You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Recomendation please. Mates birthday present, got £130 to spend, he's after a travel / compact pair with good distance and good quality lenses, I know nothing about this so any advice appreciated. Thanks.
Opticron.
I went for their 8x42 for about £140 after having their 8x25s free joining the British Trust for Ornithology.
Great binoculars.
I bought some celestron nature DX 8x42. They are so good for the money I bought my dad some aswell but in 10x42
Best price I found was from here: http://www.tringastro.co.uk/celestron-nature-dx-8x42-binoculars-4376-p.asp
Opticrons are excellent VFM. I've got their nifty little Oasis 10x28's which I carry in a jersey pocket on the bike. Contrary to popular belief, I have no problems with 'shaking' cos of the magnification. The only problem is because of the small object lens they aren't as good as my 10x50 Optolyths which are 35yr old.
There was a guy selling Swarovskis at Fairburn Ings a few weeks ago & I tried some of their (cheaply) £800 jobs, ok they were better than my Opticrons but not £600 better, that's for sure!
nikon travelite worth a look
I've owned zeiss and Swaro, love them both, but ridiculously expensive
at that budget and spec, I would recommend Steiner 8*30 as hitting a lot of the marks - good power, good light gathering, nice size and weight while still being 'proper' binoculars
Thanks for your suggestions, I'll check them out.
Last month,
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/anybody-good-on-binoculars
Earlier,
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=site:singletrackworld.com+binoculars
Former Swaro EL owner and now Zeiss Victory. There are subtle differences between solid binos and excellent ones. Often very subtle, depending what you are looking at/light levels etc. Saying that, MIL bought some Hawkes for a wee bit over your budget, ie about £160 and I was really impressed. As above, Opticron are good value. Difficult if you are buying them for someone, but don't discount how they feel in your hands/focussing wheel use etc. my zeiss are brighter than the swaros, but the swaros felt much nicer in the hand.
I ordered a set of Nikon Travelite EX 12x25's yesterday, reading the reveiws there was a question as to whether the 12x's were too powerful and difficult to hold still, but I thought I'd give them a try.
£109 BTW.
+1 for opticron, you can get a very respectable pair for around that price
Nikon Prostaff 7. I've got a pair of 8x42 and they are superb. Should be within budget.
Thanks for all the info. Drove to Canterbury Cameras yesterday and tried out a few pairs. Ended up with a pair of Hawke 10x42s, fairly compact, felt really solid in hand, focus wheel was nice and steady, waterproof, came with a couple of straps and a semi solid case all in budget. My mate is very pleased with them.
Good work!!