Help..Looking for 2nd pair of binos (1 Viewer)

Hi,I am new to the forums and I was looking for some help on finding a second pair of binoculars to compliment my newly purchased Bushnell 10X42 H2O. The 10X42's are bright and clear and have pretty good close focus of 12 ft (well good enough close focus for me).Basically, I go birding with my girlfriend and my idea is to have my girlfriend carry the 10X42's and I will carry a binocular with 12+ magnification. And we will just switch off according to how far the bird is. We have been birding for 4 years and have been sharing 16x32 bushnell's for the same amount of time. I know that 10x is the highest mag. that some birders use, but for me I just like having greater magification. And, I have a pretty steady hand so I can handle higher mag. Okay, I am a poor graduate student so I will can only afford a pair $200 or less. Maybe, maybe I would spend 300. I am looking for a good field of view, but with high mag. I was looking into the Nikon 16X50 Action Extreme and Nikon 16X50 Action (there is a difference in FoV), Vortex Vulture 12x50, Pentax 16X50 XCF, Brunton Eterna 15x51 (too expensive), Celestron outland 12X50 WP or maybe some Bushnells with 12X+. I have never tried any of these brands , but I was leaning towards Nikon 16x50 Action Extreme, but I like the size of 12x's. I am not bound by just these binoculars so please mention any other ones you have experience with. Thank you.

The Bushnell Powerview 16x50 is pretty poor. When you look at some better models you will find out you do not need more than 10-12x. There are some pretty cheap tiny scopes in hunting stores, 25x or so, even they are better. To identify shorebirds and such you will eventually get a proper scope. Good luck.

SouthTXBirder said:

I know that 10x is the highest mag. that some birders use, but for me I just like having greater magification. And, I have a pretty steady hand so I can handle higher mag.

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Birders tend not to use high magnification bins, but not just because of the problem of shake that you mention. Using 16x bins you're really limited to looking at birds that keep still long enough for you to find them in your tiny FOV and then get them in focus wth your tiny DOF. You may find that astronomers are more help.

Michael.

Welcome to Bird forum!

In general the higher a binocular's magnification gets the narrower it's field of view (FOV) will be. It's the eyepiece that govern's and good wide field eyepieces are expensive. You won't find many wide field binoculars at 10x and there will be even less available at higher powers. Eagle optics www.eagleoptics.com lists 6 between $150.00 and $300.00. 4 are 12x, 1 is 16x, and the other is 20x which is not hand holdable. The 1st 5 have FOV's as low as 216' up to 285.' That's not much and it will make close in birding quite difficult. They should do nicely on distant raptors and shore birds if that is your main interest.

You really should consider purchasing a 8x if you want a wide field. The Swift Audubon 8.5 x 44 Porro Prism is a good one to try. It is an excellent all purpose binocular with a
very wide FOV although it is rather bulky for people with small hands. And there are any number of 8 x 32 Roof Prism binoculars that have wide fields in your price range.
A wide field is generally considered a FOV of 7 degrees or more which is roughly 370' at 1000' yards. The Swift's above are 440 feet.
Cordially,
Bob :hi:

To balance the typical birders preferred magnification of 8x, with your desire for a little more "punch" than is generally recommended, have you considered the Leica Duovid 8+12 x 42? It's pretty much designed as a practical field solution to this dilemna.