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Binos for £100 ish


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As I have a load of new shooting (pigeon) available to me I will need to get out to recon the areas, so am in need of new binos. New baby means limited budget so up to £100 give or taske a little, anyone have any reccomendations?

 

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Seeland do a range of Binoculars which are SUPERB. I have a set of Swaravski 8 x 30 which I use daily when guiding clients. However I can truthfully say that these baby's from Seeland are as good if not a shade better than the Swarovski's and at a fraction of the price. I'll find out the name of 'em as I can personally say there's nothing else out there that even comes close for the money, and you will not be dissappointed.

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Not stocked by UKshootwarehouse are they William? Same price as the Bushnell trophy (if I have the right ones - optimic?) , but if as good as you say then worth a look.

 

Ty for the links guys.

 

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I am in the market for a pair of binos too, I recently looked through a pair of Helios, they were £100. They were amazingly good optically, a bit heavy though. I think that the difference between the big 3 (Zeiss, Swaro, Leica) and some of the lower priced stuff is getting less all the time. I did look through a friend's pair of SLC's the other day and was blown away by the image, but can't justify £650 on top of the Helios! The SLC's were lighter, and nicer in the hand though.

 

I'm not sure who makes Helios, and what their reputation is like though, so maybe I'll wait a bit. I hear very goood things about the Nikon Monarch's, which are around 200 notes, but light in weight. I think I'll try them.

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I bought a pair of 8x Zeiss jena binos many years back for £40. They go for a more on ebay. But they are the best I have ever used. they also do a 10x. I think ebay is now the only source

Zeiss jena are or were the east german zeiss company. the west german zeiss are hugely expensive

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Seeland do a range of Binoculars which are SUPERB. I have a set of Swaravski 8 x 30 which I use daily when guiding clients. However I can truthfully say that these baby's from Seeland are as good if not a shade better than the Swarovski's and at a fraction of the price. I'll find out the name of 'em as I can personally say there's nothing else out there that even comes close for the money, and you will not be dissappointed.

 

 

All I can say is that your swars must be fake then Will :blink: :wacko:

 

8 X 42 is the best configuration for all general use particularly if you have a shaky hand. The Opticron Countryman 8x42 MC T ZWCF.GA Binoculars are the best Bins at under 100 sovs IMO. ( Binoculars are a passion of mine ) As they have a massive 8.2 deg feild of view they are brilliant for reccie work in the field. 25 - 35 mm objective lenses are a complete waste of money IMO. and 10x plus magnification useless, unless you have a tripod or riga mortis has started to set in.

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8 X 42 is the best configuration for all general use particularly if you have a shaky hand. The Opticron Countryman 8x42 MC T ZWCF.GA Binoculars are the best Bins at under 100 sovs IMO. ( Binoculars are a passion of mine ) As they have a massive 8.2 deg feild of view they are brilliant for reccie work in the field. 25 - 35 mm objective lenses are a complete waste of money IMO. and 10x plus magnification useless, unless you have a tripod or riga mortis has started to set in.

 

 

What about Opticron CountryMan 8x42 BGA T PC Roof Prism Binoculars? A bit more money but lighter (?)

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What about Opticron CountryMan 8x42 BGA T PC Roof Prism Binoculars? A bit more money but lighter (?)

 

 

Almost 100G but you sacrifice 34m of additional field of view. If your looking for a good bin for reccy work at distance the bigger the FOV the better.

 

I have a couple of pairs of roof prism bins by Swarovski & Audubon which are great for bird spotting where the image is confined to a FOV of a few metres but for distance work the Opticron bins stay in my Glove box. Looking for a flock of birds with 25mm objective at 2 - 3 miles away would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. There is no other lens system like the Swarovski though they are legendary and to be honest its not fair on either manufacturer to compare them with Binoculars in the £100 bracket.

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Following this thread with interest, and the Opticron seem a decent bet.

 

Having checked my local photographic stores no one stocks them, where is the best place on line to buy them?

 

Warehouse express stock them. I use them a good deal and they often have some cracking bargains of all makes of Binocular, Checkout the special offers pages....www.warehouseexpress.com

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The HSS are essentially a roof prism Binocular which makes them slightly more compact than the porro prism models.

 

I have a pair of the HSS ( which are the Bins referred to in my post as Audubon ) they are Swift Audubon 8.5 x 44 roof prism bins. They are extremely well made binoculars and at around the £250 mark are very good value. These are the last models which were designed and developed by the late Hubert Swift. and have a unique central adjustment built into the centre focus wheel for eye relief correction.

 

However should you be considering the 8.5 x 44 Swift model the Porro prism varient would be much more flexible for all round use. They like the Opticron model mentioned earlier have a great field of view of 8.2 Deg which at 1000m is around 135 m compared to about 90 for spotting or birding type bins, (which the roof prism is mainly designed for.)

 

Both Swift and Opticron Binoculars are very well regarded in the birding community.

 

Theres nothing wrong with Seeland marketed Bins (Sold normally under the Optimic brand) at the right price range, infact Ive had experience of the quality of the Seeland brand from the early 80,s when I bought a coat back from a holiday in Scandinavia. However most optical equipment in the lower price brackets is normally re-badged mass produced merchandise from China & Japan which does not stand close scrutiny or a great deal of use. Saying that the Far East is catching Austria, Germany and Russia up very quickly in the production of quality opticals.

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Stuey,

 

Like Stuart p says... 8 or 8.5 magnification would be the optimum for your intended use, assuming you will be possibly be using them in low light levels at dawn or dusk the bigger the objective the better 44, 50 or even 56 fully coated lenses would be the best.

 

You see the magnification power of 10 Plus is virtually useless except where you have a very steady hand or use a tripod, even your heart beat will make them tremble when trying to hold them unsupported.

 

FM

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