Zephyr Asked:

I'm looking to buy some new binoculars and i would like as much advice as possible.Please answer and help me out unless you dont know what your talking about. I realize nice binoculars aren't cheap but I'm willing to go pretty high on price. I was thinking swarvorski or zeiss but I'm not sure so if you have any experience or opinions please help me out!!!

Reply:

Well, Swarvorski are considered the crem de la crem to birders. For low light you really want as large an objective lense as possible without being overly bulky. 56 mm is about the widest that is practical. Most birders pick 8x but 10x are also popular. The higher the power the less bright the image, so I think maybe 8x is what you might want to look at or perhaps even 7x50. You should choose roof prisim for their water proof and fog proofness. There are plenty of really good binoculars available at less than what Swarvorski cost. In general the rule of thumb is 10% better performance at double the cost. Birders prefer binoculars with a wide field of view. That comes in very handing when trying to find a bird amongst a clutter of tree branches. It might also come in handy when searching across a mountain side for game. Do you wear glasses? Probably not but if you did, you would want a long eye relief about 18 mm.

8x56 have recently become offered by several binocular companies including Swarvoski and Zeiss. They are sort of large at 45 oz +-. The Swarvoski have a longer eye relief 22 mm vs 16 for the Zeiss but the Zeiss have a much wider field of view 390 vs 345.

Vortex sells an 8.5x 50 at about 1/2 the price of the above. They are a very good binoculars. I have a pair of 8x42.

You may wish to consider sacraficing some of the light gathering pwoer to save some weight. 7 or 8x42 weight about 10 oz less and are also less bulky.

Here is a link to where I buy my binos.

http://www.eagleoptics.com/index.asp?dep…

 

logo I am a big hunter and i need new, better and big binoculars?
Cat w Binoculars Birdwatching Jewelry Pin Vintage AJC
Cat w Binoculars Birdwatching Jewelry Pin Vintage AJC
Paypal   US $3.50
SportsAfield 8X21Compact Binocular HUNTING BIRDWATCHING
SportsAfield 8X21Compact Binocular HUNTING BIRDWATCHING
Paypal   US $9.99
LARGE MEADE BIRDWATCHING BINOCULARS AMAZING NO RESERVE
LARGE MEADE BIRDWATCHING BINOCULARS AMAZING NO RESERVE
Paypal   US $15.00