Need your suggestion about birding binocular, I plan to buy a Meopta B1, not B1.1 (1 Viewer)

[Hav]

By chance my friend who is Meopta distributor in China, offer me a chance to want Meopta B1 not B1.1 , 7X50,8X32 and 8X42 at the same price, which one I should buy for birding? Your suggestion is highly appreciated.
By the way, I am 50 years old EE engineer and just start to birding this year. I used to use Zeiss opticals before.


Your Hao

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Hav!

I'm going to move your thread to the Meopta section of the Binocular sub-forum where hopefully you'll get more feedback. You will be notified by email when a member posts in that thread.

 

[KC Foggin]

Okay, I've moved it and you should get this post in an email to show how you'll be notified

 

[Boogieshrew]

By chance my friend who is Meopta distributor in China, offer me a chance to want Meopta B1 not B1.1 , 7X50,8X32 and 8X42 at the same price, which one I should buy for birding? Your suggestion is highly appreciated.
By the way, I am 50 years old EE engineer and just start to birding this year. I used to use Zeiss opticals before.


Your Hao

For me the main difference between them is their weight and size. The weight difference between the three is greater than any optical difference I suspect.
How much are you willing to carry on your neck and shoulders?
The 8x32 is small and slim and may not suit big hands. The other two are large and may not suit small hands.
I've never tried the 7x50 but I have used the 8x32 and 7x42 and liked the view through both very much.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[Rg548]

Ok, so this whole weight thing.
It's personal. I don't notice much between say 600g and 800g. My Meoptas are infact about 900g.
They feel very solid, and the weight helps the stability. I like this!
When I DO want lightness.... I use much smaller bins.
And as far as light gathering goes, yes, big objectives are better, but with modern coatings/ technologies, there's less in it than you might think.
My 8x25's still show more than the naked eye, not by much, but they do.
Anyway, 8x42 would be my choice there..... great all rounder.
But you won't be disappointed at any of them.

 

[bartd]

I borrowed a friend's MeoStar B1 Plus 8x42 binos last year to watch waterfowl. I used them for about 2 weeks, many times early in the morning at first light and I was very impressed. Amazing light-gathering which is a known Meopta trait but also the field of view and the clarity let me differentiate the type of waterfowl that were present. If you can get the MeoStar B1 Plus, do it.

 

[Hav]

Hi Hav!

I'm going to move your thread to the Meopta section of the Binocular sub-forum where hopefully you'll get more feedback. You will be notified by email when a member posts in that thread.

Thanks

 

[Hav]

Thank you for your suggestion, finally I bought 8X42 for myself and 8X32 for my son as birthday gift. It is brand new but old stock, so price is pretty nice, below 500USD, I am happy about it. I have tried to compare them with my dialyt 10X40 T*P during the weekend, the view is different, meopta is brighter but heavier.

 

[KC Foggin]

Okay, good for you Hav! Enjoy them