Binoculars Buying Guide
Simple tips that will not only help you in selecting the correct binoculars for
your needs, but they will also help you with successful viewing.
While
compact binoculars weigh as little as a pound, by using them you will
undoubtedly sacrifice performance. If performance is your main consideration,
full sized binoculars are preferred. Anything weighing over about 1.5 pounds
will get heavy fairly fast. Use a binocular support system to evenly distribute
the weight across your shoulders instead of using a strap around your
neck.
The amount of light available while using your binoculars will
determine –more than any other consideration – which binoculars are best for
you. Low light uses such as hunting, birding and astronomy require larger
objective lenses.
The distance you will be from the object you view will
determine the magnification power required in a pair of binoculars. If your
application is bird watching, theater or sporting events, a low powered
binocular will suffice in most cases. But if you're into astronomy, you'll need
a high powered pair.
The minimum focal point in binocular terminology
refers to how near an object can be to you and be still be viewed in focus. This
tends to be important for birding but not so important for most other
uses.
Binoculars with a magnification power greater than 10x (and without
a stability feature) will be difficult to hold steady. This becomes important
when viewing the night sky or distant mountains. A tripod may be a good thing to
have if you’re using binoculars with high magnification.
Using your
binoculars outdoors will usually subject them to moisture. Waterproof binoculars
are preferred for all marine, hunting, birding and other nature related
activities.
The greater the magnification, the narrower the
field-of-view. If field-of-view is important to you, don't purchase the most
powerful binoculars you can find. This becomes very important when viewing
objects that move quickly such as antelope, race horses, shooting stars or race
cars.
As with almost everything else in life, with binoculars you get
what you pay for. There are binoculars that cost under $10 and others which cost
in excess of $2,500. My experience says you will need to spend at least $250 for
a pair of binoculars worth having.
There is no such thing as
“one-size-fits-all” when it comes to sporting optics. If you have multiple uses
for binoculars, you will most likely end up with multiple pairs of them – and
that’s O.K.