Best Small Bins for <$125. Feeder Viewing! (1 Viewer)

Hey a bit more confussion to your enjoyment...Cameraland sells the Nikon Action 7x35 for 49!! demo unit,and the Nikon Extreme 7x35 for 89$...the extreme Action 7x is well regarded as a Work horse,..

If you want to try the celestron 8x30 ,they have one at warehouse deals,amazon ,for 28 $,guess Would be worht to give it a try,maybe will get you over until they release the BATman style leupolds

On second thought..those are probably the ones some of these guys returned!!!!!!OOh mAN,..I´d stay away from them!

Yeah, go for the Actions, check close focus. Oops 16ft. But they are some of the best value for under 100. Forget the 6x, go for 7x or 8x.

Phorts:
I bet you are fit to be tied. I have the Nikons and the Yosemite. They both are good,
and for your purpose, the 6x30 Leupold, would be the best choice. I've tested mine
and the close focus is close to 10 ft, I just checked mine. The specs on the new one look to be much the same, just a little different armor, same Field of View.

If you want these soon, just get the current version. I am thinking for $5.00 diff. the
new one is very much the same.

I really have nothing to gain here, but only advice from someone who has tried these.

Jerry

Oh for the love. Just when I FINALLY made a choice and purchased the Celestrons, I see that the Yosemite 6x30's are now $75 w/ Free ship!

So i go to cancel the order and it cant be cancelled. I give up..lol

I went w/ the Celestrons primarily because of price ($38 includes FREE ship). After all, if i didnt like them, I could easily return them and "upgrade' to the Yosemites, and still can.

The other factors were the extra 2x Zoom, and the advertised closer focus view. Also, getting the FOV and AFOV Specs in an 8x seemed pretty sweet, and for $38 shipped w/ 2 day shipping is hard to pass up, especially if they're just as nice as good a view as the Yosemites, save for the build and finish.

I just thought that doubling the cost to $90 shipped wasnt justifiable. And, if i really felt there was something to be desired, I could wait till the Batscopes came out and get those....

$38 for the Celestrons for FREE Shipping? Yeah... I had to do it almost.

Double the price for a nicer look? and 2x less zoom...Yeah, i would have done it... but i cant cancel. SO, the Celestons it is!


I dunno. Thanks for all your help, truly. You've been too kind.

I'll let you know how I make out...Hey, maybe i'll buy both and return the ones i dont like ...dont give me any ideas!

Phorts

After my reviews and experiences with the Celestron Nature 8x30's, every time I hear them mentioned I just grin and that classic Clint Eastwood line echos thru my mind - Do you feel lucky?

Hopefullly you will get a good one, as the view is truly great.

Must be discontinued. Eagle Optics doesn't list them anymore. Don't drop them off the sink!

Bob

Well, now you done it.

I just ordered the Yosemite 6x30s for $75 w/ free 2 day shipping (signed up for a free trial of Prime..that i will cancel as soon as i get the bins).

Should get both pair on Tuesday....

I'll give you my amatuer review once I've gotten a chance to play w/ both sets. The loser will be going back to Amazon...

Way to go...You got both pairs for...110?..If they are both of Your like,it seems like You and Your wife could both have binos for Christmas Bird Count..Dont Miss it!!!!!
Happy Holidays

phorts said:

The other factors were the extra 2x Zoom, and the advertised closer focus view. Also, getting the FOV and AFOV Specs in an 8x seemed pretty sweet

Click to expand...

Hi phorts,
if you read the second thread linked to by David Swain in post #6 above, and specifically post #38 on that thread, you will see that Henry Link (one of this forum's optics experts) bought and tested a pair of these Celestrons. He found that the magnification was only 6.9x, not 8x as claimed, and that the AFOV was only 55 degrees, not 65 degrees (amongst other problems). So it seems that they don't have a 2x magnification advantage over the Yosemites, and you have probably done the right thing by ordering a pair of those to compare.

7x is still good, it is almost ideal for the back yard
the Action porros would be my choice for under 100 dollars
that and the 8x30 Yosemite

NDhunter said:

Phorts:
I bet you are fit to be tied. I have the Nikons and the Yosemite. They both are good,
and for your purpose, the 6x30 Leupold, would be the best choice. I've tested mine
and the close focus is close to 10 ft, I just checked mine. The specs on the new one look to be much the same, just a little different armor, same Field of View.

If you want these soon, just get the current version. I am thinking for $5.00 diff. the
new one is very much the same.

I really have nothing to gain here, but only advice from someone who has tried these.

Jerry

Click to expand...

Hi NDhunter,
I've a pair of Zeiss Jena's: 8x30's porro.. (you know the one, East German) What's your opinion on these, if you know? If you know 'em - how do you rate them against the 'kitchen bins' in relation to comments on this thread...? I think they're sharp personally. There's A LOT of banter about the Yosemite 's..are they REALLY that good? I did have some time with Bushnell Elite 7x26 - beautiful reverse porro. NOT waterproof though, what a crying shame :C

Optiman,

I tried a lot before buying the Elites and compared them to a lot of others since. I've found nothing below £500 I would personally swap for the Elites (I know others find that odd), but I really want the 6x Yosemites as well. On technical points I'm sure they are well behind the old Zeiss and probably the Actions as well, but the view is just.... very nice. It hurts that I don't need a 6x as well as a 7x, but now it is being deleted the pressure is on.

David

Tero said:

Yeah, go for the Actions, check close focus. Oops 16ft. But they are some of the best value for under 100. Forget the 6x, go for 7x or 8x.

Click to expand...

Tero

I assume you are talking about the Actions and not the EX's. As I posted in another forum, I had the 7x35 Actions for a bathroom window bino and got rid of them, because of the lousy close focus as well as bad stray light issues. I replaced them with a pair of $30 7x35 Olympus Troopers which use Bak-7 prisms, and they are every bit as sharp, have a wider sweetspot, close focus of less than 10ft, and very little stray light issues.

I have not compared the more expensive Nikon Action EX's against the more expensive Olympus Pathfinders, so can't comment. But in my opinion the Troopers are a much better cheap bino than the Actions, and usually about $10 to $20 cheaper.

Sure, just thought the Actions are easy to find. And about 90% of the birders would find them useable, if nothing else is on hand. They do not feel awful, even if you have ten other pairs to compare to.

The Troopers look OK, good price. I just have never had them in hand.

Hey...I am curious!!..Did You ever get those two pairs?..curious about the Celestron´s are they any good,how do they compare to You?...

optiman said:

I've a pair of Zeiss Jena's: 8x30's porro.. (you know the one, East German) What's your opinion on these, if you know? If you know 'em - how do you rate them against the 'kitchen bins' in relation to comments on this thread...?

Click to expand...

It depends a bit on how old your 8x30's are. If they're already multicoated , they're pretty good with decent contrast, a wide field of view and an acceptable sweet spot. The older version with the single layer coating isn't quite as good, the difference in transmission is quite obvious. Even the multicoated ones aren't great by today's standards, but they're good. Nice, old-fashioned porros.

I personally think they're better than the Nikon Action series. The focussing is better, much more precise. I also think they're more durable.

Hermann

Soooo, I've gotten a chance to play with both pair of Bins for nearly a week now, and we have a CLEAR winner.

The LEUPOLD 6x30!s

Unfortunately, for the Celestrons, the Leupolds came in first (2 days after ordering from Amazon for $75 w/ shipping...STEAL!). Unboxing them was just the beginning of a very impressive experience. The nice leather case, the packaging, it was all very classy.

The Yosemites just felt SOLID in the hand. Light enough to be portable and not wear on your arms after long viewing, yet solid enough to make you feel like you're holding quality equipment. The Perfect Balance IMO. People want lightweight, but they dont want cheap...you really have to work to get both..and these guys did it up right.

I'm no purist, or even amatuer of anything binocular related, so I won't be giving a very useful review on the optics, but there's enough out there where I dont have to. All I can say is that, through my eyes, these puppies were sharp as ice and as bright as I would expect (no noticeable dimness). In fact, the image looked brighter than the naked eye, but at worst it was the same.

I never understood what the "3d effect" really LOOKED like until i focused on our bird feeder about 16 feet away.... and yup...that slightly blurred background and super crisp image really made the image POP. Very cool!

They showed up cold (shipping in New England in Winter will do that) so the focus wheel was stiff, but that cleared up after a day of being in the house. Now it's quite smooth (although i can hear it crackle a little sometimes...but is not concerning like there's sand or something). The cold also caused some fog on the outside of the lens, again, cleared up after awhile.

The Eye Cups were nice, nothing special but definitely not cheap crap plastic. THey felt nice on the sockets and they stayed in place when dialed all the way out (how i used them).

Diopter was spot on but i played around with it cuz i didnt know what it was for until now. It ended up back in the default position, and will stay there as it's nicely out of the way and sturdy enough to stick in place...

let's see, what else. OH MY, OF COURSE. My BIGGEST concern with these going in was there Close Focus View. Dude. As far as I could tell the CFV was around 8 feet. At WORST it was 10ft as i could nearly focus on the ground just a couple feet in front of me and i'm 6' tall. So, needless to say it was NO problem while viewing the feeder from 16-20' away. And to think I was worried... I actually watched TV from my couch (TV is 10' away) and it was crystal clear..kinda fun actually...

My second biggest concern was the Mag power. Would it bee too little? Well, I can honestly say that this remains my biggest concern even after using them for awhile. Sure, it brings the birds at the feeder to a very comfortable and pleasurable viewing distance (Can see two feeders in the same frame) but you dont get that SUPER CLOSE UP feeling like you could be pecked in the face at any moment (what i was hoping for sorta). I think my wife has been leading on a bit that she's a bit disappointed with the magnification, but is still very cool and she's been having a ball with them. A little to be desired in this area.... but...you can't have EVERYTHING....


Or can you? The 8x30's with similar specs are due out soon... I may just send these back and hold out for the 8x30's to come out.... I guess it will all depend on when they will be available for purchase and if my Wife really things the Mag is enough of an issue to deal with all that. At the moment, it's only a small concern that fades away after a few moments of viewing...but it's nagging at the back of my mind.... and I dont like that. Kinda like when I bought my 720p TV and watching 1080p BLU Ray content on it and wondering how much i'm missing. 720p still looks AMAZING.....but....what if? (Granted I have the BEST 720p panel ever made - Pioneer 5080HD...and so i think the analogy fits the situation given the quality of products)

So, other than that I have nothing but GREAT things to say about these bad boys. Super soft yet rugged rubber armour. There is NOTHING distracting about the view to me, so, if i can't notice it (edge diffusion, rogue light, weird stuff) then I'm good. It's only when something is noticeable to my eye that it will bug me, and these perform every bit as good as I would hope.

Anything else? Hmmm. The caps are gone i think..lol. I figured they'd last a little longer than that.i think the dog ate them. Not sure i would like them attached anyways but some people might care. Neck strap i thought was great. Nice lightweight neoprene material, really comfortable. I used them for about 30 minutes straight and no headache or eye strain....

Lovin em!


As for the Celestrons, well....no "kid at christmas" feeling when opening the box (although I was all sorts of ready for them to see what the 8x felt like over the 6x). I think the reason is because the case was just a nylon case, the packaging wasnt as nice, and when i took them out of the plastic, they were just....well, plastic. They didnt exude that quality look and feel that the Yosemites have. But, for 1/2 the price...I could deal, and I tried to put that out of my mind (although admittedly it never left....as I was imaging my wife opening the Leupolds, or these...lol).

So, bad news, I lost in the game of luck. The little knobby that connects the arms in the middle between the eye pieces was loose, and I didnt figure this out until I was investigating why in the HECK only the right side would focus in and out and the left side stayed put. I tried tightening it but it just kept loosening. The two arms acted like independent suspension. I could hear loud crackling when focusing and the Diopter was of very little use even at full....full whatever.

Despite getting a bad pair, i tried like all hell to get it focused so I could at least take a look at the view with them so I could assess the Mag and view quality before tossing them back in the box. And, I just never got that same banging crisp quality, even when i had everything spot on focused.

The eye cups were of less quality than the Yosemites (tey felt more plasticy and rougher on the ole eye sockets), and they didnt stay quite well in place unless they were full out or full in.

The view was OK, but I was soo bummed about the broken set that I never gave it a fair shot. My main concern was seeing how the 8x performed over the 6x.

I can say that.... I think the 8x is a better fit. Super Up Close view of birds at feeder and a nicer closer view of things at a distance. Shake wasnt too bad on either, and not noticeable enough on the 8x Celestrons to make me notice.

Oh, and the Close Focus View of the Celestrons was WORSE than the Yosemites! (Through My eyes of course). Just awful.

So, needless to say the Celestrons are going back for my refund.... yay. ANd I won't be rolling the dice again, and I would strongly recommend you save your time and money and just go for quality. There is NOTHING about the Celestrons that outperformed or impressed me oer the Leupolds, except the price. And, for me...... yeah they are DOUBLE The price, but we're talking about the difference between $40 and $80, not $500 and $1000. If that were the case, i'd take another shot at the Celestrons and give them a chance to make good....but as it stands.... Leupold has a happy customer.

So, i hope this amatuer review from an obsessive compulsive researcher has helped made at least one persons decision somewhat easier, then this really unnecessarily long post would have been worth typing.


Feel free to post any questions about the Leupolds and I'll get back to you ASAP. Sorry, the Celestrons are in a box..... I said good day!

Happy New Year everyone and thank you again for all of your wonderful insight and knowledge...looking forward to checking out some crap close up!

Peace!

Phorts

The 8x30's have been out ever since the 6x30's, and you could exchange them at Amazon as I see they have a warehouse deal 8x30 for $75. I just bought another 8x30 Yosemite Blaze Orange Camo off ebay for $53 NIB.