Bins advice welcomed (1 Viewer)

New Member Ian Garnett would welcome advice on selecting and purchasing a good pair of Bins for Birdwatching.

The RSPB website advises 8 x 30 (or 40) with good close focus, small turns of 'wheel' to adjust focusing, light weight, rubber coated, image clear to very edge of lens, price £50 +

Any comments on this 'buy list' or your best buy recommendations for the purpose of birdwatching would be most appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Ian Garnett

Hi Ian and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

Have a look in our Optics section of the Forum. There are plenty of good suggestions in that section and if you don't find exactly what you are looking for, just start a new thread in that section. Enjoy!

You did not say how much maximum you want to spend. Try some 8x40 porro prisms, like Opticron or Nikon Action, in a store. If you do not like them, then try roof prism models, 8x30, 8x36, 8x42 are typical. Lots of models and brands. Look for brightness. If you look through a 10x pair, you can usually see that they are dimmer. Some models OK at 10x as well. But most are more money.

Look for a good unit as well, as the one in the box may have minor faults. Alignment is often a problem in cheaper bins. Try them at home, if your eyes hurt, take them back. Demand a new pair of same model.

The RSPB advice sounds pretty sound to me. You might want to consider waterproofing as well though - when you start out you might not think you're gonna go birding in the rain, but you'd be amazed what you'll do once the bug bites.

£50 is definitely a minimum for a good pair. I started out with a £20 pair from Jessops which lasted me about a year until I tried a decent pair and realised how poor they were!

There are some great pairs for £100+ though. Everyone on BF raves about Nikon Sporter 8x32 (search the forums and you'll find loads of recommendations) - I tried them once and was pretty impressed. Warehouse Express (see ad at top of the page) are still selling them for £99, which is an amazing price for a pretty decent pair pair of roof prisms. Also look closely at Opticron, who do very good value bins throughout the range.

If you can stretch to £300, my personal favourites are the RSPB's own 8x32 roofs - I've tried them a few times and thought they were top class, optically the match for my own Leica Trinovids.

Having said all that, you really do need to get stuck in and test a few pairs - find a decent retailer or head to Bird Fair in August at Rutland.

hello, welcome to bird forum!

Hi , a warm welcome and good to have you with us.

Hi Ian, welcome to BirdForum :t:

Thanks for your help

KCFoggin said:

Hi Ian and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

Have a look in our Optics section of the Forum. There are plenty of good suggestions in that section and if you don't find exactly what you are looking for, just start a new thread in that section. Enjoy!

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Hi KC, Merci beaucoup for your advice on selecting my first 'serious' pair of bins.

Cheers,

Ian Garnett
Oldham
England