Bino's - multi-use?

[Woking]

hi

I'm looking at getting a pair of binoculars, either 7x50 or 10x50.

Might be a silly question but are these types useable for other things than astronomy? understand most bino's advertised are also for bird watching, which is good stuff but I was thinking more of at the cricket etc

Any recommendations would be appreciated and they will be hand-held only.

SaN best buy recommendation are the Helios FieldMaster and seem well priced too....

cheers

[MjrTom]

Yeah they will be fine. Bear in mind that the higher the magnification the harder it is to hold them steady.

My thoughts would be some 7x or 8x Binos with 42-50mm objective lenses. These should make pretty good general purpose optics and not be too heavy to lug about.

[Skills]

Yep, just used my 7x50 helios fieldmaster binos at the 02 arena concert "the wall", observed the stars Gilmore and Waters. Good for birding as well.

Very happy with these binoculars.

[Ad Astra]

7x50 are great general purpose, and wide enough to make catching rapidly moving action at a sports match is still easy. 10x is harder to hold steady, and narrows the field.

I have a pair of 8x42's that I think are about perfect for all-round. Very light weight, and much more compact than my 7x50's (they fit in the glove box in the car). Enough aperture to do reasonable astronomy, not so big that I look like a detective on a stakeout in a bad movie. You want to cause a sensation? Take a pair of 20x80's to a football match and whip them out to watch the action from the stands!

Dan

[Adamski]

Hi, I bought some 8x21 pocket size bino's and to be honest they are very good and very portable. I have managed to make out m13 and the andromeda galaxy, ok no prizes for best view but they are good for finding stuff. I also use them for watching wildlife and gigs.

[brantuk]

I'd suggest a pair of 10x50's - standard size recommended by Sir Patrick for years now. Don't need anything fancy - so long as they are fully coated porro prisms you'll be fine.

I got a pair of Rocktrails from Liddls sale for £15 last year and they work fine - they're light to hold, rubber grips, twist out eye relief, and come with a 30 day no quibble money back guarantee if you don't like them, so you've nothing to loose

[glowjet]

People will beg to differ but the average bino in general use for hand held is the 10x50 and as Brantuck has mentioned is recommended by the great man himself, the quality of glass and prisms in the more expensive types will give you improved resolution if using them for the night sky, I have a pair of Japanese Adlerblick 10x50 which resolves 4 of Jupiter's Moons where my 15x70 Celestrons will only resolve 3, could be down to my eyesight of course, but you pays your money and takes your chance.

[twotter]

I've got two pairs of 10x50s, including a pair of Bressers I paid £35 for and used for stargazing for a year before getting my telescope. Also have a small pair of Praktica 10x25s bought when I used to do a bit of hill walking, now sitting in the kitchen which overlooks open fields (ideal for spotting where our cat has got to).

Seems to me that a pair of 10x50s are a good standard binocular, suitable for a variety of things

[Woking]

thanks for the advice, invaluable as always.

leaning towards Sir Patrick's 10x50 bins as they appear to be well suited for astronomy as well as other daytime terrestial pursuits

[rowan46]

some bino's will be fine for birdwatching, but be careful of general purpose ones. I have yet to find a general purpose pair fit for music, they don't have enough octaves