[parrot.fan]

Hi all, As a newcomer to birdwatching i am looking for a pair of
binoculars. my first selections were either Bushnell or Opticron
8x40. but now I am leaning towards Swift Audobons 8.5x42
porros.
Any advice would be appreciated. cheers.

[IanF]

Really it's down to personal choice and handling. You really must try them out for yourself in a shop.

I can't speak for the Bushnell's, but my wife has the Swift and I have the Opticron 10x42. To me the Opticron's are far better giving a much clearer image and despite being more powerful are a lot lighter. However my wife just doesn't like them and carries around the (to me) clumpier Swifts with a softer image.

'Each to their own' as they say.

[Ragna]

parrot fan

i also have apair of opticron hr 10x42 as a spares and find them very good opticron bins are always good value for money

Can't give you advice, just a welcome to the site. It's nice to have another member from Cornwall. I'm often in Devon myself.
Look forward to seeing your postings and perhaps meeting you at a BF Bash one day.

[marcus]

Hello parrot.fan
I have those new Swift Audubons. Optically, I think they are really, really great, but like IanF said, 'clumpy'. Or they are just pretty big and heavy binoculars.
If your neck isn't going to mind, go get em'!
marcus

[parrot.fan]

Ianf,Ragna,Peter and Marcus.
Thank you for your comments,It is great to think that people can be bothered these days. Due to the fact that there are very few stockists in my area for me to try out the binoculars, I have decided to give the swifts a try. I'm a big lad so the weight should not be a problem. Once again thanks a lot.
parrot.fan

[Fred777]

Originally Posted by marcus

Hello parrot.fan
I have those new Swift Audubons. Optically, I think they are really, really great, but like IanF said, 'clumpy'. Or they are just pretty big and heavy binoculars.
If your neck isn't going to mind, go get em'!
marcus

I am in same spot. Looking for a 8-9x bino. On the Swifts, do you have the 24 oz. model or the older, heavier one? How do they compare with B&L or Pentax porrors?

Thanks,

Fred
Boise, Idaho
USA

[scampo]

If you can find them, the brightest, widest and sharpest you'll find for a stunning price are said by very many folk to be the Nikon Superior E 8x32. Do a search on this forum and you'll find plenty of recent comment on their outstanding qualities.

[mcdowella]

I have the Swift Audubon Porro and the Nikon 8x30 E. The Nikon are lighter but don't work well for me - I get these strange occasional 'black-outs' when the view through one eyepiece goes black because you don't have them aligned just right. Optically, I find the Swift Audubon very comfortable but from experience:

1/ Don't trust the "waterproof" marking (The Nikon Porros aren't waterproof either, but don't pretend to be).
2/ Make sure that you can inspect the pair you are buying and/or return them easily if necessary. I don't think their quality control is all it should be.

[Art Thorn]

Hello Fred in Boise. I just noticed that you reactivated a thread that was a year old. I think you owe it to yourself to try as many bins as you possibly can. I have settled on Nikon, owning the 8x32 SEs (not the same as the 8x32 E) and the 10x42 SEs. You ought to try them if you can. Bright, light, contrasty - but not waterproof (no porros are).

[scampo]

[quote=mcdowella]I have the Swift Audubon Porro and the Nikon 8x30 E. The Nikon are lighter but don't work well for me - I get these strange occasional 'black-outs' when the view through one eyepiece goes black because you don't have them aligned just right.
[quote]

Do you mean the Nikon Superior E here?

I find my Swaro cause the same effect if I don't have them precisely right - also when panning some blacking out occurs. The same occurs with my son's Optolyth Alpin's. I think that all binos that are very sharp seem to have to be exactly correct in their alignment to the eyes. I read once that this was a feature that was a technical issue and a compromise has to be reached in the dsign between extreme sharpness / contrast and 'ease' of use. In the end, though, for me I'd rather have brightness and sharpness than worry about an occasional need to adjust them, but when something "gets" at you, I know it can become a real issue.

[pduxon]

No Steve he means the Nikon 8x30 EII. These have had some stunning reviews. Don't Nikon keep you informed of their product lines They are relatively "cheap" <£300 I think

[Hugh Clayton]

As another newcomer, I haven't had much experience of binoculars, but I've used a few and a fair number of telescopes. Last year I bought a new Summit 8X26 MR binocular for £30 and its performance against that of much more expensive glasses seems very good indeed. As far as I can make out the MR series with Hoya optics is being replaced in the Summit series by Chinese binoculars. I seem to remember a magazine giving the MR 8X26 a very high rating a year or two ago. Has any more experienced user any view about their performance?

[pduxon]

Hi Hugh

welcome to the forum. I've never seen the Summit but one member reckons they are good value for money.

[mcdowella]

Yes I mean the Nikon 8x30 E II according to the warranty slip, although I do find the different 8x30ish Nikon porros very confusing. The price was something under £300, which puts them in the same bracket as the Swift Audubons. The styling is very much old-fashioned metal porro. Curiously, they are actually marked as Nikon 8x30 8.8 WF. My impression is that they are lower quality than the SE but have a lower price and a wider field of view.

I have seen black-out mentioned as a trade-off against eye relief rather than quality as such - but I haven't seen a good explanation of what it is and why it happens - I would be very grateful if somebody here could oblige.

[Art Thorn]

Blackout is related to eye relief. With long eye relief the binocular attempts to project the cone of light further out from the eyepiece and hence it is narrower (try drawing a light cone coming out of an eyepiece). Because it is narrower, your eye has to be positioned just so, or you miss the cone and get blackout.

[Ragna]

I sometimes get a slight blackout when panning, i foud i could almost get rid of this by pulling the glasses closer together, i do seem lose a little bit of f.o.v also getting my eyes correctly aligned helps get rid of the blacking out.

[scampo]

Originally Posted by Art Thorn

Blackout is related to eye relief. With long eye relief the binocular attempts to project the cone of light further out from the eyepiece and hence it is narrower (try drawing a light cone coming out of an eyepiece). Because it is narrower, your eye has to be positioned just so, or you miss the cone and get blackout.

That's interesting and yet the Nikon 8x36 Sporters my wife uses have an unusually long eye relief (I can easily see the whole FOV with my glasses on) - and I never get any 'blackout'.

[Doug Greenberg]

I have owned Swift Audubons and now use Nikon Superior E 10 x 42's. The Swifts are clear and sharp but are not sharp edge-to-edge the way the Nikons are. The Nikon SE's are as good as porros get and I highly recommend them.

[alan_rymer]

Bird Watching mag did a revue of sub £150 priced bins last year ( March ). The Bushnel H2O porro 8x42 came out best, and they are waterproof!.

[Art Thorn]

Originally Posted by Doug Greenberg

I have owned Swift Audubons and now use Nikon Superior E 10 x 42's. The Swifts are clear and sharp but are not sharp edge-to-edge the way the Nikons are. The Nikon SE's are as good as porros get and I highly recommend them.

I agree, wholeheartedly. And I like 10 power too. But the 8's are equally good!

[Art Thorn]

Originally Posted by scampo

That's interesting and yet the Nikon 8x36 Sporters my wife uses have an unusually long eye relief (I can easily see the whole FOV with my glasses on) - and I never get any 'blackout'.

I don't know anything about the Sporters. What is the eye relief? What is their field of view? What do the eyecups look like? Could be any number of reasons they seem to work so well.

[Leif]

Originally Posted by Art Thorn

I don't know anything about the Sporters. What is the eye relief? What is their field of view? What do the eyecups look like? Could be any number of reasons they seem to work so well.

Given that the Nikon 8x36 Sporter are available on offer at ~£100 from Warehouse Express, I wonder if they would suit parrot fan? Nikon do often produce good value kit. Looks like a job for Captain Nikon! (Hello Steve ...)

[Grousemore]

I'm afraid Steve may be on his way to the airport;an all expenses paid trip to Japan,courtesy of Nikon.

[scampo]

Captain Nikon to the rescue...

The Sporters are a bargain. Their eyecups could be tighter, but they are fine in use. The image is not as bright as 40-50mm objective lenses and has a very slightly yellow cast - b ut it is still a very bright and sharp image indeed. At the current prices, nothing much compares - and, of course, you are getting a world-class name in optics (except in Sweden!!!)...