budget binoculars recommendation (1 Viewer)

Hi all, I am going to go to Kenya safari, hoping to see lots of birds and other wildlife. I would like to purchase a pair of binoculars. I do not want to spend very much, ideally less than £75. Can anyone recommend the best ones to get for my price range please?
I have found the Nikon Action VII 8x40 CF for £70, is that one good for price or are there better ones? There is also the Olympus 10x50 DPS I which is £50~.
Can anyone comment on these or suggest better alternatives for me please?
Thanks in advance guys

The Leupold Yosemite or Opticron equivalent would also be very good options.

If it is mostly truck or lodge based viewing the Nikon 8x40 or possibly better still the 10x50 might be a good choice, but they are a bit of a lump to have hanging round your neck and could spoil a hike. The Opticron Savanna or Leupold Yosemite that Frank suggests are small and light and much more walking friendly... but wouldn't be as good at twilight.

David

The Yosemites are excellent little binoculars, they are greater than the sum of their parts.

Whatever you get use it for a couple of weeks to make sure everything is OK with it. You don't want to be on the Safari and find out that it has a problem. There can be quality control problems with binoculars in your price range.

The 2 binoculars you mention have good reputations. The 8 x 40 would be more versatile if you will be using it in jungle conditions. It will have a deeper depth of field when looking at birds in the nearby canopy and you will be able to follow them easier.

Bob

thanks guys... why would the "8 x 40 would be more versatile than the 10x50"? i am a novice when it comes to binoculars so please bare with me.

Generally higher power binoculars have narrower fields of view, shorter depth of focus and more difficult to hold steady but can help identification at longer range. More often, bird watchers find the lower power more useful for quickly locating birds, particularly at short range. I've not been on safari but just imagined that longer range might be more useful from stationary viewing points. If I was walking through scrub then lower power would be better.

David

ewicc said:

thanks guys... why would the "8 x 40 would be more versatile than the 10x50"? i am a novice when it comes to binoculars so please bare with me.

Click to expand...

If your hands shake, even a little, the shake will be magnified 10 times rather than 8 times. A binocular with 40mm objectives will be lighter in weight than one with 50mm objectives which has more glass and a longer focal length so it will also be longer too.

An 8x often will have longer eye relief (ER) which will be good if you wear glasses. An 8 x 40 usually has a wider field of view (FOV) than a 10 x 50. And as mentioned above; when you are close to a bird you will notice that the 8x has a deeper "Depth of Field" (DOF) in front of and behind the bird than a 10x has which makes for less fine tuning of your focusing on it.

You should compare these specifications to help you make your decision.

Bob

great thanks for the explanations guys... much appreciated

I think that within your price range, that going with a porro is a very good choice. If your viewing will be mainly during the daytime, then a small but good quality 30mm is just fine. It won't take long to appreciate the smaller form factor and greatly reduced weight over the 40-42mm's. Besides the excellent Yosemite suggestions above, also look at the Vortex Raptor and Kowa versions. My preference would be the 8.5x Vortex Raptor, but any of the three would be an excellent choice.

If on the other hand you will be viewing a lot at twilight hours, then you will need a 40-42mm. These will weigh substantially more than the Yosemite. My preference would be the Olympus EXPS1 over the Nikon Actions or the Pentax versions, especially since it has a shorter height. You can read about this bino at the allbinos.com website.

One last thing to mention -- Brunton makes an 8x32 roof-prism that has an FOV over 475'. It is called the Echo-wide, or something like that. I don't know what you can get it for where you are at, but here in the US it's not terribly expensive. I've not used one, but it might make an excellent travel bino. Also just thought about the new Leupold Acadia 8x32m which in the US would be in your price range. Given it's compact size, I think it would make an excellent choice for a travel bino too, and might well be the one I would get if I needed a good but inexpensive bino for travel use. There is a good review on this website for this model.