Bino's

[Raz]

Not Specifically a Bush craft Item...
But being 2000' up on top of Dartmoor today, I bunked down to gather my breath, have lunch, and enjoy the view.
Realising I could see the sea, and thus my house from my position, I got out my old bulky 8x40's I inherited from my grandfather. These things are about as useful as putting a paper bag over your head while closing your eyes. Being loose in my car boot over the years obviosuyl had taken it's toll!

So it's time to buy something that can cut the mustard. I have a few basic requirements, can anyone recommend anything based on this:

Compact,
Very Rugged, Black and Textured,
Decent eye relief,
Waterproof,
Multi-Coated Lenses,
Range finding reticule,
10x30 (if possible, if not 10x25)
Poro prisms.
Hinged Caps,
Nitrogen Filled.
Excellent Clarity, Colour Rendition, Sharpness and Brightness
<£100

A lot to ask, but any ideas?

 

[Martyn]

The Brunton Eterna range are getting sopme nice reviews

10x32 Brunton Eterna

The 10x42 looks nice too. They've even got a monocular in the range. Bit pricey though - (for me anyway, but I'm guessing they're a bit on the cheap side for you right? what was your budget?)

Why porro prism's?

 

[Raz]

They look great, bit expensive for me though!

Budget: If I look for a <£100 price new, halve that for second hand, Then I can afford it

Porro prism - Simply because while I was scouring the web, the consensus seemed to be; the bottom end/budget porro prism's are better then budget roof prisms.

 

[Martyn]

You could always try bidding on ebay for these Brunton Eterna 10x32, currently bid is at $157.50US, that's about £100 quid (the list price is about $400). Shall have to see what they go for?

 

[Martyn]

Wow, it sold for the bid of $157.50 (£94.68) - them's cheap bino's for that lucky soul. They were new in box, $400 (£240) worth of bino's.

 

[alick]

Hi Raz,

I'm interested that you ask about 10x25 or 10x30's

Some years ago, I bought a set of Pentax marine bino's on sale from one of the specialist outlets. About half price I got them for around £100. I've realised over the years that I was lucky and bought better than I knew.

They're 6x30's. Nitrogen filled, Waterproof and rubber armoured. They have a standard porro prism design as you advise, but the focussing is done separately for each eye - part of making a reliable waterproof product.

They're bombproof.

The 30mm objective means that they're tiny compared to other "proper" 8x40 or 8x50 bino's.

Having only x6 magnification means that they are far brighter than an 8 or 10x design of the same size, with a wide field of view, and wobble from hand holding is much less obvious. To me, the bright clear image lets me pick out details just as well as the higher magnification does, plus they are more useable at twilight when there's often lots to be seen on the hills and estuaries.

I'm reminded about the old pro's who favour x4 or x6 fixed riflescopes over all the new high power zoom designs.
If you've never tried them, I strongly recommend checking out a pair of 6x30's before you buy. Friends who've tried these glasses almost invariably comment on the quality of the image.

Some years on, I bought a pair of generic 10x25 roof prism pocket glasses (there are loads of them selling for 30-50 quid) for sake of something smaller. They were so poor by comparison that 12 months on I just binned them ! 6x30 is very much a marine spec, so if you're interested try mail order boating suppliers and the specialist bino/telescope shops.

Good hunting, Alick

 

[Raz]

Thanks for the Advice Alick!

Marine Bino's are great, they always work on getting the most light. The light gathering capacity is proportional to the square of the exit pupil diameter. With all variation of 7 being the maximum light gathering: 7x50, 8x56 etc.

I really need the 10x unfortuneatly, I went out today and used some 7x50's and some 8x40's, but the magnification just isn't enough for my purposes.

Thanks again

 

[gurushaun]

Hi Raz

Take a look at the special offers that ODS has on Pentax end of lines over at the Dealers Gear For Sale section of British Blades, the prices look very keen and Pentax are usually top notch.

Cheers

Shaun :biggthump

 

[Martyn]

^^what he says^^

Here's the link:
pentax bino's for sale

 

[gurushaun]

Thanks for the link Martyn ( He's so good at the technical stuff :-D ). Makes BB the great site it is for all us blade freaks :biggthump

Cheers

Shaun

 

[Celtic Dragon]

Unfortunatly this is a game where you get what you pay for. IM experiance here are some names to go looking for

Zeiss ( nice and cost)
Nikon ( win the lottery first)
Swarofski (nice but a touch on the expensive side)
Swift ( good and shold fit you budget)

HTH
Simon

 

[Raz]

Thanks everyone,

Still reading review after review!
I'll let you know when I stumble acorss "the one"