On Sat, Apr 16, 2011 at 11:25 PM, Stan Halpin <[email protected]> wrote:
> Meg and I will probably be buying at least one pair of binoculars for > birding. Something > in the $250-500 range - i.e., quite a bit better than the $40-50 compact > everyday binocs > we have now, but not anything in the $1000+ "serious birder" category. > > My inclination to brand loyalty tells me to buy Pentax, all other things > equal. But the > few reviews I have found (e.g., in Cornell's birding magazine) put Pentax > toward the bottom > of the list. And I don't want to buy a clearly inferior product just for the > Pentax name. I've spent a good amount of time around very good birders; at Audubon events in the Los Angeles area, and on our annual fall migration vacation to Cape May, NJ. I cannot recall ever seeing a birder with Pentax binoculars or scopes. At the top end, it's mostly Zeiss, Leica, and Swarovski. At your price range, there may be good options from Bushnell and Nikon. There may be useful information at Cape May Bird Observatory's online store: http://featheredgeoptics.com/ Another serious binocular vendor is Eagle Optics: http://www.eagleoptics.com/ My own binoculars are Canon 12x36 Image Stabilized (the original version, which is no longer on the market). Aside from being ridiculously heavy, they work very well for me. The IS binocs never gained much traction in the birding community, though. For the average birder, I'd be looking for 8x32 or 8x42, with a wide field of view, good optical quality (based on reviews), and good eye relief if you wear eyeglasses. I like twist-out eyecups better than fold-in eyecups, especially if you wear glasses and need to retract the eyecups. Watch out for other ergonomic "gotchas"; for example, my IS binoculars have a non-locking diopter setting that "adjusts" itself randomly as the binoculars bounce around against my chest. OpTech-style neoprene straps are nice, and make the binoculars feel lighter. Since you won't be able to try-before-you-buy, make sure your vendor has a generous return policy. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
