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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

What are the best really "CHEAP" birding binoculars? (1 Viewer)

You have a good budget. I bought a pair of Ziess small binocs in West Germany for the then outrageous sum of $600 US and they have served me well all over the world. I'm sure you can these days get name brand pair for a lot less.
Good info here https://procular.com.au/choosing-bi...WZRxMA3ovIkVIwna292HxUDquoZF1OigaAgUREALw_wcB

I'd spend extra for the people that have a rep


and with Amazon you can always return them.
 
You have a good budget. I bought a pair of Ziess small binocs in West Germany for the then outrageous sum of $600 US and they have served me well all over the world. I'm sure you can these days get name brand pair for a lot less.
Good info here https://procular.com.au/choosing-bi...WZRxMA3ovIkVIwna292HxUDquoZF1OigaAgUREALw_wcB

I'd spend extra for the people that have a rep


and with Amazon you can always return them.
Those Nikon Prostaff 7 8x30 binoculars are the best sellers on Amazon.com. They must be good!
 
Bear in mind, best-selling doesn't mean best thing. It means that's the thing that the most people bought. Those people could be wrong. Or they could expect less out of the binoculars than you do.

Also bear in mind, you get what you pay for. Pricy binoculars are generally pricy for a reason.

4.4 is on the low side of good, for Amazon reviews. You want to look for the highest review you can find, as close to 5 as possible. You probably won't see many 5-star products, unless they only have one review. You also want to look for the product with a lot of reviews, to get a better idea of how good it is. One or two reviews won't tell you much. Tens of reviews is a bit better, hundreds is good, thousands is ideal.

That said, for $10, they're worth a try. If you don't like them, give them to a kid who might want to get into birdwatching, might lose interest in a week.

You may like to look at the binoculars that come with a phone mount, to take pictures with the phone through the binoculars. Can be difficult to hold steady and focus, but it works surprisingly well for record shots, and the binoculars function fine without the phone attached.
 
These look nice for $9.99. Fujunkang 30x60 Mini Small Compact Binoculars for Kids and Adults. I wonder how that 2 mm exit pupil is? They seem small for a 60 mm!



"Dennis Stieber

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly good optics for the price
Reviewed in the United States on April 12, 2020
Color: BlackVerified Purchase
I was shocked at how well this little...and inexpensive binoculars magnifies objects. The picture is surprisingly clear and undistorted. I can see airplanes in the sky, objects on the horizon, and have used it to see stars and moon craters. It's not a telescope, but for 10 bucks, it's amazing! I definitely plan to take these with me when I go camping to watch birds and things. They're small and light-weight, but very easy to use. I have a larger full-sized binoculars that doesn't work as well as these. Would totally purchase another one!"
51ItBGoJonL._AC_SL1001_.jpg
 
Considering that a picture in that product description says the whole thing is about 2 inches across when folded, and 6cm is a bit over 2 inches, I don't think there's a 6cm lens anywhere in there. Unless they've put it in sideways.
 
Considering that a picture in that product description says the whole thing is about 2 inches across when folded, and 6cm is a bit over 2 inches, I don't think there's a 6cm lens anywhere in there. Unless they've put it in sideways.
I know, and it is funny nobody says nothing about it in their feedback which is really strange.
 
I am tempted to buy some $10 binoculars for both me and my wife for our next migration season trip to the UK (if that is ever possible again) to display my enjoyment of them as prominently as possible at any twitches we manage to hit to help saw the seed of doubt among the people who have spent more than two orders of magnitude of money on theirs :)
 
I think this recent thread is a good illustration of how well inexpensive (rather than cheap) Porros can perform. The OP has so far compared £500+ binoculars with the <£100 binocular he wants to upgrade from and seems to have seen only a small improvement in the view.

 
I bought an Olympus 7x21 PC Classic reverse porro from Amazon years ago for only 30-35 bucks and it was great. I got rid of it when I had to start wearing glasses. I wouldn't buy a cheap roof, but the cheap porros and reverse porros can be quite good.
 
I am tempted to buy some $10 binoculars for both me and my wife for our next migration season trip to the UK (if that is ever possible again) to display my enjoyment of them as prominently as possible at any twitches we manage to hit to help saw the seed of doubt among the people who have spent more than two orders of magnitude of money on theirs :)
The nice thing about them is they are disposable. If you lose them or damage them you just buy another one. Unlike a $3K Swarovski where you tend to worry about it.
 
I think this recent thread is a good illustration of how well inexpensive (rather than cheap) Porros can perform. The OP has so far compared £500+ binoculars with the <£100 binocular he wants to upgrade from and seems to have seen only a small improvement in the view.

I would put a good $200 Porro against a $1K roof and I think most would win. A Porro is so much less expensive to manufacture.
 
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