not a problem in my experience. They turn up in car boots and charity shops and should definitely not be despised. Only a few weeks ago I paid £12.99 in a charity shop in Portslade near Brighton for an 8X30 USSR binocular in its leather case all in mint condition except for the original owner's initials scratched on to the paintwork.
Just keep your eyes open and I wish you all the best!
 
Welcome to Birdforum, Rob.

All sound advice here, I have only two further suggestions for you:

Forget the Praktica 10x42, the close focus point is mentioned as being 8.5 meters! Way to far off for birding in general. You'll have to walk backwards to focus on something nearby, that's not good.

First buy a pair of bins, a telescope comes in second place.

Kind regards,

Ronald
 
KorHaan said:
First buy a pair of bins, a telescope comes in second place.
Click to expand...

Totally agree.

And also, to get a decent scope it's going to cost at least five times as much. As the magnification increases the need for high quality optics skyrockets!
 
rjmartin said:
Hey There,

Would like to start off by saying how glad I am to have joined the forum.

Anyway I'm very new to bird watching and I am looking to buy my first pair of binoculars, now I am a student and so therefore am on a very, very tight budget (£50).

Is there anything half decent I can get for this?

A couple I have been looking at:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5800267/Trail/searchtext>BINOCULARS.htm

http://direct.asda.com/Celestron-UpClose-10x50-Porro-Binoculars/000624612,default,pd.html

What's the difference between the top link and bottom link (bar the saving of £13?!)

Somebody also suggested these:

http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/Praktica/birding/binoculars/CN10x42G-roof.html

Feel free to suggest any items from Argos, Tesco Direct, Asda Direct, Amazon etc

Or would a telescope be better?

Thanks very much for your help!

Cheers, Rob
Click to expand...

That budget is little to tight. Can you borrow some money from your parents? That's what I do. Tell them you want a Zeiss 8x32 FL for christmas or maybe your birthday. Sell some stuff on E-bay that you don't need.
 
KorHaan said:
Come on, man, give me a break.

English is not my native language, keep that in mind, if you please.

Best regards,

Ronald
Click to expand...

I'm not making fun of your English - your English is fine. I just found humor in what you said. It's like a dog chasing his tail :t:
 
Last edited:
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