Binocular buying advice.

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I'm looking to get a pair of binoculars to use on my daily dog-walk as I see plenty of wildlife when I'm out and about. I have cheap pair of 20x50's that I bought in a chemists in Athens in 1982 for about £15 and weigh about 4kg! and I have a 6x30 monocular that I bought in a Spanish market about 5 years ago. I'd prefer something lightweight and not too bulky in between those ranges. Something that will fit in my 'manbag'.

I think I should be looking in the 8/10x30ish range and I'm looking to spend around the £2-250 mark. I know that'll only get me an entry level set so not expecting Zeiss or similar! Any wildlife watchers on here that can give an insight of what to get or what to avoid?

Is it worth looking at secondhand ones?
 
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Between £2 - £250???

Your only £1 away from trying the local Pound shop.

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Andy
 
obsessive bird watcher here - my favourites are 8 x 40 Bushnell H20
https://www.bushnell.com/binoculars/hunting/h2o-8x42-binoculars/BU-158042.html

I have some 10x50 and 16x 70 for bird hides, but when out for a walk they're too cumbersome. Anything less than a ?x40 doesn't let enough light in on anything other than a bright sunny day for me.

But for walking I have found the 8x40s are the best compromise. Another thing that can't be stressed enough, get a good neck strap, a wide neoprene one makes a huge difference to comfort.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142833076093?hash=item214183c77d:g:d5AAAOSwdrlbImX0
 
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I'm looking to get a pair of binoculars to use on my daily dog-walk as I see plenty of wildlife when I'm out and about. I have cheap pair of 20x50's that I bought in a chemists in Athens in 1982 for about £15 and weigh about 4kg! and I have a 6x30 monocular that I bought in a Spanish market about 5 years ago. I'd prefer something lightweight and not too bulky in between those ranges. Something that will fit in my 'manbag'.

I think I should be looking in the 8/10x30ish range and I'm looking to spend around the £2-250 mark. I know that'll only get me an entry level set so not expecting Zeiss or similar! Any wildlife watchers on here that can give an insight of what to get or what to avoid?

Is it worth looking at secondhand ones?

If you're going to carry them walking on rough ground, small and light is what you need. If it's in daylight and you are old, you don't need large objectives. If £250 is your limit you can't afford high quality roof-prisms.

8x30 would be very suitable. You could get an 8x20 or a 6x20 that will be even smaller and adequate in good light.

A cloth carry-pouch will be adequate to keep them reasonably clean.

Second hand bins have often been dropped and are out of collimation, beyond economic repair. You may not notice it with a quick glance. Very old bins, even from a major maker, are likely to have defects. Old bins in perfect condition at a low price are usually too big and powerful, which is why they were put in a cupboard and never used.

I think you will be buying a Chinese made, plastic-bodied roof prism. Fully coated optics are essential. It may have the brand name of a well-known Japanese company that designed them. RSPB have good value products they'e got on a bulk contract.

With bins, you very much get what you pay for. If you look at the shape of a Zeiss pattern ZCF bin (for a century the most popular) it is easier to make a good bin than the now-popular roof prism, so you can get better quality per £, but they are bigger and out of fashion. You will see the low priced junior bins by RSPB have a sort of reverse-zeiss shape to make them narrower but simple technology, as they are designed for low price.



Do not make the mistake of thinking that a more powerful bin is better
 
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I am ready to be shot down on this - but distant memory at an RSPB shop is that bird watching binoculars are different from hill/ship watching binoculars.
The reason being that they have diffrent focal lenghts so bird watching binoculars have their focal points optimised for close up items and hill/ship watching binoculars have their focal points optimised for distant items.

- Saying that - it does not mention it on the RSPB website
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-w...-watching-equipment/how-to-choose-binoculars/
 
Naval binoculars are always* 7x50

because 7x is as much as you can keep a steady image when the ship your are standing on, and your subjects, are both moving about in the sea

and 50mm is as heavy as you can reasonably hold for long periods. They can be heavier and larger than birders need, because seafarers do not walk for miles, on rough ground and through undergrowth.

Some ships binoculars do not have good close focus, and some have no focussing, on the grounds that you are not going to be looking at anything close. I don't think I've seen any contemporary bins like that, though. Some of them have electric heating to prevent misting up or frost.

Racing folk used to like 7x50's

*almost
 
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My main criteria is size so I'm sticking with 8/10x30/32. I've upped my budget to around the £350 mark. A couple of contenders so far:
ZEISS Terra ED

NIKON Monarch

RSPB

Ideally I'd like to go to a shop and have look and a feel of them but where can you do that these days?
 
Also, with presumption you are in Essex.

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CameraWorld Ltd
4.5(136) · Camera shop
Chelmsford · In High Chelmer Shopping Centre · 01245 255510
Open ⋅ Closes 5:30PM
In-store shopping·In-store pick-up
AF1QipMrcaD0G8zLHWYPblVD-_S5fRFQe2fhk0cDC7g_=w92-h92-n-k-no

London Camera Exchange
4.7(50) · ££ · Camera shop
Colchester · 01206 573444
Open ⋅ Closes 5PM
In-store shopping·In-store pick-up·Delivery
upload_2021-11-12_15-56-39.jpeg

Essex Wildlife Sales Hanningfield Optics
5.0(1) · Telescope Shop
Billericay · In Essex Wildlife Trust Hanningfield Reservoir Nature Discovery Park · 01268 711001
Open ⋅ Closes 5PM
 

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the RSPB look like a good buy to me.

I don't know what a famous brand name adds to the price, but it will be something.

These are too modern for me, but look for reviews on

https://www.birdforum.net/forums/binoculars.112/

there is an English language article about a Nikon Monarch on this German site
http://www.holgermerlitz.de/old_vs_new/e2_hg_8x30.html
not be the same model, but he rates it higher than the EII which is stupendousy good. (edit: "HG" is high grade and much more expensive.)

i don't think Simon Spiers has comments on these.
 
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