Hi Folks. My wife and I have resolved to give ourselves a big set of (bird-watching) binoculars for Xmas.
I have searched the forum but didn’t find a thread on the subject.
We have Minolta 8x25s which are lightweight and very bright. However they don’t quite have the reach or the field of view.
My research suggests going to 10x50 might be too big to give acceptable: weight, light values and field of view
...help please! ...
Could anyone give us a recommendation, before we hit the shops.
Cheers
Hi can I suggest you have a look at Birdforum there is a wealth of info there
http://www.birdforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=112
Cheers
Nick
G'day Vern,
The best thing you can do is to actually go to the shops, rather than purchasing them online. The reason is that there is a great difference between the different brand and models of binoculars on offer. And what is comfortable and works on one person, may not be comfortable and suit you. So it's always best to try before you buy.
Check out Aus Geo shops, as well as some Astronomy shops as well, they tend to stock quite a rang of the more powerful binoculars. I have 3 pair at the moment, with a 4th on it's way. Most birders will only use a smaller, less powerful pair to carry, and will opt for a stand based one for longer distances. I prefer to use a more powerful hand held pair. I find it's more versatile, but that also depends on the subject, and what terrain it is in when you view it.
Hi! to Gelmir and SpotFocus and thanks for the advice. Wife and I ended up at the local Telescopes and Binoculars shop, Sirius Optics @ Underwood in Brisbane, great service and advice. You could spend a lot of money in a very short time in their shop.
We ended up selecting a set of Gerber Avian 8 by 32.They are waterproof with a reasonable field width and what seems to be very bright optics. It was really good to be able to compare. Maybe next Xmas we'll get a spotting scope.
Cheers
VJ