Ever been tempted by those cheap main street department store bins, or those ruby-coated 'day and night active' binoculars you see at temptingly cheap prices on Ebay? Thought I'd see what experiences people have had with cheap binoculars/scopes.
In a couple of more impulsive moments recently, I've bought a cheap pair of 'ruby' coated 10x50 bins, no manufacturer name, and a pair of 7x35 fixed focus ones, both for about the £10 mark. Both will probably be sold again soon as I have far too many pairs of binocs and hopefully going on honeymoon next month so need all the money I can get!
The fixed focus model cost £8.51, of which £8.50 made up the postage charge! (though he only spent about £2.50 on postage :C ) These, perhaps unsurprisingly were rather disappointing. I'm not sure if it's because I wear glasses or simply cheapo nasty optics! Whatever I'm looking at always seems ever so slightly fuzzy or out of focus, looking through my Olympus DPS-R 8x40s resolves things a lot better, even the cheap 10x50s are better! Needless to say they're probably going back on Ebay soon!
The 10x50s aren't actually too bad! The image does have a rather blueish tinge due to the coatings, but are quite sharp and bright, despite the only coating being the red one on the objectives. Though I can't get the 'foldable' rubber eyecups to fold down! Still a pretty good field of view though.
So, anyone else succumbed to the tempation? What were your experiences? Did you find a £10 pair that worked surprisingly well, or did they take flying lessons out the nearest window? Also, ever looked at the description of one of these cheap pairs on Ebay, and had a laugh at the 'RRP' of £99, 'night active' optics or any of the other guff they come out with?
In a couple of more impulsive moments recently, I've bought a cheap pair of 'ruby' coated 10x50 bins, no manufacturer name, and a pair of 7x35 fixed focus ones, both for about the £10 mark. Both will probably be sold again soon as I have far too many pairs of binocs and hopefully going on honeymoon next month so need all the money I can get!
The fixed focus model cost £8.51, of which £8.50 made up the postage charge! (though he only spent about £2.50 on postage :C ) These, perhaps unsurprisingly were rather disappointing. I'm not sure if it's because I wear glasses or simply cheapo nasty optics! Whatever I'm looking at always seems ever so slightly fuzzy or out of focus, looking through my Olympus DPS-R 8x40s resolves things a lot better, even the cheap 10x50s are better! Needless to say they're probably going back on Ebay soon!
The 10x50s aren't actually too bad! The image does have a rather blueish tinge due to the coatings, but are quite sharp and bright, despite the only coating being the red one on the objectives. Though I can't get the 'foldable' rubber eyecups to fold down! Still a pretty good field of view though.
So, anyone else succumbed to the tempation? What were your experiences? Did you find a £10 pair that worked surprisingly well, or did they take flying lessons out the nearest window? Also, ever looked at the description of one of these cheap pairs on Ebay, and had a laugh at the 'RRP' of £99, 'night active' optics or any of the other guff they come out with?