UKC

Hi, I am looking for a pair of binocular's or a monocular for day's in the hills, any advice would be much appreciated, cheers guy's

In reply to bristol: Well I've got a pair of opticron 12x30s and they're jolly nice, albeit the lense caps are a faff. If you're gonna be using them in low light then big lenses will gather more light. Lower magnifications (eg. 7x) will suffer less 'camera shake'.
I suspect that a monocular would give better performance for the weight, and if you lend them to others then there's not the issue of re-focussing one lens like you have with binos.

In reply to bristol: Leica Monovid 8x20. That's £300 please

In reply to bristol:

What kind of weight/size are you looking for?

I recently bought a pair of Bushnell Natureviews and apart from the crap lense caps they're very good for the price.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bushnell-Natureview-22-1042-Binoculars-waterproof/d...

In reply to bristol: Opticron do a range of binoculars with excellent performance for the cash -- about £100 or a bit less for the 8x25 Taiga, which is reasonably compact and water resistant. Not as good as the Leicas maybe, but not too far short and a lot cheaper.

In reply to Toby S: was going to mention Bushnell- they seem to have a good reputation
a budget would be also helpful
a cheaper, but slightly heavier option might be the Bushnell H2O 8x42 for 60ish quid(funny, it looks smaller than yours)

In reply to bristol:

I have a pair of Optricon 8x42 Countryman, not to big and beautiful to handle, I dropped them on the floor in the house once and took them to the shop where I bought them, they sent them back to Opticron for repairing and they did not charge me anything ! Now that is good customer care.

In reply to bristol: Keep an eye out for the el'cheapo bino's from Lidl. They get a lot of respect from the Astronomy community and are renowned as being just as good as some of the more expensive ones.

Personally I carry a Yukon Scout. You can't help but feel like a pirate when you pull out a collapsible telescope. It's fairly big though if all you were after was a pocket scope (about the size of a beer can).

In reply to bristol:

Very timely thread - my Dad apparently wants a set for his birthday.

I know he's got a big set of something like 10x70 that are ancient and a tiny set of 8x20, so guess he's after something in between for a reasonable budget.

Cheers guy's, thanks for the info.

In reply to bristol:

I have a pair of Leica 8 x 42, which are superb, but too heavy to carry around with all your gear.

In the compact 8 x 20 I have tested side by side (but not bought)

Svaroski - if money is no problem these are the best. If you can't afford them, don't ever look through a pair, as nothing else is quite as good.

Leica, Zeiss - expensive and very good, but IMHO not quite as good as the Svaroski.

RSPB - think these are about £200. Not quite up to the standard of the other three, but still very good indeed.

In reply to wilkesley:

Totally agree on the new series of Swarowski binos. I have a pair of Leica 10x50, and while they are great in low light conditions I wish I could swap them for a lighter 42 diameter Swarowski set. The new coating and lens design really is another step above what Leica and Zeiss currently have on offer.

Cheers,

Christian

In reply to bristol:

I've had a pair of Pentax UCF-Mini 8x21 for many years. I find them very good, in terms of pin-cushioning, chromatic & spherical aberration, brightness and focus.

I notice that they seem to go for about £15 on a well-known auction site, and the examples I've seen look like they're in very good condition. And no, I'm not selling mine anywhere.