looking for binocular??

B

bmw4life1

Joined
May 9, 2009
Messages
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i want a pair of small/compact inexpensive binorulars id like to keep it under 50. their for when i go hiking or for when im target shooting with my gf and want to keep track or to help sight in.

any suggestions would be great. or what should i look for. dont know anything about them.

thank you

dylan
 
I've only ever had cheapo binoculars. I recently picked up a set of Leupold Yosemites. They are a little above your limit but well worth it IMO.
 
BNWforLIfe1: I doubt if you will be able to get a good enough pair of binoculars for less than 3 or 4 times your stated upper spending limit which will be of much value in spotting small caliber holes in targets at more than 25 yards. A great pair of light weight binocs in a 8 power with a 25 mm objective lens is about all most folks can hold steady enough to effectively use without being rested on something solid. You should be concerned with eye relief distance, and weight for a hiking pair, and possibly use a larger and heavier pair for bird watching, or other needs. I'll warn you, even those little straight tube lightweight sport units of 8 x 25 can easily cost close to $1,000. Here again, you get what you pay for, if you are lucky.
 
Caveat - As pointed out before this report is a bit "old" as there has been a recent near "revolutionary" breakthrough in performance/price - but these tend to be in the $300-$500 range. So the report is probably still very valid for lower priced binos -

ConsumerSearch on Binoculars

ConsumerSearch reviews the reviews - ie: survey the available reviews ranks them and comes to some consensus - kind of what we'd do if we had the time and resources.

see specifically their take on Compact Binoculars

The top compact binocular was the Pentax Papilio 6.5x21 but low price is closer to about $100.

There were a number of also ran compacts, among those I like (and own) the Nikon Travelite 8x25 which can be had for as low as $69.95 shipped.
For me Nikon binoculars seem to do consistently and surprisingly well, from both reviews and recommendations.

Hope that helps,

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bmw4life1 said:
ok what do the numbers mean for instance what is 10x25?? i found these, might be a bit larger then what i want and alil out of price range.
Click to expand...

please see Binocular Types at ConsumerSearch

First number is the magnification and second is the object (front lens) diameter.

The exit pupil is objective/magnification
this is an indication of relative brightness
- so a 10x25 would have exit pupil of 2.5
- whereas a lower magnification of 8x25 would give 3.125
which is about 56% brighter -
this is very important when it comes to compact binoculars with small'ish objective diameters.

Higher magnification may seem to be "better"
but with anything higher than about 8x - the binoculars will more easily show hand-held movement (ie: harder to hold still).
Most experts recommend 8x as a good general purpose magnification for hand-held use.

--
Vincent

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I've had good luck on e-bay buying used Nikon binos. You may have to wait for the right deal to keep it within your price range, but it's a viable alternative to new. I got an excellent Nikon 7x21 compact for <$20 shipped this year.
 
bmw4life1 said:
i want a pair of small/compact inexpensive binorulars id like to keep it under 50. their for when i go hiking or for when im target shooting with my gf and want to keep track or to help sight in.

any suggestions would be great. or what should i look for. dont know anything about them.

thank you

dylan
Click to expand...


Umm... what distance, what caliber are we talking? Unless we're talking energetic rifle calibers, a very affected target (holes show easily) and within 50 feet, you're out of luck. Spotting downrange will take MUCH more magnification than any simple binocular is capable of providing. You will need to spend at least 10x what you're talking about here, for a single lens- a spotting scope.

Now that I've brought you down to reality: the travelites probably are the best I suppose. Really, at that price range... not much to be said. You spend your money on a Bimmer because you couldn't stand to drive a 1980s taurus; that's about the comparison equivalent of what you're talking about- maybe even a moped to your bimmer. Good glass is expensive. Especially for the ranges you are talking about.

There's really not much at the price range to recommend, except buy from a name brand. As a matter of fact, generally, there's no guarantee at that price that the binoculars are even set up right (called colliminated- meaning that the glass in the eyepiece matches up to the objective lens). If there's something on sale that normally goes for $100, it might be tested for collimination, but that's the best you can ask.

Basically, if you're not willing to spend at least $300 on binoculars/spotting scope, (yes, there are choice exceptions below that, but in general, and as a sense of dedication, especially if we're talking sighting on a range) binoculars are more a toy than a tool.

Oh yeah, and if you actually want the power to see far ranges, forget your compact specification. The further away, the higher quality/more light you need to see details, and so you need a bigger light gathering lens. Ocular tools are all about tradeoffs, and there's no way around it.
Zero
 
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