Bargain Bins

[John]

Just managed to find a charity shop bargain - a pair of 8x30 Komz binos from 1986 but practically unused and in their original case with leather straps for both case and binos. Plus plastic eyepiece cover. Price ? - just £3.99

Nice and sharp and ruggedly made. These may well be in my luggage for my forthcoming Costa Rica wildlife trip 

[ronin]

Binoculars and Costa Rica.

Do me a favour and take 2 pairs of binoculars, some years ago on a birding forum I kind of fell out with someone about binoculars and Costa Rica. May have questioned his competancy.

Oh please don't tell me this is your second trip and you previously broke 3 sets of Bushnell H2O's.

[John]

This will be my 1st trip. Why 2 pairs of binos ?

[ronin]

I have a set of Bushnell H2O binoculars and maybe not the best but they do a good job for the cost. About 5 or 6 years ago on a birding forum someone started off a rant about how poor they were. Said they had managed to break 3 sets in a bit under 6 months. The last set broke during a trip to Costa Rica.

I asked how had they managed to break 3 sets, they are solid binoculars. Mine live in the car and get bounced everywhere and used in all conditions. Anyway the last pair had apparently broke on this Costa Rica trip, person complained it had spoilt the trip as they could not find any binoculars to buy out there in San Jose so were binocularless for the remainder of the trip/holiday.

That was when I pointed out they were claiming that the capital city of Costa Rica, a place known for the wildlife and visitors for that and apparently no where in the capital after a 2 day search sold binoculars???  It all sounded somewhat made up and very improbable, and I suppose I basically said so. Also they had mentioned a boat/cruise trip they had made fron Costa Rica that was not possible as far as I know.

In any case I just suggest you think of 2 sets as I suspect you may find the humidity high and you do not want to find that whatever set you take cannot handle it. I half suspect that binoculars will be an important item and a back up is likely to be a sensible insurance policy. Trouble is that they are kind of bulky items.

When are you off ?

So mention of binoculars and Costa Rica make me smile.

[John]

Thanks for the cautionary tale. My other half will have her binos with her as well so, if mine get messed up, I'll have to ask nicely to borrow hers !

I'll probably pop a cheap pair of 10x25 roof prisms in the luggage as well, just in case !

[F15Rules]

That sounds like a great buy John?. My Russian 8x30s are Jenoptem clones and, while not as good as the Zeiss, they are very sharp and cost me just £13 on gumtree a few years back. These old Russian bins often have a very distinctive smell to them as well, an industrial odour.

But great value for money.

Have a wonderful trip?.

Dave

[John]

35 minutes ago, F15Rules said:

That sounds like a great buy John?. My Russian 8x30s are Jenoptem clones and, while not as good as the Zeiss, they are very sharp and cost me just £13 on gumtree a few years back. These old Russian bins often have a very distinctive smell to them as well, an industrial odour.

But great value for money.

Have a wonderful trip?.

Dave

Thanks Dave

My wife has an old and battered pair of 8x30 Jenoptem's and she loves them

I'll be sniffing my Komz for the rest of the evening now !

[laudropb]

That's a real bargain John. Prepared to be amazed. Was in Costa Rica birding a few years ago. Totally amazing and definitely the best place I have visited for wildlife observing. Take a couple of microfibre cloths with you. I found that it was the eyepieces that tended to mist over, but it was no great problem.

[PeterW]

As one person on a forum once said... "two is one and one is none"... i.e. Always have a backup. At least it's not just me who sniffs bins, each one with its own smell, my parents Jenoptems being the nicest... or maybe that's the memoriesnit brings back.

 

peter

[Charic]

On 05/08/2017 at 08:43, PeterW said:

...........it's not just me who sniffs bins, each one with its own smell

lol!.......I found an old pair of Commodore 12x50s today in the local  PDSA outlet, they were quite dirty, inside too, looked like fungus in there! also covered in web and two dead spiders between the bridge and focus adjuster, original square case, But the smell....... very musty,  said they were years old, and the straps looked like they would fail if hung around the neck. Maybe this week  on my shopping trip I'll find something better, so still looking.
My Strathspeys have a unique  smell too, rubber armoured,  smell's like a tyre bay when you uncase them.