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Help - advice needed on compact binos (1 Viewer)

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Womble

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I am looking for some advice please. It is my Father's 60th Birthday soon and I would like to get him a good pair of compact binoculars.

He does alot of birdwatching and wildlife watching as well as walking so it is important that the binoculars are lightweight. I have been looking at Steiner Safari Pro 10x26 as well as Bushnell powerview 16x32.

Any views as to which of these would be better (I am confused as to why the 16x32 ones are cheaper than the 10x26 as I would expect them to be better, is it the name??)

I am not fixed by these so if you think that there is better around for around £100 I would be interested in knowing.

Any advice would be great, I want to get him something that he will really love! ;)
 
There are a lot of threads about compact binoculars on this site. It really depends on how muchyou want to spend and how small/light you want the binos. I would strongly recommend maximum 8x; more is less.
 
If he is already a birdwatcher does he have any opinions? Does he already have bins?

It's unlikely any even semi-serious birder would want to use compacts for a lot of birding. Most of us who do have them have them for car bins or "always carry" bins. You can see we can be a bit obsessive. But those are just for that time you see a bird unexpectedly but need a pair of bins (any pair of bins). But we wouldn't use them for an afternoon of birding.

As Tero suggests stay away from high magnification bins. 7x or 8x magnification are the easiest to use. Staying away from cheap roof prism compacts is probably a good idea too. The usual British recommendation is the Opticron Taiga 8x25 reverse porro (like most £100ish compacts it wil ahve decent optics).

But if he doesn't have a decent set of bins a mid-size (8 x 32ish) or full-size (8x40ish) bins might be a much better choice.

So tell us more about him ...
 
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Also, does he wear glasses? If so, it´s important to get binos with good "eye relief". Another >100 sterling compact that comes recommended is the Nikon Travelite 8x25. But heed the warnings of previous posters on this thread....stay away from higher magnifications, especially with compacts. The higher the mag, the less you'll see. Really.
 
Hi Womble
Try Opticron Oregon 8x32 LE WP, a hundred pounds ish, lightweight, wide field of view and light clear optics he'll be chuffed with them.
Regards
Ian
 
In your price range (which I calculate to be around $150 US), you might want to take a look at the Leupold Yosemite in either the 6x30 or 8x30. They are porros, but are quite light and small. Much smaller than I would have initially thought, once I held them. The image quality is very good, especially for the price.


Regards,

Gary
 
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Thanks for all the responses, really helpful.

He does wear glasses, so will bear in mind the eye relief and he has already got a pair of binos. They are Bushnell 10x25 and he tends to carry them around everywhere with him. He does alot of hill walking and always has them with him for that or when he is out and about during the day in case there is anything to spot.

I wanted to try and get him a better pair as a surprise, but they need to be lightweight as he has said in passing that he would not use anything heavy.

Maybe I am going to struggle to do better than what he has got for the money? Might have to raid the piggy bank and up my budget.
 
Hi Womble,

If you can, spend a little more money for Leupold Katmai 6x32. These have great eye relief and give a big bino view. They are very small, light and compact. Leupold Yosemite 6x are fantastic as well. But the Katmai's are best.

These will be much better than just about any compact bino.

Nikon ProStaff 8x25 ATB is very good as well.

Most Pentax compacts are nice and have good eye relief.

Cheers
 
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If he is settled on 10x, I guess a compact 10x25 Pentax roof prism model..see your local stores.. would be my choice. Or a similar 9x28. I still have an old 10x25 and was surprised it was not dimmer. In winter 8x25 is of more use. But also, the 10x25 I have is useless with glasses on.
 
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Womble said:
He does wear glasses, so will bear in mind the eye relief and he has already got a pair of binos. They are Bushnell 10x25 and he tends to carry them around everywhere with him. He does alot of hill walking and always has them with him for that or when he is out and about during the day in case there is anything to spot.
Click to expand...

I think the obvious move is to mid-size (32mm-ish) bins. Either 8x or perhaps 10x if he's stuck on that magnification. A decent 8x32 though would go down well I think but that would be rather above your £100 target.

The Opticron Oregon LE WP 8x32 (at £89 perhaps less online) sounds like a OK suggestion but it's not phase coated but it will be better than what he has (I suspect).

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

If you can stretch to the Opticron DISCOVERY WP PC 8x32 (at £139 list but you might it for £120 online) might be a rather better bet with phase correction, rather lighter than the Oregon and with better eye relief too. That seems to match the requirements better.

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/discovery_wp.htm
http://www.google.co.uk/products?q=opticron+DISCOVERY+WP+8x32

Not used either of these but the specs look decent.

The Leupold suggestions coming from Stateside are good (both the Yosemite and the Katmai) but Leupold is hardly available in the UK.

I think as the next day dawn's we'll see a few more Brit here giving Brit specific recommendations. Perhaps they could also suggest some UK available mid-sized porros that might work? Though they might be considered a bit big.
 
Have to say that I fell in love with the Leupold Katmai's but they are just too far out of my price bracket.

I have narrowed it down to two now:
The Leupold Yosemite 8x30 or the Opticron DISCOVERY WP PC 8x32.

I have managed to find a Leupold stockist in the UK, the 8x30 Yosemite is £114 (around $168) so well priced. I have found the Opticron Discovery's for £121 (around $180).

So in terms of price the two models are very are very similar. I am swinging between the two but think i will probably go for the Opticrons as they have the better eye relief and are lighter.

I am alot wiser about binos than i was two days ago, have really enjoyed researching them and have learnt alot, might even think about getting a pair for myself!

Cheers again for all the help, I was totally on the wrong track before I got all your advice :).
 
The Leupold 8x30 is a nice bin (and the view will probably be better than the Opticron) but the eye relief is marginal for a eyeglass wearer. I have the 8x30 and rather close fitting eyeglasses and it just about works for me. Others have more of a problem.

I think the Opticron may be the safer bet.
 
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