Binoculars

[mellors]

Need a new pair to keep in the truck so not expensive ones. Looking at bushnell sub £100. Which would be best 8x42 or 10x50 . 

I've read a lot of conflicting reviews anyone use either. 

[Dave at kelton]

12 minutes ago, mellors said:

Need a new pair to keep in the truck so not expensive ones. Looking at bushnell sub £100. Which would be best 8x42 or 10x50 . 

I've read a lot of conflicting reviews anyone use either. 

Depends what you want to use them for. Is magnification or light more important. Personally I keep a pair of Minnox 8x 42 in the car and another pair in the lounge. Use largely for bird watching and wildfowling.

[mellors]

14 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

Depends what you want to use them for. Is magnification or light more important. Personally I keep a pair of Minnox 8x 42 in the car and another pair in the lounge. Use largely for bird watching and wildfowling.

Just for pigeon watching /spotting. 

Like every thing else its a mine field there's just so many out there. 

[enfieldspares]

I bought an El Cheapo pair from Lidl for the huge price of £15 last month. 10x something or other. Here's what I wrote on "The Stalking Directory" forum. Now they aren't as good as the Leica 7x42 BA I've had nor the Zeiss 10x44 but at £15 in daylight they won't cause tears if they get lost, damaged, misplaced.

Lidl £14.95 10x50 binculars.....review forthcoming..APRIL 21 2021

Tried briefly today at 5.30pm buildings some 900 to 1000 yards distant. Usual issues with any 10x binoculars....they magnify any "shake" imparted by the user....that they need to be held firmly and preferably with the user's elbows rested. First impressions are that they aren't at all bad for the price paid. Certainly not horrors and, so far, no feeling that I've wasted my money. I'll try at a future time when the light starts to fade.

Just tried at 7.30pm on the same buildings at the same distance. N o problems with seeing objects that are of different colour to what is behind them but I think a brown deer against a brown field would be possibly not picked up. I'd be quite happy to use them knowing I'd paid £14.95 for them but I think there would be a difference between them and the top end stuff from Leica and Zeiss that I've owned. But that they'd hold their own against my later father's old British Army 7x50 WWII binoculars.

Just tried at 7.30pm on the same buildings at the same distance. N o problems with seeing objects that are of different colour to what is behind them but I think a brown deer against a brown field would be possibly not picked up. I'd be quite happy to use them knowing I'd paid £14.95 for them but I think there would be a difference between them and the top end stuff from Leica and Zeiss that I've owned. But that they'd hold their own against my later father's old British Army 7x50 WWII binoculars.

[old man]

1 hour ago, mellors said:

Need a new pair to keep in the truck so not expensive ones. Looking at bushnell sub £100. Which would be best 8x42 or 10x50 . 

I've read a lot of conflicting reviews anyone use either. 

I have had Bushnell Naturetrek 8 x42 for 7 years. Focus down to very close for bird watching. ssed for stalking too. Never missed a beat and fairly lightweight, would buy again.

[Ultrastu]

I walked into a cash converters  shop the other week .it always has bargains for sale .

I picked up a pair of almost new hawke frontier  8x32   for £50  the rrp on these is £380 .

Best glass I've ever looked through .

 

[Pushandpull]

To return to the original question. Many people can not hold 10x steady enough without some sort of rest. This is why most birders go for 8x bins as they are usually using them "free-hand". It doesn't sound much but is a significant difference.

The other point is that the weight and size of bins increases enormously as you "move up". 8 x 30, whatever the quality, are go-anyware glasses that you can tuck inside your jacket. 10 x 50, whatever make, are big heavy lumps hanging around your neck and bouncing about by comparison. 

My 30 year old 8 x 30s go everywhere with me. I have 8 x 42 Geovids but these are strictly for shooting use.

[enfieldspares]

Yes PUSHANDPULL I don't even like 8x and my preferred magnification is either 7x or 6x. But nowadays folk thing that a bigger number (like the count of cupholders in American SUVs) is somehow better. It isn't!

[Pushandpull]

There is very little choice in compact 6x or 7x.  7 x 50 are huge things for a specific job. A traditional little pair of (say) Nikon 7 x 35 can be as cheap as chips and lovely to use.  Wartime  6 x 30 by various makers were great many years ago but optics have improved so much in recent years.

[mellors]

Thanks for the replies. Ordered the bushnell 8x42 waterproof ones.