Binoculars...guidance pls

[nick_j007]

Hope this is the best place for this?

A year or so ago I picked up a pair of Swarovski (sp?) binoculars that were priced at a thousand pounds. They were pretty compact. I looked through them and out of the window only to be frankly stunned at the image quality and brightness of the image. This has stayed with me to this day, and with a spare afternoon today wondered what was on the market and well thought of.

A thousand felt a bit steep, and still does, but a few hundred I could live with. They should last for life right?

My uses. I realise they vary a good deal in ability, but would like something that could cope with general duties from birdwatching to watching motor sport. I keep an old pair on my desk which allow me to watch birds in the garden on the feeder at about 15 metres.

Any thoughts on this pls?

Thanks.

[GetCarter]

There was a thread on here a few weeks ago about this. Some people said that £29.99 from Liddels were great and others said it was worth spending serious money.

I am in the latter camp. If you have money, It really is a once in a lifetime purchase, and as you've noted, once you've looked through a good set, then everything else looks pretty crap. However spending £800 over £400 will probably only increase optical quality by 5 or 10%. Waterproof and build quality will howver, be much higher.

I'd check out this site, they have good info http://www.telescopesandbinoculars.co.uk/acatalog/...

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 20th June 16:14

[boobles]

Just bought these & are superb. Might be way to powerful for bird spotting though.


http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/big-binoculars/ad...

[nick_j007]

boobles said:

Just bought these & are superb. Might be way to powerful for bird spotting though.


http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/big-binoculars/ad...

Wow, they're cheap! They're also out of stock. What's the build quality like? On the basis that you get what you pay for, I will probably give those a miss.

Thanks

[nick_j007]

GetCarter said:

There was a thread on here a few weeks ago about this. Some people said that £29.99 from Liddels were great and others said it was worth spending serious money.

I am in the latter camp. If you have money, It really is a once in a lifetime purchase, and as you've noted, once you've looked through a good set, then everything else looks pretty crap. However spending £800 over £400 will probably only increase optical quality by 5 or 10%. Waterproof and build quality will howver, be much higher.

I'd check out this site, they have good info http://www.telescopesandbinoculars.co.uk/acatalog/...

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 20th June 16:14

Thanks for that. I agree. I'll have to have a look about I think.
Also to congratulate you on your web site with the images. Spent a good while last night reading your car write ups and comments...very good thank you! Inspiring.

[boobles]

nick_j007 said:

boobles said:

Just bought these & are superb. Might be way to powerful for bird spotting though.


http://www.scopesnskies.com/prod/big-binoculars/ad...

Wow, they're cheap! They're also out of stock. What's the build quality like? On the basis that you get what you pay for, I will probably give those a miss.

Thanks

They were originally £100 so build quality is fine for my purposes. It really does depend on what you want to spend! Why pay silly money when £100 can be fine. Ok you get what you pay for & if you want/can spend £1000 then lucky you & goodluck.

[Nero601]

http://www.hawkeoptics.com/binoculars/frontier_ed/...

have a look at those , they are a superb birding glass and great for all round use too , should cost around £279 , nothing to beat them this side of £600 imo

i have used these for several months and can recommend them

HTH

[nick_j007]

Nero601 said:

http://www.hawkeoptics.com/binoculars/frontier_ed/...

have a look at those , they are a superb birding glass and great for all round use too , should cost around £279 , nothing to beat them this side of £600 imo

i have used these for several months and can recommend them

HTH

Thanks, I'll have a look at those

[central]

As a fairly serious birder I can recommend Swarovski ELs, but, at around £950 they're overkill for general use IMHO.

In the sub £200 bracket I'd consider various different models from Bushnell and Opticron. Excellent prices here - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecateg...

Nick, if you fancy trying out dozens of binoculars "in the field" then it's well worth dropping into the Birdfair at Rutland water next month. http://www.birdfair.org.uk/

[nick_j007]

central said:

As a fairly serious birder I can recommend Swarovski ELs, but, at around £950 they're overkill for general use IMHO.

In the sub £200 bracket I'd consider various different models from Bushnell and Opticron. Excellent prices here - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecateg...

Nick, if you fancy trying out dozens of binoculars "in the field" then it's well worth dropping into the Birdfair at Rutland water next month. http://www.birdfair.org.uk/

Oooo that could be a nice day out eh?

Thank you

What's the general view of stabilised bins at present?

[central]

nick_j007 said:

central said:

As a fairly serious birder I can recommend Swarovski ELs, but, at around £950 they're overkill for general use IMHO.

In the sub £200 bracket I'd consider various different models from Bushnell and Opticron. Excellent prices here - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecateg...

Nick, if you fancy trying out dozens of binoculars "in the field" then it's well worth dropping into the Birdfair at Rutland water next month. http://www.birdfair.org.uk/

Oooo that could be a nice day out eh?

Thank you

What's the general view of stabilised bins at present?

Stabilised bins - John McCririck (Channel 4 racing) uses them, but they don't seem to be hugely popular amongst birders.

The Birdfair is a nice day out. The biggest event of its type in the world. There's two Optics tents overlooking the lagoons, where you can spend several hours comparing bins/scopes/cameras/lenses etc. Also look out for quite a few "birdfair special" prices.