best binoculars?

January 30, 2006 8:03 PM

Re: binoculars. What do I look for and what is the best for my money? We are hiking/mountaineering with kids.

We are ramping up for some serious hiking and exploring in the coming months. We have been hiking alot but I am always sad when the kids (my boys) miss being able to witness the occasional Golden Eagle, coyote, mountain lion or big horned sheep because we don't have field glasses/binoculars. What would be the best for us? Keep in mind that we will be visiting mountain tops with incredible long-range views. Looking at the moon and stars is good too! Thanks in advance.

posted by snsranch to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

From your description it sounds like magnification is important. These days you have some great options in image stabilizing optics. Otherwise stay at 12x or 10x. A wide field of view is nice at these powers but you will trade eye relief (how far you can hold them from your eyes). Everything is a trade-off. One recommendation, go with the more traditional looking porro-prism types. They lack the sex/snob appeal that roof prisms carry, but they are much cheaper and work equally as well and probably better. Small binoculars are nice for hiking but you give up light gathering capacity, which is especially noticeable with higher magnification. For inexpensive binoculars I recommend Swift - very good quality at reasonable prices. Nikon E series would be a nice step up and of course the sky is the limit with these things.
posted by caddis at 8:22 PM on January 30, 2006

See A better view desired

I have the Nikon Venturer LX 8x32 (gen 1) that he recommends and man they are incredible. The picture seems better than reality.

cheers,

Carl
posted by ccoryell at 8:57 PM on January 30, 2006

Ditto odinsdream - but also, have a budget in mind - these things can get expensive!

Comparison of types available at your price point will yield a clear winner - You *do* get what you pay for, so Zeiss glass (T* designation) will run at around the $400+ mark second hand for example, but boy are they 'good' - at this pricepoint, they had better be though! I have a set of 10x42 that allows fantastic viewing, but the cost is huge.

I have been through a few pairs historically, before biting the bullet and buying 'expensive' - and I wish I had taken that decision earlier.

Some things to be aware of - if you wear glasses, ensure that you are immediately comfy with whichever set you favour - they should feel like your favourite item of clothing straight away; also, ensure that if you are prone to motion sickness in any way, that you 'try' using the favoured set for a period of time (standing in a store looking through a set for 5 minutes seems silly, but it's worth it) - there are sets available with image stabilisation that work wonderfully.

Final suggestion; what you're looking for, to compare and contrast sets, is brightness - the bigger the zoom factor, the harder it is to keep the image bright, and so distinct/visible - the break point will depend on your decision regarding proximity to subject - IE no use getting really bright small zoom if you're expecting to see things a way away.
posted by DrtyBlvd at 6:40 AM on January 31, 2006

The Swift Audubons are a pretty good compromise for general viewing, targeted obviously at bird watchers, with excellent quality for the price. The unusual 8.5 magnification is "just right" for a lot of stuff where the standard 7 and 10 are like Mama and Papa Bear's binoculars.

Incidentally, contrary to the review I linked the Audubons are not comparable to Swarovskis. My wife has a pair of Swarovskis and they make the Swifts look like plastic opera glasses by comparison. But they also cost more than five times as much as the Audubons.
posted by localroger at 10:59 AM on January 31, 2006

Most binoculars will not fit children. I don't know the technical terms, but if you have a small face you have to make sure the eyepieces are super-adjustable, because the distance between your pupils is smaller than most adults - and most adult bins.

I have a pair of Nikon SportsStar 10x25s. Each eyepiece moves independently, so they will move close enough together for me. This pair is also water resistant, has great pop-up eye relief, and is very compact. Got them at REI for about $70.

Also, Bushnell sells inexpensive bins at most sporting goods stores. Not great optics, but good enough for kids and casual use.
posted by shifafa at 11:43 AM on January 31, 2006

Another thing you may want to consider, if you're hiking and backpacking with binos, is weight. Our first pair of birding binos is similar to these. The image quality is good, but they're very light. We recently bought a pair of Brunton Epochs that have fantastic image quality and brightness, but are much heavier.
posted by DakotaPaul at 4:35 PM on January 31, 2006