Ebay Binoculars for under £50 - which to choose

[dylanwinter]

Now that I have got the slug from the IoW to The Wash I am starting to really appreiate the birds.

However, last week I dropped the binocs onto the slip. They were not expensive ones. But I thought I would invest the profit from two sets of DVds in a new pair of binoculars

so I looked at ebay - clicked buy now, clicked under £50 and got back a huge choice

help me

although I should say that I only want suggestions from people like me who destroy delicate equipment on a regular basis

so I don't want to hear what great bincoluars you can buy for £500 because I am not a fit person to own £500 binoculars

mine generally have a life expectancy of two years or less


Anyway.

here are some of the returns I got from ebay


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_BI...=p3286.c0.m282&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=25&_udhi=50

so any suggestions gratefully received

 

[Rigger Mortice]

Wait until Lidl have their £19.99 bins in stock. For the money thay are excellent.

I have two pairs on board. An expensive pair and a cheapie. The cheapie set is used more.

 

[lustyd]

have a look at http://www.which.co.uk/technology/archive/guides/how-to-choose-binoculars/features-explained/ which will explain a bit.

For bird watching you probably want a larger lens (big second number) as well as larger magnification (first number) if you can get it.

boat ones are generally 7x50 but these may be a bit dark for watching birds.
Dave

 

[oldharry]

Forget about the frist ones on your list. Anything over around 12x magnification is useless afloat anyway, and such incredible specification for such a low price means they will be misaligned, the cases made of old yogurt pots, and the lenses will be er, rubbish.

Zooms are useful but too complex to be able to make cheaply - at least in a form that works. I have an old pair of el cheapo 7 -24x zooms that are unuseable above 14x or thereabouts as the image becomes so distorted.

For general boat use a nice solid pair of 7x50's is ideal, big enough magnification (thats the 7x) to see what you want while the boat is rocking, and the 50mm lens gathers enough light to work in indifferent conditions. 10x50 are better fro bird watching, the extra magnification helps, but less 'useable' afloat, as the magnification means the image dances around more. So when you are trying to see a buoy topmark in a rough sea, its that much more difficult at high magnification.

Finally, I would forget EBay, personally. I would mauch rather see, and get the feel of a pair of bins, an make sure I am comfortable with them, and can see through them properly before I buy. OK the market is more limited unless you find a specialist who carries a range of cheaper models, but I have found sometimes a perfectly nice pair 'feels' wrong, and I can not see through them easily.

 

[aquaplane]

I have a pair from Argos, they are 8x40 and float. They don't seem to do them anymore,the closest I can see now were these £50 ones:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5800470/Trail/searchtext>BINOCULAR.htm

I have some £20 (or was it £15) Lidl 10x50s too, not the best binos I have ever used but they work.

 

[dylanwinter]

Bins

size is not important - v happy with big bins and large magnification as most of the birdwatching is done while the slug is aground.

I love sitting there watching the birds work their way along the strandline or the edge of the water.

when afloat I am generally sailing

as for trying the binocs first - that will be hard

hence the posting

Dylan

 

[Norman_E]

Wait until Lidl have their £19.99 bins in stock. For the money thay are excellent.

I have two pairs on board. An expensive pair and a cheapie. The cheapie set is used more.

Correct. The pair I bought from Lidl for £14.99 are Bresser 10 x 50 and they are good useable binoculars, and get about as much use on board as a pair of Steiner 7 x 50. I notice they are being offered on E-bay for considerably more than I paid (here)

I note that there are lots of high magnification zoom binoculars, up to 90x magnification. They are a joke, as you cannot hope to hold them steady enough to see anything properly, and most probably have rubbish optics anyway.

 

[FishyInverness]

Plastimo Autofocus is what I have - Cheap and Easy to use, and not a disaster if they go over the side. Just over £20.

(What Dylan doesn't know is that his ebay list is from the one seller that's been following him around the coast with a big net! )

 

[dylanwinter]

top of the list then

Correct. The pair I bought from Lidl for £14.99 are Bresser 10 x 50 and they are good useable binoculars, and get about as much use on board as a pair of Steiner 7 x 50. I notice they are being offered on E-bay for considerably more than I paid (here)

I note that there are lots of high magnification zoom binoculars, up to 90x magnification. They are a joke, as you cannot hope to hold them steady enough to see anything properly, and most probably have rubbish optics anyway.

thasnks for that
top of the list so far then


Dylan

 

[Boo2]

For general boat use a nice solid pair of 7x50's is ideal, big enough magnification (thats the 7x) to see what you want while the boat is rocking, and the 50mm lens gathers enough light to work in indifferent conditions.

Note that whereas the dark-adapted pupil in a young persons' eye will dilate to around 7mm or so making 50mm objectives ideal (since objective divided by mag ~= pupil size :: 50 / 7 ~= 7) , middle aged persons such as ourselves whose eyes do not dilate so fully are wasting money on 50mm objectives and are better off with lighter and cheaper 7 x 30 bins.

Hth,

Boo2

 

[geoid96]

size is not important - v happy with big bins and large magnification as most of the birdwatching is done while the slug is aground.

Dylan

In which case it would be worth getting a pair with a standard thread underneath to make use of the tripod you have onboard.

 

[fisherZ]

Jessops- Nikon 8x40, rubber armoured, good reviews, 50%off ,next day free delivery. £59

Tesco Direct- Pracktika 10x50, rubber armoured, fair reviews, free delivery, 10yr guarantee ,£25

 

[jwilson]

Now that I have got the slug from the IoW to The Wash I am starting to really appreiate the birds.

However, last week I dropped the binocs onto the slip. They were not expensive ones. But I thought I would invest the profit from two sets of DVds in a new pair of binoculars

so I looked at ebay - clicked buy now, clicked under £50 and got back a huge choice

help me

although I should say that I only want suggestions from people like me who destroy delicate equipment on a regular basis

so I don't want to hear what great bincoluars you can buy for £500 because I am not a fit person to own £500 binoculars

mine generally have a life expectancy of two years or less


Anyway.

here are some of the returns I got from ebay


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_BI...=p3286.c0.m282&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=25&_udhi=50

so any suggestions gratefully received

Had some old very sharp 8x30s (ex-WW2) that I left on boat. Charterers broke them.

Bought a cheap £18 pair of 10x50 that was remarkably good image in a seaside shop when stuck ashore watching son dinghy race. Left them on boat and charterers broke them.

Replaced on boat with an old pair of quality Japanese 8x40s from home, as I got an new pair of Olympus 10x50 for Xmas.

Charterers broke them.

last autumn bought a pair of very heavy Russian 7x50s for boat from car boot sale for £10. Images fantastic. Too good to get broken. waiting to find another cheap pair to leave on boat for charterers to break. Please, LIDL, sell some more binoculars.

I'm not that worried by exact magnification on boat: I'll happily use 7,8 or 10, in fact the pair I liked best for boat use was the 8x40. 10s are a bit wobbly but still OK.

 

[dylanwinter]

tripod for camera

In which case it would be worth getting a pair with a standard thread underneath to make use of the tripod you have onboard.

tripod is used for the cameras

when aground then the hatchway does just as well

anyone else happy with the tescos ones

Dylan

 

[oldharry]

Note that whereas the dark-adapted pupil in a young persons' eye will dilate to around 7mm or so making 50mm objectives ideal (since objective divided by mag ~= pupil size :: 50 / 7 ~= 7) , middle aged persons such as ourselves whose eyes do not dilate so fully are wasting money on 50mm objectives and are better off with lighter and cheaper 7 x 30 bins.

Hth,

Boo2

Well I can still tell the difference at 60+ + age between 30 and 50mm objective lenses (well nearer age 70 IIH)! And eyesight nothing like as good as it was 15 years ago. But I agree I CAN see the difference in my reduced night vision. ( Or should that be that I can not see so much with my reduced night vision? )

 

[Searush]

Boat binocs at 7x50 are fine for most bird watching, in a boat you will be much closer than when watching from ashore. The boat acts as an excellent hide. That would be my personal single choice. Lidl/Aldi do them with a built in compass for under 50 squid.

Personal binocs, keep your eye open (hee hee) for a miniature pair of modern quality bins (compacts). I got Pentax 8x25 for £45 on a half price deal and the optical quality is superb - and they fit in a jacket pocket. I carry a pair in the car & slip 'em in my pocket whenever I go for a walk. Really useful - for everything, would even do for the boat work.

For serious bird watching, Lidl & Aldi do zoom spotter scopes with a small tripod for 20 squid. These are 10-40 x 60 or similar & are effectively a telescope. Once aground & set up on the hatch on their mini tripod that will be the bee's knees, but useless for hand held use.

 

[ditchcrawler]

I have had binos from www.7dayshop.com As good as my expensive pair.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Just looked at the RSPB webshop. Most of what it sells are 8x or 10x so the experts reckon that's enough magnification, and they don't seem to fancy big objective lenses, 42mm was the biggest I saw on a quick look-through.

http://shopping.rspb.org.uk/c/Binoculars.htm

 

[john_morris_uk]

Now that I have got the slug from the IoW to The Wash I am starting to really appreiate the birds.

However, last week I dropped the binocs onto the slip. They were not expensive ones. But I thought I would invest the profit from two sets of DVds in a new pair of binoculars

so I looked at ebay - clicked buy now, clicked under £50 and got back a huge choice

help me

although I should say that I only want suggestions from people like me who destroy delicate equipment on a regular basis

so I don't want to hear what great bincoluars you can buy for £500 because I am not a fit person to own £500 binoculars

mine generally have a life expectancy of two years or less


Anyway.

here are some of the returns I got from ebay


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/i.html?LH_BI...=p3286.c0.m282&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=25&_udhi=50

so any suggestions gratefully received

How about any of the 7x50 that take your fancy: http://photography.shop.ebay.co.uk/...ars&_osacat=28179&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

 

[Twister_Ken]

Dylan,

Don't forget to buy from Amazon, through the KTL link!