What questions to ask someone (or yourself) before giving (or asking) recommendation on which binocular to buy?
(first attempt)
First steps:
When helping a friend/relative looking for binoculars, I first ask
'simple' questions without jargon. I think these could be relevant also for someone to briefly think about when asking for advice on new binoculars.
See the most important ones below in bold, with next to them (not in bold) the kind of direction it helps me go into, without the need to bother them with the technical explanation if that annoys them or makes them run away. 😉 (But some do want the technical explanation!
)
Of course, the interpretation is simplified and exemplary! The actual interpretation might depend on the person (you might e.g. know them quite well, which might help). Ideally, I would also still give them more than one single suggestion at the end (e.g. 2 or 3 options (usually not more) with some indication on what to consider when choosing between them (e.g. ergonomics personally, after sale service)), recommend them to check those options 'hands on' (e.g. in a store), and/or let them 'experience' what I mean with handing them over 1 or 2 of my binoculars to see their reaction and ask their feedback...)
- When/where do you plan to take/use the binoculars? (Potentially giving some examples/options: on challenging and long mountain hikes? family walks? cycling? dedicated birding excursion of a few hours? stationary at a observation point?)
- (=> see the two next questions, but someone might raise a use case that you didn't expect. A theater or sport fan? Or one might say the binoculars will be stationed at the window sill, always remaining inside the house but always 'ready to use' (=>a.o. little reason to be waterproof, potentially different weight considerations...). )
- Do the binoculars need to fold compactly and be very light to be stowed away? (e.g. in a small bag, or while already carrying a lot of other stuff (e.g. camera gear, camping material) or during long hikes, with other stuff in the glove compartment of the car...)
- (=> if yes, we might have to consider compact binoculars with 20-25mm objectives and double hinges. Otherwise, little chance we'll end up smaller than 30-32mm.)
- Do you usually use them during normal daytime or also at darker hours (early morning, late evening)?
- (=> many people seem to use their binoculars 99% of the time during normal daytime, mainly when going out for a walk when the weather is good, which will often result in 30-32mm objectives or 3 to 4mm exit pupil being enough. Of course there are some other reasons to go larger and to not yet remove those options(!), like viewing comfort etc., but realizing that that will be at a weight penalty and not really help have a brighter view, though potentially a little better.)
- Specific types or areas where the binoculars will be mainly used? (openness, climatic condition, ...)
- (=> E.g. mainly/only in the woods, at the shore, from a boat, other 'open terrain'... Dry or wet climate? Dusty? See air and sand? Potentially helping to choose magnification, waterproofness, need for rainguards and objective covers ...)
- Do you want to share the binoculars with the kids (e.g. when walking together with the whole family, they might want to ask "can I see!?", do you expect the kids to be running with them (... 😏))?
- (=> often a reason to not go beyond 8x (maybe even rather 6-7x), in order to avoid small exit pupils, have less shake, have a wider field of view (to 'find' the bird), but also not to go beyond 32mm for weight reasons, ... It might also be a reason to skip the most expensive "alpha" brands/models.)
- Do you (or the people who you will share your binoculars with) wear glasses? => if so, try to find out if they look through their binoculars with or without glasses...
- (=> that's a more difficult one for me personally, as I do not wear glasses myself and because there are different reasons to wear glasses (astigmatism, being near/far-sighted, ...). Thus any help is welcome here! A typical consideration is avoiding binoculars with (very) small eye relief if someone wears glasses and uses them with the binoculars, but I would the more so recommend to try the binoculars first, and explain that they have to try with eye cups retracted and extended at the different positions, with and without glasses, to see what suits them... Also, if the binoculars will be shared between people with and without glasses, e.g. family walks, I'll probably not recommend binoculars with rubber folding eye cups, especially if older/second hand, .)
- Do you mainly consider them as 'just useful tools' or do their 'looks'/design also matter for you (apart from ergonomics)?
- Will you be cautious with them, rather 'abusive', or utilitarian?
- How reliable and robust should they be?
- When observing, what's most important: correct identification of the bird (e.g. also at large distance) or mainly 'just' enjoying to observe the birds (whatever they are) doing what they do
- (=> the above 4 questions are rarely 'clear cut', are often very subjective, but can help select brands, models or price brackets because of design, robustness, after-sale servicing/warranty, accessories, optical quality... E.g. 'enjoying watching' might actually put more emphasis on some optical quality like (A)FOV than correct identification does. Also, there in nothing wrong per sé in enjoying using binoculars for their intrinsic design/beauty/engineering prowess/... It's just another motivation. Some people care, others don't.)
- Are there other specific, personal considerations? (any. e.g. tremor/shaking, specific eye/viewing condition, ...)
- (=> e.g. thinking of (electronically) stabilized binoculars in case of tremor. Any other examples of specific situations?)
- Do you already own/use binoculars? => which ones?, what do you (not) like about them? (+in which situation/occasion)... (and thus why(!?) are you looking further)
- This is the part where it gets more interesting, but also even more complicated => see below...
- ...then I would hand them over one or two of my binoculars based on the previous questions, ask them to point at something (e.g. a flower in the garden if there is no bird) and see their reaction (one will say "wow , that's big and heavy" when having a 42mm in their hands etc.) and maybe already explain one or two things (e.g. focusing, eye cups position... Ideally, we might reference the second 'sticky thread' here 😉)
- (e.g. I handed over to my brother and father both my good 8x30 and my alpha 8x25. My brother directly noted a small(!) but noticeable step up in optical quality in the smaller alpha while my father didn't say anything about it, but both directly said the 8x30 was easier to use and certainly would also be for my nephew and niece when on family walks together. They saw my (older) 10x42 and before even bringing it to their eyes they said it was too heavy and big for them.)
- => in just 5 minutes, there was little need to talk about <=25mm, about >=42m or about >=10x magnification...it was going to be about 6,5-8x30-32mm (what I already suspected before the chat, but still, I'm biased by definition and thus had to check 😊)
- Do you have a budget in mind?
- (=> that is usually not(!) my first question: the previous ones are crucial anyway, in any price category...)
- (=> combined with all the other info, this might lead to recommendations for specific models, but might also lead to the conclusion that it would be more sensible to save a little bit more first, or that the potential improvement compared to what you already have would be very limited (in extent or in number of advantages))
- ... any other type of info or questions?
These are quite a few questions, but much can be said reflecting on this in just a few sentences in total!
(Just an example:
"I'm looking for some binocular to take when walking with the kids and the dog in the nature park a few blocks from here, on sunny weekends and holidays in Belgium, making also the kids discover the beauty of birds/nature. They are kids but know to handle things with care when asked for (they start learning to use my old reflex camera). We do not wear glasses. I don't want to spend a fortune but would still like the view to be enjoyable and the binoculars to last for many years. We have only had a rubish toy/kids binocular some years ago that were blurry and some old heavy binoculars, which we thus never used. Any recommendation is welcome.")
If it's someone I know well and trust, I might then first lend them a binocular for their next walk/weekend/holiday and wait for their feedback before recommending them any for buying...
Further steps...
But, than there is the above
question "12", after having borrowed some binocular or where you already own or use some binoculars, but want to "upgrade", or try something new...
Still, the previous questions are valid, but one might become more specific...
- are there moments you curse your binoculars or you don't bring them along while you would have liked to? Why? (=> too heavy? not waterproof?, too dim? bad view due to reflections? ... This might help find a 'better' binocular to upgrade to, but might lo lead to the recommendation to rather by a complementary, second binocular instead, not necessarily of 'higher grade'.)
- are there other binoculars (e.g. from friends) that you have tried and that you really (dis)liked? => which binoculars ànd(!) when/in which situation was that?
- Do you feel the view is steady enough, not too shaky?
- how long do you watch (or would you like to watch) through your binoculars? (e.g. is it just quick glances/peaks, just seeing 'which animal is there?', or longer scanning and observing, for several minutes, what the birds are doing. I feel this might explain requirements or experiences regarding stability, magnification, weight...)
- ...
For the more experienced users, these questions might become even more specific, loving or hating or not caring about e.g. (A)FOV, chromatic abberation, glare... of this or that binocular.
But I (personally) think that is a totally different story, far beyond what most people who are looking for some first/second binoculars (including but not only new members) need to be troubled with, unless they(!) want to and are interested to know more about optics rather than just use and enjoy them. In that case one might reference that other sticky thread?
And/or dive into the treasure of (objective and subjective) and very informative posts around this huge forum... 🥳