UKH

I'm going to Scotland village called Rhu for a month & fancy getting out while I'm there to climb, but judging from the heights I need a decent set to see things but only willing to pay upto £50 need to be compact & rugged too...advice

In reply to Os_878:

Hi mate, I've got some 'Bushnell H2O 8x25 Waterproof Binoculars' and they're great (at least I think they are). I think they're discontinued, but I'm sure Bushnell do a replacement model. I did quite a bit of research and for the £50 mark, they seemed highly regarded.

In reply to Os_878:

I got some excellent advice from the Birding grown-ups of the site, and their advice was that from the price range you have in mind then all binoculars are generic made in huge factories which are then badged with whoever wants to sell them.

You gets what you pays for and £50 will get you close to the action, but upping the price will make your eyes pop at the clarity they revel.

I've owned a couple of Viking binos, I think that they are also branded RSPB too, and been very happy with them. In fact my current set was a pair of ex-display's sold on their site at half price. I got them for £150 because the casing was sun-bleached by a few millimetres. this has faded now.

You could pay thousands but it becomes a diminishing returns thing compared with the amount you throw at the project.

http://www.vikingoptical.co.uk/binoculars/

http://www.vikingopticalcentres.co.uk/this-weeks-offer/

In reply to Os_878:

I have had quite a few compact binoculars (Jessops to Pentax) and they all lost alignment quite quickly whereas a cheap pair of traditional ones that we use on our boat keep on going despite being banged & dropped. They may not look as good but they seem to be tougher. My best pair of Nikon 10x50 cost £80 in a sale a while back & are really good for birding.
Cheers Ratty
PS I broke up the binos to make two monos - overcomes the alignment issue and they are lighter in the rucksack!

In reply to Os_878:

For that sort of money the RSPB Puffin binouclars take some beating. As said above, they are made by Viking and are really excellent for the price. I bought my lad sme and was quite impressed. Most cheap bins are truly crap.

In reply to Os_878:

I'm a bit of an optics enthusiast and would recommend the Olympus PCI 8 x 25 £57 at http://www.microglobe.co.uk/olympus-8x25-tracker-pc-i-compact-porro-prism-b... . This binocular is very sharp and light but at this price don't expect it to be waterproof, robust or have a wide view. Great bino for the money. Don't go for higher magnification or a zoom.

In reply to Os_878:
You can get some great cheap binoculars, but you have to be a bit lucky. At the "low" end there tends to be a fair bit of variation within a brand/model so the best thing to do is find a shop that lets you look through lots of pairs, even lots of pairs of the same type, and pick the one that gives the best image.

£100 quid binoculars are usually worse than £300 binoculars on average, but there will be the odd pair that is outstanding.

The same goes for expensive binoculars to an extent. Always look through a few pairs, and make sure you get the exact pair you want. Another one from out the back won't do.

In reply to davidbeynon:

Thanks for the info all, going out this weekend to try & find a few of these

In reply to Os_878:

Good bins have bright images, focus across the whole of the lens with no distortion, good depth of focus and have excellent colour rendition.

Ignore the X magnification. It just isn't worth it. X8 are just as good as X10 price for price.

Go to a shop. Pick up the most expensive pair, look at an object outside the shop, preferably dark in colour or in the shade. Then pick up the cheapest pair. Do the same, you should notice the difference immediately.

Its also worth while looking out for second hand bins. They are often outstandingly good bargains.

In reply to Os_878:

+1 for Bushnell

I purchased some Bushnell by Bausch & Lomb "Spectator" 8 x 23 Binoculars 3yrs ago (new on eBay for £50) and have found them to be good. B&L were quite a famous 'old' American name in optics but they sold their binoculars company to Bushnell, who manufactured binoculars under the B&L brand name.

They are not the lightest things but they are in a fairly robust rubber housing and so I have no worries throwing them in the top of the sack.

Not sure they still do them but the equivalent ones would be something like these: http://www.shopbushnell.com/detail/BSN+178025C