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Compact binocular recommendations

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Guismart 13 Jul 2017
Hi, I'm looking for a decent pair of compact binoculars up to about £80. Any good ones to look out for?
Cheers.
 toad 13 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:
opticron are good budget-ish binoculars. However.... You dont have to spend hundreds and hundreds, but if you up your budget to £100+ you might find some better optics. Inevitably, you get what you pay for with precision lenses
Post edited at 18:36
 Toerag 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:

+1 for opticrons, anyone that tries my pair (8x30s?) comments how good they are.
 James_Kendal 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:
Depending on what it's for, you could save weight and cost by getting just one monocular (telescope).
Post edited at 10:49
 d_b 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:
It's worth going somewhere that you can try several pairs of binoculars of the same type and picking the pair you want. There can be surprisingly large differences in quality between supposedly identical binoculars.
Post edited at 11:36
1
 nniff 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:
It's always a trade off in some respect - I needed a pair that were small enough to carrry around and would go in a rucksack or jacket pocket, were reasonably robust, had decent optics but weren't so expensive that I'd wince buying them or weep endlessly if I dropped them. I ended up with a pair of Nikon Aculon A30 10x25. About £70 i think. Perfect for what I need, but you pays your money, and you takes your choice.

For reference, a pair of 10x25 Leica will set you back about £350 and 8x25 Swarovski about £500. The price of good ones goes up exponentially the bigger the objective lens, so you're better off settling for better smaller lenses than bigger poor ones
Post edited at 11:57
 Guy Hurst 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Guismart:
The Opticron Taiga 8x25 binos I've had for a few years have been really good. They're reasonably light and compact, and the image quality is very decent — not as good as the Swarovski compacts one of my friends has, but those are so expensive he is often reluctant to take them out with him. The Taigas are available for around £80, and I don't think you'll get much better for the money.
Post edited at 12:35
 Toerag 14 Jul 2017
In reply to nniff:

> The price of good ones goes up exponentially the bigger the objective lens, so you're better off settling for better smaller lenses than bigger poor ones

Unless you want to use them in low light, in which case bigger is better.
cb294 14 Jul 2017
In reply to nniff:

In that price range, nothing beats the new Zeiss Terra EDs. I would go for the 10x42s, but they have 8x42 and slightly lighter 8x32 versions as well. I recently bought a pair for my daughter, and after confusing myself by rapid swapping I could not tell whether I was looking through the German designed but China made Terras or the more than twice as expensive, German made Conqueror model. Some people have claimed that there is a certain variability in the Terras, but I checked all three pairs they had in the store and they appeared identical in performance.

I then also looked through the top of the line Svarowski model, BIIIG mistake .....

CB
 nniff 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Toerag:

> Unless you want to use them in low light, in which case bigger is better.

Unless you want 'compact' as in the OP's request. Always a trade-off
 Toerag 14 Jul 2017
In reply to nniff:

Aye.
Guismart 14 Jul 2017
In reply to Toerag:

Thank you all for your recommendations.

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