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Any Advice? (1 Viewer)

Y

Yasmin

Member
Hello,

I need a new pair of bino's. The one or the one's(?) i have is not good enough. I have one from the bird protection in the Netherlands, but is not preforming very well in less light. i'm busy with a field guide course in Africa and most of the game drives and bushwalks are with sunset or Sunrise. So it needs to preform well with less light. Except from birding i need to see mammals, reptiles. I'm looking for one that is not too heavy, preforming with less light, for birding and safari. Most people i met on safari have an 8x42 or 10x42. I already tried the Vortex Diamondback but i didnt liked them so i sent it back to the store. I ordered the Nikon Monarch 5 but i'm doubting if it is the right choice. At this stage i do nog want to spend more than € 450. Is the Nikon a right choice of have anyone other suggestions?

Thank you very much!
 
Yasmin, post 1,
Go to House of Outdoor in Maarssen, (I do not have shares and I am not an employee, so fully objective). To my knowledge it is one of the few binocular stores in The Ntherlands with such abroad spectrum of binoculars in all price ranges and sometimes one can also find used ones everything in the price class you are looking for.
As far as Nikon is concerned: very well made binoculars but in The Netherlands a bad reputation with regard to after sales services and/or repairs.
Another shop that is als well equpped although not so broad as House of Outdoor is the shop of "Vogelbescherming" in Zeist. In both shops mentioned you will not find any Nikon binoculars, because of the sales policy of Nikon, which is mainly available through camera shops.
In both shops mentioned you will be able to test the binoculars yourself and compare different ones.
After sales services is in my experience better done by House of Outdoor.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
Hi Gijs,

Thank you for your answer. I already visit the Vogelbescherming. The Vortex i ordered online ( Bol.com) and the nice thing is you can try the binos for thirty days for free. If i buy in a shop i do not have that kind of service. I didn't know the shop in Maarsen. So if the Nikon is also not what i'm looking for i'm going to Maarsen. Thank you very much for your awnser.
 
I second Gijs' opinion.
From my experience, House of Outdoor is an outstanding shop, you can try dozens of Binos there, and Jan and his wife will give you the best advices, and answer all the technical questions you may have.

Do check the opening days/hours before going, and Maarssen is a cute little town, which is a bonus.
You can take the train from Amsterdam to go there (from the NS station, cross the massive bridge over the canal, turn left after it, then right at the round about to get to the town center if I remember correctly) .
 
Advice for the future : if you are guiding you will almost inevitably end up with two pairs.

From sunrise an 8x32 will be your best choice.

Towards sunset look to your exit pupil :

8x56 7mm
7x42 6mm
8x42 5.25mm

A 10x42 would not be my choice here.


Good luck, Steve
 
SteveTS said:
Advice for the future : if you are guiding you will almost inevitably end up with two pairs.

From sunrise an 8x32 will be your best choice.

Towards sunset look to your exit pupil :

8x56 7mm
7x42 6mm
8x42 5.25mm

A 10x42 would not be my choice here.


Good luck, Steve
Click to expand...
Not my tutor or students had two pairs. And everyone had 10x42 and i have an 8x42 and according to them it was not the right choice. Better was a 10x42.
Why is a 10x42 not the right option? I need to see little details from a quite distance
 
RobMorane said:
I second Gijs' opinion.
From my experience, House of Outdoor is an outstanding shop, you can try dozens of Binos there, and Jan and his wife will give you the best advices, and answer all the technical questions you may have.

Do check the opening days/hours before going, and Maarssen is a cute little town, which is a bonus.
You can take the train from Amsterdam to go there (from the NS station, cross the massive bridge over the canal, turn left after it, then right at the round about to get to the town center if I remember correctly) .
Click to expand...

Okay! thank you as well!
 
10x Binos is the right option to glass far away subjects like you do.
You can check Meopta Binos (very good glass quality/ratio).
Among others, I like a lot the Chinese made Kowa SV DCF (around 300 Euros), and despite of some CA, the view is nice and confortable.
 
Yasmin said:
Not my tutor or students had two pairs. And everyone had 10x42 and i have an 8x42 and according to them it was not the right choice. Better was a 10x42.
Why is a 10x42 not the right option? I need to see little details from a quite distance
Click to expand...

Yasmin,

The low light performance of binoculars has been studded several times by Zeiss, Leica, (Leitz) and a number of different Universities. The results vary not only with the target light level (luminance) but also which aspect of visual detection investigated. Exit pupil may be a reasonable guide to how bright a scene might appear. However, if you are interested in the level of visible detail or threshold of target detection then the scientific studies show increasing magnification can be beneficial. The situation is complicated by higher magnification amplifying shake, but the significance of that progressively reduces in low light.

Obviously I can't completely understand your particular needs, but for up to 45 minutes after sunset, or perhaps half that in the tropics, I would favour a 10x42 and beyond that a 10x56. There reaches a point in week moonlight where the balance favours exit pupil but that is rather age dependant.

Holger Merlitz offers some analysis of the different approaches in his paper that can be downloaded from his website.
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/bino_performance/bino_performance.html

David
 
Yasmin said:
Not my tutor or students had two pairs. And everyone had 10x42 and i have an 8x42 and according to them it was not the right choice. Better was a 10x42.
Why is a 10x42 not the right option? I need to see little details from a quite distance
Click to expand...

Hello Yasmin,

I personally would stick with a 7 or 8 power binocular with objectives between 35 and 50 millimeters in diameter.

I have found that the 10 power binoculars magnify the atmospheric disturbances too much , leading to a somewhat blurred vision , atmospheric disturbances are very often mistaken for "binocular shake".

You will not miss much using the lower magnification of a 7 or 8 power binocular.

The African sunlight can be pretty harsh.

Cheers.
 
Yasmin, post 3,
I reread your post 3 and I do not share your conclusion that one can not return a binocular within 30 days of buying it, when it does not suit you. House of Outdoor has exactly that return policy and it is even longer than 30 days.
To my knowledge Vogelbescherming does not have that policy.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
Hi Yasmin,

Any chance of upping the budget to include the Nikon MHG ? in either 8 or 10x 42. They are well made, lightweight, bright and widefield. Generally 8x is the best, but if you want the last bit of detail, then as David said the 10x42 is the one to go for.

Certainly some of the drawbacks of 10x are more shake, shallower depth of focus, and narrower fields. The MHG at least addresses the FOV problem (120m@1km for the 10x which is very good for a lightweight binocular), it is very nice to hold which helps stability (will you be able to usually brace on something like a stationary vehicle roof, tree trunk, or something?). It is generally not easy to achieve these design compromises and the Nikon MHG does it well.




Chosun :gh:
 
Gijs van Ginkel said:
Yasmin, post 3,
I reread your post 3 and I do not share your conclusion that one can not return a binocular within 30 days of buying it, when it does not suit you. House of Outdoor has exactly that return policy and it is even longer than 30 days.
To my knowledge Vogelbescherming does not have that policy.
Gijs van Ginkel
Click to expand...
Hi Gijs,

Unfortuenatly i never heard of the store before you mentioned it and i'm planning to go to the store tommorow. So thank you for mentioning it to me. And i'm glad to hear that they have that kind of return policy , because the store i visit haven't. And i'm not sure anymore if Vogelbescherming had that kind of policy.
 
I I'm back from the store in Maarssen. The service and the patience is outstanding! Jan and the other people are very helpful and very friendly. And it is always nice to learn new things and Jan knows what he is talking about. And i need to compromise in what i want and my budget so i tried a lot of binos and eventually i chooe for the Bushnell Engage. I had a well spent afternoon and i will not forget Huse of outdoors if i need new binos or new pair of shoes. And Swarovski is on my wishlist.:)
So thank you everyone!!
 
8x42. I found it difficult to keep my hands steady and like someone else mentioned in this thread you have to deal with the atmospheric disturbance and the difference in magnificent is in the end not that big.
 
Yasmin, post 17,
I think that you made a good choice with an 8x42. I used it over and over in Africa, when observing birds and other animals. Especially during occasions with slightly lower light conditions I preferred the 8x42 over the 10x42. Moreover with 10x there is the risk of more unsteadiness because of trembling of your hands.
Gijs van Ginkel
 
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