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best binos for about £100? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter malgringo
- Start date
Agreed the Nikon Sporters are well worth a look - also check out the Opticron Oregon 8x42s ~£110 - they are excellent for the money.
Couple of suggestions
It really depends what you want in terms of portability, use with spectacles etc. As a gift I recently bought a pair of Opticron 8x40 Aspheric porro prims for £79, which I thought give a bright clear image and have an 8.2 degree FOV and good depth of field. Downsides are weight ~700 grams and small eye relief. Overall good value (I think they have been placed top or close in a couple of surveys for value).
Yesterday I tried out a pair of Opticron Taiga (compact reverse porro) at South West Optics - I think they were about £80. I thought they very good performance for the price if you want something very light and portable -and they are the only compacts that I have found to work reasonably well with spectacles. I had previously tried a lot of compacts before I gave up and bought a air of 8X42 Imagic roof prisms which are excellent with spectacles - but cost much more than my original budget.
malgringo said:
It really depends what you want in terms of portability, use with spectacles etc. As a gift I recently bought a pair of Opticron 8x40 Aspheric porro prims for £79, which I thought give a bright clear image and have an 8.2 degree FOV and good depth of field. Downsides are weight ~700 grams and small eye relief. Overall good value (I think they have been placed top or close in a couple of surveys for value).
Yesterday I tried out a pair of Opticron Taiga (compact reverse porro) at South West Optics - I think they were about £80. I thought they very good performance for the price if you want something very light and portable -and they are the only compacts that I have found to work reasonably well with spectacles. I had previously tried a lot of compacts before I gave up and bought a air of 8X42 Imagic roof prisms which are excellent with spectacles - but cost much more than my original budget.
hornet
Well-known member
I have just bought a pair of Opticron Taiga 8x25 as a Christmas present for someone, and was staggered at the quality. They are the best compacts I have seen apart from the very top end stuff. Because of the reverse porro design they are also very easy to hold, and as Ken says, they are excellent with glasses.
Optically, even in pretty rough light, they performed superbly, even when checked side by side with my Leica 8x32s. In some ways I even preferred the Taigas - they snapped to a particularly sharp resolution. Not waterproof or nitrogen filled of course, but outstanding value at around £80.
Optically, even in pretty rough light, they performed superbly, even when checked side by side with my Leica 8x32s. In some ways I even preferred the Taigas - they snapped to a particularly sharp resolution. Not waterproof or nitrogen filled of course, but outstanding value at around £80.
rezMole
Well-known member
I have Nikon sporters (10x36) and my girlfriend uses the slightly better (in my opinion) Opticron Imagic (10.42). Mine are roofs and hers are porros - but both are great value. I just prefer holding the roofs - otherwise i'd have gone with the Opticrons. Both are a bit over the £100 from Warehouse Express, but worth stretching your budget for.
solentbirder
Well-known member
Another vote for the Nikon Sporters from me. I've got the 8x36. I think they're amazing value for money. What I like most about them is the very easy and open view they provide, either with or without glasses on.
Frogbad
Well-known member
Based on some of the comments that I have read on this Forum - I took the plunge and purchased a pair of the Nikon Sporter 8x36. I am extremely pleased and very impressed.
The image is great, and nice and clear.
These are easily the best binoculars I have owned so far - my other bins have been demoted to standby bins and are an ageing pair of Opticron Oregons 8x42.
Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction.
The image is great, and nice and clear.
These are easily the best binoculars I have owned so far - my other bins have been demoted to standby bins and are an ageing pair of Opticron Oregons 8x42.
Thanks everyone for pointing me in the right direction.
Geoff Brown
Well-known member
Nikon Sporters - Warehouse Express. Nuff said!
solentbirder
Well-known member
I just used the 8x36 Sporter for a bit of star-gazing. I wasn't expecting much because a 36mm objective is generally too small for astronomy. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I pointed them at Saturn. The Sporters showed the planet as a very clear and obvious ellipse (Saturn and it's rings show as an ellipse at low magnification). This is quite a severe test of optical quality and I haven't seen this performance in low cost binoculars before.
I was looking for a pair of binos and figured £100 would be a good budget for me. Reading the various replies posted here I took the plunge and ordered a pair of Nikon 8x36s from Whse Exp.
