Binocular Advice

[Jack123456]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to decide whether to by a pair of 8 or 10 by 50 binoculars. If i do, i would be willing to spend up to £50.

However, i already have a pair on Zeiss 8x30 bins.

Would i achieve anything from getting a bigger pair within my budget? my 8x30s are pretty good optically, so would the reduction in optical quality offset the increase in objective size?

Any thoughts would be great.

[26Left]

Hi Jack. I have a pair of cheapo 10x50s and they are very useful. They are not great optically, but they are easy to hand-hold, have a wide field of view and it wouldn't be a disaster if I dropped them. But, my gut feeling is that they probably wouldn't be much better than your Zeiss bins.

I'm not convinced that aperture always wins. Zeiss binoculars are excellent optically. There are a lot of bad binoculars around, and you may well be disappointed by an "upgrade".

I had a similar decision to make recently. In the end, I decided against buying a pair of cheapish 20x80s to replace my Zeiss 15x60s. My Zeiss bins are 30 or 40 years old and still very good optically. So, I spent the money on a decent tripod instead.

[Jack123456]

Thanks.

That's kinda what i was thinking.

I think i will probably spend the money on another "toy". Not sure what yet, but i'm sure something will come along.

[Nexus 6]

Hi Jack, have you not considered a set of 15x70's?, you should be able to pick some up for not much more than £50.00, you would only need a tripod for them.

If you do see some you like on the net I would ring the dealer to make sure they are in stock, a lot of people have been buying them over the past 6 months as their such a bargain.

Or if your lucky a pair may come up for sale on here.

[Jack123456]

That may be a possability, alan.

i usually have my zeiss' out when i have my scope out, and was thinking of something to keep in the car to use if i am out and about somewhere.

i'll have to try some out before i make a decision.

[NGC404]

If your budget is no more than £50 , be sure to get ones with BaK-4 prisms

BaK-7s will leave you disappointed

[glowjet]

Have a look at Strathspey Bins web site they will give you the run down on optics and prisms, the company comes well recommended and they do a reasonable budget pair of 10x50 bins within your price range

[F15Rules]

Jack,

I had a nice pair of Zeiss Jenoptems 8x30, could well be the same ones you have..They are very sharp in the centre 2/3 or so of the field, then the seagulls move in to the outer fields. Some of the modern bins have better corrected outer fields but you'd have to be paying over £100 even secondhand.

If you were willing to sell your Zeiss 8x30s to help fund your next pair, you might be in that kind of budget territory...I sold my Zeiss's on this forum quite recently for £80, and they regularly go on fleabay (if they are DDR built, with 7 digit serial number (not 6 digit Japanese ones), with leather case, for a similar price.

So if you could get say £60 or more plus the £50 you mention, you could perhaps spend over £100? One other idea...you know the Zeiss are good, even thought quite old...why not look for a nice pair of Zeiss 7x50's (perfect exit pupil for most people) or 10x50s, again with 7 digit serial number and case...you should find a pair for around £100-£130 in vgc.

I had a pair of these and they were superb...they are great at night and you would see far more faint stars than with the 8x30s - and they are hand holdable, just. Field correction is similar to the smaller ones. I wish I hadn't sold mine, but I did get £150 for them which was a good price.

Checkout ebay to see what's about for your budget.

good luck

Dave

[Jack123456]

I don't think i could consider seeling them, as they were passed down from my grandad and are older than me.

I had noticed the lack of field correction, but this doesn't really bother me too much.

I'll continue to look around for some bigger bins, but won't rush into anything.

[Simms]

Depending on how quickly you wish to part with your cash - keep an eye out for a pair of Celestron 15x70s - they are also sold under other names (which escape me at the moment) but you can regularly find these brand new for around £60, secondhand they come up quite regularly for around the £40 mark - cracking set of bins IMHO.

[Treewick]

I purchased a pair of the Celestron 15x70s last Month brand new for $59 USD on Amazon.com. They come with a tripod mount, and for an additional $19 on Amazon I was able to pick up a decent tripod. I have been super impressed and would highly recomend them. I was able to locate and view M81 and M82 using them and have really enjoyed sitting in a reclined beach chair just wandering the about the sky. I dont think you can beat them for a Bin / tripod combo for a total of $80. I think I spent maybe another $10 - $15 on shipping charges.