Binoculars

[Aaron]

I am in the market for a pair of binoculars.  I am looking for a compact set.  My budget is in the $200-$250 range.  Also, I wear glasses so they would need good eye relief.

Any suggestions?

[fishbear]

Leopold or Bushnell make some excellent binos in that price range, with the eye relief you need for eye glasses (i wear em too).  The Wind River series from Leopold are pretty nice.

Nikon makes some good ones too.... best thing to do with optics, is to play with them,... go to an outdoor store and look thru and play with several diff. types till you find one that fits you best.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the suggestion.  Those Leopolds were actually one of the ones I were looking at on-line.  I am going to try and get to Cabelas soon and was just wanting a starting point. Leopold and Nikon were the main ones I was looking at but I will look into Bushnell as well.

[Wayne P.]

I have the Cabela's 8X24 Water Proof Long Eye Relief model. I wear eyeglasses too.

[nboucher]

I'm a Nikon guy, because they have outstanding customer service.

A couple of years ago while camping, I left my $100 Nikons out in the rain overnight, resulting in permanently fogged-up lenses. I really liked those binos, so I called Nikon to see if I could get them taken apart and cleaned up.

They said send them in; they're probably still under warranty.

I said, "No, you don't understand. I did a boneheaded thing. I left them out in the rain. They were immersed in standing water."

"How long have you had them?"

"At least 15 years."

"So they're still under warranty. Send them in."

I sent them in, and a few weeks later got a brand new pair of Nikons in the mail. They couldn't fix them so they sent me a new pair. I'm a Nikon man for life.

[Aaron]

I have been looking at Cabelas website and the Nikon Monarch ATB's are looking pretty nice.  They seem to be the best for the price I have found.  I am not wanting huge binoculars and these seem like a good size, bu I am going to go put my hands on some before I buy them.

[Micro]

I own, or have owned,  a little bit of everything - from Bushnell to Zeiss.  But bang for the buck, I recommend Steiner.  I own 3 pairs of Steiners.   For lightness, quality of construction, clarity, brightness, lense and coating quality I don't think they can be beat - except by $1,000 brands.  But some of the aforementioned brands offer excellent glasses in your price range.

You don't say what you want to use them for,  or if your viewing will be in daylight or fading light situations.  Before any suggestion on power, or objective lense size can be made, please let us know that.  Do you want compact, medium or fullsize binos?  Porro prism (conventional) or roof prism (tubular)?

If you don't know what you want, I recommend reseaching it first by perusing this site...

http://binoculars101.com/

...it will tell you all the terms and factors you should consider.