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New birdwatcher having to decide on binoculars (1 Viewer)

Being a consumer researcher I work from a different perspective. Over the years, I've met hundreds of new birders with the wrong binoculars. Even though they had bought them in shops with a good reputation, the binos did not fit their birding style. One of the worst examples was a 16 year old girl with a 15 x 56. A photography shop had advised her to buy this one because ''the birds are much closer''. Yes they are but she wasn't happy, she could barely carry that beast.

That's why I sometimes advice new birders to buy a certain more expensive model, based on their style. They don't know why but after a year they know it's not a waste of money. Of course, they have to test it themselves before buying. There is much more to it, the 'interview' may take an hour, but it gives an idea.
 
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Except a neophyte might not know what to look out for while viewing: field of view, chromatic aberration, rolling ball, edge sharpness, color, 3D effect if using Porros (I’d definitely consider a Porro in the $500 range), coma if they also want to use it for astronomy.
These are all the things that do not matter too much for a beginner, and those things can also be read about in reviews. What matters when trying bins is how it feels in your hands and how it fits to your eyes and face. Everyone can easily test this.
 
I’ve not seen a beginner say much beyond “This one is so clear.” or “Wow!”
That said, the "wow!" factor is often a good indicator.

When I bought my first binoculars 14 years ago, I initially didn't want to spend more than £200 because I had no idea how much I would use it. But when trying out extensively in front of the shop, I was disappointed with the quality I could get with that, so settled on a £320 Hawke with ED glass, which I thought was quite nice and still somewhat affordable.

But, just to see how much there was still to gain from spending more, I asked the shop owner to let me try the best binocular that he had. He gave me the Swarovski EL 8.5x42 SV (£1620 at the time). Then when I looked through it... WOW! I was blown away. It was an overcast day and when I looked at the same boring grey concrete building at the other side of the street, I suddenly saw colours and textures that I had never noticed with the cheaper binoculars. But of course I wasn't going to spend £1620 on binoculars....

Well, I never forgot about that Swaro and when it turned out that I enjoyed nature/ bird watching so much that I spent so many hours with my bins, I kept longing for it. One year later, I bit the bullet and bought the Swaro anyway! It looked like an insane amount of money at the time, but I have been using it intensively for the past 13 years now and never wished for anything else. It's been all around the world and accompanied me on every hike/ camp/ adventure/ birding day. If nothing bad happens to it, it will last the rest of my life. It was a lot of money at the time, but in terms of enjoyment per £ spent, it has been a bargain! Rarely has money been so well spent!

The takeaway: once you know it's a serious hobby, buy the best you can afford. Even very expensive binoculars aren't that expensive in terms of enjoyment per $ spent spread over many years. That is the way I look at it.
 
After a lot of thinking i went for the Viper HD 8x40, and im happy with it. I did a simple comparison between that one and an old Meade Rainforest (200usd) binoculars(even though its not that scientific, i think it shows the difference for the viewer well).

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Usually with any given binocular manufacturer's models there is a good, better, and best. The gain from the better over the good depends a good deal on the manufacturer. I do not see a big gain in going from a Nikon Monarch 5 to a Monarch 7 binocular. With the Vortex binoculars I have owned there is a great deal of difference between the base level Diamond binoculars and the middle ground Viper and the high end Razor binoculars. Not to muddy the waters too much but I compared both the Vortex Razor HD and the Vortex Razor UHD in 12x50 and there was nothing about the UHD version that justified the 50% higher cost.

The greater the image magnification the more apparent any shortcomings will be for binoculars. With 8x the differences are minor but with 12x the differences were very noticeable.

Binoculars made in the past 20 years have excellent weather sealing and are fog proof and have very good coatings on the lens elements. I say this with respect to ones selling for $400 or more with a few exceptions. A cheap 7x50 marine binocular is going to function and be as durable as one costing 2-3 times as much.

I suggest going on local birding outings and trying the binoculars of the participants. You can see firsthand if 8x or 10x work best and whether a larger objective size is needed.
 
After a lot of thinking i went for the Viper HD 8x40, and im happy with it. I did a simple comparison between that one and an old Meade Rainforest (200usd) binoculars(even though its not that scientific, i think it shows the difference for the viewer well).
Congrats on having made a decision you are happy with!
 

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