Binoculars recommendation for an 11 year old

[StuartT]

Would anyone like to suggest a pair of binoculars suitable for my 11 year old nephew who would like to start stargazing?

[IB20]

I’m sure @BinocularSky could point you in the right direction. 

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

Hopefully Mr. Tonkin will pop by. In the meantime, if I was buying for my 11yr old niece I'd stick to 8x40s or thereabouts to reduce the wobbles and wrist strain.

Helios Fieldmaster 8x40 WA Binoculars are a good price @ £49 from FLO and very light weight at 635g.

 

 

Edited November 18, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[Alien 13]

I would agree with the above regarding 8x42 or similar, the thing to check is if the binoculars can match the "inter pupil distance" of a child.

Alan

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

1 minute ago, Alien 13 said:

I would agree with the above regarding 8x42 or similar, the thing to check is if the binoculars can match the "inter pupil distance" of a child.

Alan

Very true. Stuart approach him slowly with a tape measure and check his interpupillary distance. 😁

The ones linked above don't have it stated but 8x40s start at around 53mm?

 

[PeterStudz]

I got the Opticron Adventurer 42mm T WP Binocular for my 10 yr old daughter. Long eyerelief as she wears glasses and has no trouble with them. £69 from FLO.

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

6 minutes ago, PeterStudz said:

I got the Opticron Adventurer 42mm T WP Binocular for my 10 yr old daughter. Long eyerelief as she wears glasses and has no trouble with them. £69 from FLO.

I have the 10x50s. Very nice binoculars. A step up from the previously owned Olympus DPSI. They see a lot of use.

The only things putting me off mentioning the Opticron 10x42 was, they're 150g heavier than the Helios & £20 more. Maybe I was being too frugal. Does your daughter like them?

Edited November 18, 2021 by ScouseSpaceCadet

[StuartT]

Thanks so much everyone. I don’t want to suggest a telescope for him just yet, until I’m sure he has some genuine interest in the subject. If he likes the binocs you can be sure I’ll move onto a massive 200mm APO refractor and full observatory setup 🤣

[Ags]

I have a little experience of buying optics for kids, including experience of them not being bothered! But I think a small newtonian beats binoculars for a couple reasons. For similar money you get more aperture, but crucially the telescope is teachable. The adult can point it at something and show the youngster. With binoculars you are on your own. The scope also offers more steady views, which is like adding an inch or two of aperture and of course permits higher powers.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-76-mini-dobsonian.html

At the risk of being controversial, telescopes are easier to use. I struggle lining one eye with an eyepiece, why double the trouble? 🤣

Edited November 18, 2021 by Ags

[JeremyS]

I agree with Ags. I got my 9 year old daughter a Newtonian as I could help her find objects and see the Moon and Jupiter and its satellites in some detail. She could not really get on with binos. And binos didn’t cut it in her mind for being an astronomer 😊

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, ScouseSpaceCadet said:

I have the 10x50s. Very nice binoculars. A step up from the previously owned Olympus DPSI. They see a lot of use.

The only things putting me off mentioning the Opticron 10x42 was, they're 150g heavier than the Helios & £20 more. Maybe I was being too frugal. Does your daughter like them?

She seems to. Although I haven’t got much to compare them with. Apart from a 7x50 old Russian set that I inherited from my late father. Built like a tank and obviously unsuitable for a child. And for astronomy unsuitable for anyone. 

Maybe something lighter would be an advantage but I haven’t noticed her struggling with the weight.

[PeterStudz]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

I have a little experience of buying optics for kids, including experience of them not being bothered! But I think a small newtonian beats binoculars for a couple reasons. For similar money you get more aperture, but crucially the telescope is teachable. The adult can point it at something and show the youngster. With binoculars you are on your own. The scope also offers more steady views, which is like adding an inch or two of aperture and of course permits higher powers.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/beginner-telescopes/skywatcher-heritage-76-mini-dobsonian.html

At the risk of being controversial, telescopes are easier to use. I struggle lining one eye with an eyepiece, why double the trouble? 🤣

I don’t see binoculars as an alternative to a telescope. They are an addition. Having said that my daughter is also interested in wild life. And you can’t use an Newtonian for that!

We have a Skywatcher 1145p on a wobbly EQ1 and a Skywatcher Skyliner 200p which is obviously a Dob. The 1145p might have been a typical beginner mistake although we’ve had an enormous amount of fun with it. With that I have to do most of the “work”. An EQ mount (nothing to do with it being an EQ1) isn’t great for kid to use on their own.

With the 200p I have to set it up (it’s too heavy for a small child) although once done she can now  find things using the finder scope. However, it took a long while for her to get the hang of nudging the mount. In fact she still struggles at high magnification. With the EQ she found the slow motion controls far easier and intuitive - all I said was move these knobs and she got it. Maybe a smaller Dob would have been easier for her but I doubt it would have made much difference. 
 

Now the binoculars. When she spots the moon from our garden she whips the binoculars out, finds the moon in an instant, focuses herself (she had trouble with that at first on a telescopes) and is telling me what she can see. Meanwhile I’m lugging the 200p into the garden, then waiting for it to cool down.

The binoculars actually give a better view of some objects than our telescopes. Eg The Pleiades - all I did there was say to her “see that smudge, point the binoculars at it”. And in an instant she found it and I got “I can see it… I can see it”.

On holiday on Crete (the sky was so dark it was amazing on its own) but we could not have taken our telescopes there. Binoculars easy. Here another example…  I spotted Andromeda in the binoculars  - first time I’d seen it to - and I gave her instructions on how to find it using the patterns of the stars. She had no problem finding it on her own and as soon as she did I got another excited response.
 

No setup, no waiting for mirrors to cool down, on nudging, no fiddling with eyepieces. 

[BinocularSky]

15 hours ago, PeterStudz said:

I got the Opticron Adventurer 42mm T WP Binocular for my 10 yr old daughter. Long eyerelief as she wears glasses and has no trouble with them. £69 from FLO.

I have a dozen of them that I use for outreach with youngsters. The beauty of them is that youngsters can use them with minimum instruction (on how to set the IPD, focus correctly, and point accurately at a desired object) and , thereafter, completely independently. Also, they are great for other pursuits if the interest in astronomy wanes.

However, if you have time to teach them how to hold the thing properly, a 10x50 will show more. When my lad was a bit younger than the OP's nephew, we were in the garden one evening and he said, "Dad, I've found something." He devised a star-hop so he could show me, whereupon I could tell him that he'd made an entirely independent discovery of M34 🙂 . Now, obviously I have no idea how steadily he was able to hold them, but that episode suggests to me that a 10-yr old can use 10x50s effectively if s/he is shown how.

[StuartT]

1 hour ago, BinocularSky said:

I have a dozen of them that I use for outreach with youngsters. The beauty of them is that youngsters can use them with minimum instruction (on how to set the IPD, focus correctly, and point accurately at a desired object) and , thereafter, completely independently. Also, they are great for other pursuits if the interest in astronomy wanes.

However, if you have time to teach them how to hold the thing properly, a 10x50 will show more. When my lad was a bit younger than the OP's nephew, we were in the garden one evening and he said, "Dad, I've found something." He devised a star-hop so he could show me, whereupon I could tell him that he'd made an entirely independent discovery of M34 🙂 . Now, obviously I have no idea how steadily he was able to hold them, but that episode suggests to me that a 10-yr old can use 10x50s effectively if s/he is shown how.

Many thanks for this. I'd never seen that holding guidance before - v useful.

I'm sure you're right about 10x50 showing more, but a good pair of those is a little beyond what I was planning on spending on the young fella (much as I love him), so I have ordered the Opticron 10x42

[BinocularSky]

1 hour ago, StuartT said:

I have ordered the Opticron 10x42

A fine choice!

[Ags]

3 hours ago, BinocularSky said:

However, if you have time to teach them how to hold the thing properly

Many thanks, will try this tonight!

[ScouseSpaceCadet]

4 minutes ago, Ags said:

Many thanks, will try this tonight!

Just remember when practicing the "Triangular Arm Brace" and "The Rifle Sling", you don't step back in the dark and perform the famously common, "Flailing Ewe". 😁

[PeterStudz]

On 19/11/2021 at 12:36, BinocularSky said:

However, if you have time to teach them how to hold the thing properly, a 10x50 will show more.

This is brilliant! Wish I’d seen it earlier.  Should be a sticky/pin.