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me and the missus do a lot of walking around our local nature reserve ( Spurn point ) and as it seems to be a bit of a Mecca for wildlife I was thinking we should have a decent pair of binoculars.
i have a couple of pair of cheap 8 x 21s but can someone tell me what would be a good magnification for general bird / seal etc watching. Thanks.
8x42 is probably the best compromise between magnification and size. Best performance regarding light gathering is 10x50, but they’re pretty big and heavy. Of course, if you’re not walking very far, the weight might not be so much of an issue. 8x32 is a nice pocketable size with decent magnification, not so good in low light. The exit pupil determines how bright the image will be in low light, holding the binos up and looking at the little dot of light you see in the eyepiece, bigger tells you that light gathering is better.
I think the RSPB do special days at nature reserves with ranges of binoculars for people to try out, it might be worth doing some checking around for something like that to try a bunch out; it’s easy to get carried away, a decent pair of Avian binos will cost roughly £200, but once you get into Svarovski, Leica and such, you can be looking at £1000 or so a pair.
Have a look through Uttings optics range, they do a huge variety, their Leica 8x42 are £1399...
https://www.uttings.co.uk/c493-optics/
these are brilliant for the price.
Thanks guys, plenty to go on there!
Olympus 8 x 40 easy to carry about and very sharp, only £58 from Amazon
Second tick on the Olympus 8x40s, pretty good and excellent for the price, Almost as good as my favourites, I have some expensive binos but my 8x50 Pentax’s (£30 20 plus years ago) still are my favs.
Only you can decide, you have to try a few within your budget & take into account all manner of detail.
Size
Weight
Close focus limit
Eye relief comfort & adjustability (if you wear specs)
Comfortable (for you) to hold
FWIW I tend to use either Leica Trinovid 10x25's or Opticron 10x28's (the wife's) which are both great for carrying when I'm on the bike, or my old Optolyth Alpin 10x50's if I'm not.
Optolyths are great value for money.
As above. 8x42 are the best all-round option. After that I guess it depends on how much you want to pay.
Becareful when comparing binoculars in full daylight conditions. When its light and bright; a pair of £400 will look almost as good as a pair of £2000 Noctivids.
Then take those same optics out at dawn or dusk and you will really notice the difference. The premium brands will allow in more light and will thus appear much brighter.
There are many sub £1000 binoculars and you take your choice.
I think over that, it is personal choice between Leica, Swarowski and Zeiss.
My opinion is swayed, I was bought a superb pair of Leica Ultravids a few years ago. I keep reminding my wife that quite seriously they are the best things she has ever bought me. They are superb and I love using them.
You can get some good quality binoculars like Opticron for not a lot of money. I've have 8x42 and previously 8x25. Some good field guides will serve you better than worrying about the absolute best brand and tech of binoculars.
We bought some Opticron Discovery 8*32s about 6 years ago. They've been great for us and work quite well in low light.
They are still available in a range of sizes.
I’m certainly no expert on this subject but I was in a similar position to you and wanted something that was reasonable and did not break the bank. On recommendations (possibly on here) I bought a pair of Vortex crossfire 8x32 for £80 and couldn't be happier with them for what I use them for, which is mostly amateur nature watching on hikes. Bought a pair of Vortex diamondback for my dad for the same purpose and we were similarly impressed with what you got for the money.
Right then plenty to read up on here guys! Will have a look round sometime this week and report back when I get sorted. Thanks again.
Late vote for Celestron here, I've just bought a pair of 8x25 for my FiL, BaK4 coated lenses, waterproof and if my Celestron Granite's are anything to go by, really good build quality, all for £44.. I can't fault mine for how much I use them.
I've always had good advice from First light optics too, I bought my telescope from them.