£25 Budget for Bins good enough to Bird with (1 Viewer)

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jun 2, 2008

• #1

Going on holiday with one birder and one non-birder. Want to buy him some bins which he can either keep if he refunds me or I will keep and lend to others I drag along occasionally. Just need something good enough to enjoy the birds with. Don't want to spend more than £25 delivered. 2nd hand preferred if I could be confident of no major image or collimations faults etc.

7x or 8x, wide FoV and not too heavy would be beginner-friendly. Been trying to pick up some Jenoptem 8x30s (great value in their day) on Ebay but decent nick fetches c. £60

Suggestions? Or Offers? Any reliable second-hand places?

Anyone know these... http://www.sherwoods-photo.com/inpro_optics/inpro_fs.htm

Thanks,
Graham

 

Simon S

Well-known member

• Jun 4, 2008

• #2

I would have a look on eBay for a pair of Swift Saratoga's or if your not to worried about colour fidelity some of the Russian binoculars. £25 won't but you much new I'm afraid.

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jun 4, 2008

• #3

7DayShop were selling some Tasco 7x35 porros for £10 but they don't seem to be advertising them now. They might reappear though and are quite reasonable optically.

 

Tero

Retired

• Jun 5, 2008

• #4

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...alias=aps&field-keywords=binoculars&x=12&y=22

Olympus 8x21
Bresser 8x22 on third page

Nikon sportlite
http://www.jessops.com/Store/c3610/...noculars--and--Scopes/Binoculars/details.aspx

skip all the zooms

As for the Sherwoods, go for the 8x40 porros. Should last a few months. I donated a pair of 10x40 like that after a year of not using. I had them out twice. Bak4 prisms usually better than Bak7.

 

Last edited: Jun 5, 2008

M

mook

Well-known member

• Jun 5, 2008

• #5

Those Tasco bins from 7dayshop.com are a waste of time....ordered some for a relative of mine but found them to be awful....not even worth it for a tenner!

Focus was the 'quick-focus' type - a rocker rather than a wheel which makes it impossible to accurately focus on anything! But worse than that was the fact that the bins induced a headache within minutes! Needless to say they went back....useless I tells ya, useless.

I've often found local photo stores or even charity shops have had reasonably priced secondhand bins that were usable.

Cheers,

Mook

 

desgreene

Well-known member

• Jun 5, 2008

• #6

Somebody recommended cheap bins from Machine Mart on this thread :-

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=100770&highlight=machine+mart

http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/bin0840-classic-binoculars/path/outdoor-leisure

Might be worth a look.

 

James Thomas

Well-known member

• Jun 5, 2008

• #7

Tero said:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss...alias=aps&field-keywords=binoculars&x=12&y=22

Olympus 8x21
[/url]

Click to expand...

Anyone looking at those Olympus ones should consider ebay, half the price from Hong Kong

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Photography_B...rkparms=72:12|39:1|65:12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

Andrew Whitehouse

Professor of Listening

Supporter

• Jun 5, 2008

• #8

mook said:

Those Tasco bins from 7dayshop.com are a waste of time....ordered some for a relative of mine but found them to be awful....not even worth it for a tenner!

Focus was the 'quick-focus' type - a rocker rather than a wheel which makes it impossible to accurately focus on anything! But worse than that was the fact that the bins induced a headache within minutes! Needless to say they went back....useless I tells ya, useless.

I've often found local photo stores or even charity shops have had reasonably priced secondhand bins that were usable.

Cheers,

Mook

Click to expand...

The three pairs I've used are all quite good optically - better than some bins I've seen that cost a lot more. I wouldn't want to use them all day though, but the same could be said of lots of other bins. The focus is a bit rubbish and the eye-relief is poor, but optically they're quite bright and sharp and have a wide field of view (not as wide as advertised though). I think they're good for £10 and would probably be okay for a bit more.

 

Marmot

Well-known member

• Jun 8, 2008

• #9

I know these are different from the ones you are wanting but might be a consideration if you have an Aldi store by you for £6.99.

It is one of todays [Sun 8th June] special buys. I have no experience of these but I have got one of the £25 spotting scopes that they do and I was pleased with that.
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/2867_6242.htm

 

bitterntwisted

Graham Howard Shortt

• Jun 9, 2008

• #10

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks. Have sorted the immediate requirement with the loan of a nice pair of Opticron porros from Jim (jtw521) Still looking out for a permanent spare pair but without the time pressure. If anyone has any in good nick for sale please PM.

I still think a pair of full size bins is much, much better for introducing a beginner and compact bins are just too hard to use because of the narrow FoV and more fiddly handling. The Tasco 7DayShop suggestion sounded just the part, Andrew - must watch out for a repeat. Ideally though, in the spirit of reduction, re-use and recycling, I'd like to buy second-hand with confidence there were no major faults - still not sure what the best route is there other than finding Ebay listings where the seller knows a bit about bins.

Thanks again to all,
Graham