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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Need professional advice - what binoculars do you use? (1 Viewer)

N

Natan Borzeff

New member
United States
Passionate about bird watching. In this connection, my Bassell 12x25 is no longer enough for me. Share your experience, who uses what binoculars. I’m thinking of getting a new optic with a night vision function, but for now I’m thinking about which model and which brand to take ...
 
Welcome to BF!
You've come to the right place for binocular commentary and opinion, always enthusiastic, often factual and sometimes truly expert.
For binocular knowledge and appraisal, from people who are respected, see:
AllBinos.com - binocular review, binoculars reviews, binoculars specification - AllBinos.com or Binoculars Today – Website about binoculars or http://www.scopeviews
For your own use, lots of variables, budget, weight, weather resistance, all before thinking about whether new or used, what magnification, whether stabilized, what field of view etc.
Do note that night vision capability is a very different segment, .the cheaper options use an IR spotlight to allow one to make visible the area of interest, while true night vision devices using image intensifiers or thermal sensors are very costly, even compared to top tier binoculars.



For
 
Bassell = Bushnell? In any case such a model should be very easy to improve upon in various ways: optical quality (sharpness etc), mechanical quality, ease of view, size of view, low light performance (12x25 will be poor), etc. So questions you need to answer yourself are: which of these matter most to you? Do you like 12x (more magnification than most birders use) or would you prefer a more stable view (8-10x) that takes more in at once and requires less refocusing, although everything is somewhat smaller? How much larger/heaver can you live with? And of course, what's your budget?
 
[email protected] said:
If you want to try some night vision goggles using IR technology, try these for $105.98. IMO they work amazingly well and if you are interested in a Thermal Monocular which measures difference in heat to form images the Scout II 640 7.5 Hz linked below is excellent and a remarkable price on eBay.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Dennis, that is interesting information. Night vision is becoming more affordable.
 
Natan Borzeff said:
What about ATN? Which of these models do you recommend Thermal Binoculars | ATN Corp My friends gave me a coupon with a solid discount in this store.
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ATN is garbage and something like that is not what you want for wildlife viewing. I'd take some $200 Diamondbacks or BX1's over that.

If you're looking at spending that much look at Swarovski, Leica, and Zeiss and get something you'll never need to upgrade.
 
If it was me, & I realise that it's not, I would scrimp and save for a pair of Swarovski binoculars, secondhand if needs be. I have not found binoculars to equal them. My wife and I each have a pair of Swarovski binoculars and we both use them several times a day and regard them to be a worthwhile investment. We prefer x10 power so 10x32 were my wife's choice And they are excellent.

I have used binoculars professionally both in the army and as a seaman.
 
Trelawney said:
...I would scrimp and save for a pair of Swarovski binoculars, secondhand if needs be. I have not found binoculars to equal them.
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I agree with saving for a good binocular, and also in regards to buying used, however cannot agree about Swarovski superiority in any way whatsoever. Preference rules above all and prospective buyers become their own best friend when they ignore the preferences of others in favor of their own opinions.

By all means, allow suggestions made by others to put various products onto your radar, but don't buy someone else's best simply on their statements. Check out all the main brands as much as possible and realize that if you don't like a particular binocular, no matter how much you're told you should, they're the ones who are wrong and not you.

Going back to Swarovski for a moment, the only one I've liked (and own) is the tiny Curio 7x21, and while my experiences with both EL and NL lines showed them to be high quality instruments, I still prefer my not-the-equal Leicas.

If you like Leica, Meopta, Nikon, Optricron, Swarovski or Zeiss the best, then that's the one that's best for you.
 
I don't know how I could have written any more clearly than I did that my recommendation was purely subjective. Amusing that it riled you though. Bear in mind also the wording of the the OP, "what binoculars do you use?"
 
Trelawney said:
I don't know how I could have written any more clearly than I did that my recommendation was purely subjective. Amusing that it riled you though.
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I don’t see how my post isn’t equally acceptable, and what’s really amusing is that I wasn’t riled at all, but you apparently are. Take a deep breath and you’ll be okay.
 

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