Lidl binos - on sale 17/12/09

[Chiz]

The Lidl website shows that my local shop will be selling £14.99 binoculars from 17th December. I guess they will be available from many of their other shops too (you need to select a shop before they show you what's going to be on special off there).

What I would like to know is: are these the same as the Bressars that are often talked about on this forum? I do appreciate these are not going to be the best binos in the world by a long way, and that it's worth going through the pile in the shop to find a pair with reasonable collimation, but for fifteen quid it might give me some better views of the night sky (clouds permitting ) while I'm waiting for my order from FLO.

Perhaps someone who has a pair of the Bressars (or can at least positively identify them) could take a look at Lidl's website and confirm if these look to be the same thing? They are listed under "Special Offers", "Gadgets Galore from 17.12.2009". I can't easily post a direct link as the site insists that you select your local shop before it'll show the offers.

TIA.

[Doc]

I had a pair of the Lidl ones and mine went out of collimation pretty quick, I didn't rate them.

[SpookyKatt]

Hmmmm they don't look dissimilar to the bresser but I though the

bresser ones were 10x50 ?

Kathleen

[TheThing]

The Bressers are 10x50, not zoom ones. They also have BAK4 prisms, which are said to be better than BAK7. I have a pair of the 10x50s and they are very good. They live in the boot for out and about birding. They are very robust and give excellent clear views.

Zoom bins are generally regarded to be not so good.

[Peter Drew]

I've purchased at least a dozen Bresser/Meade 10x50's from Lidl from £9.99 to £14.99, all have been good, some exceptional for the price. The best deal was one marked "fawlty"! on the box, got it for £7 and took 10 secs to fix the collimation. Don't even think of buying cheap zoom binos, the optical/mechanical means to achieve this successfully is sophisticated and therefore expensive, cheap ones will disappoint.

[Chiz]

Thanks for the advice. I give these a miss and wait to see what they offer in the spring.

Since posting this morning my shiny new scope has been delivered so that ought to keep my eyes busy for a while.