Binoculars - Introduction    (For Spotting Scopes please click here)

Of all the people who use binoculars and spotting scopes, birders are probably the most demanding. Birders bird in environments that include deserts at temperatures above 125º, high mountains, dense forests, windy plains, beaches, mudflats, rolling oceans, and the arctic and Antarctic, in sun, rain, fog, and overcast. Birders bird from dawn to dusk, then go out at night to look for owls. Through all of this, birders demand good views of the finest feather details to determine not only the species of the bird, but its age and gender as well. Much of the time, the birds are moving.

The Buying Guide is a discussion of the factors birders need to consider in choosing binoculars, scopes, and tripods, but these same factors can be applied to using optics for any other pursuit. If you're not a birder, examine the conditions under which you use your optics and apply the factors to maximize your viewing.

The suggestions in this guide are based on the information we present from our experience. The choices you make based on our suggestions depend on your understanding of the terminology, and an appreciation of the distinctions made between the parameters and designs. If you have not read these pages yet, they will help you apply the suggestions we present here.

So now that you're familiar with how optics equipment is designed and what the numbers mean, how do you decide what to get?

The simple answer is to get the best equipment you can afford that fit your birding style and feel right when you use them. Of course, finding all that out takes some research as well.


While we have evaluated many binoculars, scopes, and tripods, there isn't time to evaluate them all, and there are some decisions we can't make for you. You will need to decide how important these various factors are to you.

If you're an experienced birder, you probably have tried several binoculars or scopes by borrowing them from friends, checking them in a store, or going to optics fairs. You also know what you like and dislike about your current optics.

If you're new to birding and already have a starter pair, you might want to take some time to do the above testing. You should realize that unlike prolonged usage, quick tests in a store or with friends' binoculars in the field would not really tell you what you need to know. You won't be able to tell whether a binocular would cause you too much fatigue at the end of a long birding day, if you can hold 10x binoculars steady enough, or even if you prefer 7x, 8x, or 10x. It also won't tell you whether you'll prefer a straight or angled scope.

If you're brand new to birding, you have a few options. You can get an inexpensive binocular, borrow a pair from a friend, and look through other scopes, or you can read our reviews, decide what you might like, and go for top glass right away.

View the discussions in the following pages under the assumption that all other factors are equal. They rarely will be.

The View


Power

More magnification results in larger objects in the view and more ability to distinguish detail. It also means that the binoculars will be harder to hold steady, a narrower field of view, and less apparent depth of focus. There are tricks to make it easier to hold binoculars steady, but even 10x may be too difficult for some people to handle.



Field of View

Field of view, stated in feet (or meters) at 1000 yards (or meters), is the width of the scene that is in view. A wide field of view makes it easier to find birds when looking through the binoculars. The trade-off is in loss of the ability to resolve detail. Other factors being equal, lower magnification means wider field of view, but increased eye relief and nearer close focus also narrow field of view. Too wide a field of view will often result in distortion at the edges of the image.



Exit Pupil

This is the size of the image at the focusing point of the binocular. It is computed by dividing the objective size by the magnification (power). You can find exit pupils ranging from 7mm (7x50, 8x56) to 2mm (10x21). A larger exit pupil means a brighter image. It also means that it is easier for your eyes to stay on the image when it is bright out and your pupils are contracted.



Eye Relief

Eye relief is very important to eyeglass wearers. It is the distance behind the ocular lenses at which the image is in focus. Since eyeglass wearers can't get their eyes as close to the lenses, longer eye relief will project the image beyond their glasses. With sufficient eye relief, usually at least 15mm, eyeglass wearers can see a full image. Long eye relief will usually reduce field of view.

If you are nearsighted or farsighted, you can use your binoculars without wearing glasses and the binocular's focus will compensate. However, if you have astigmatism, you will need to use your glasses.



Close Focus

All binoculars can focus at infinity. The real trick in binocular design is in how closely it can be made to focus. Any birder (or butterflyer) who started out with a cheap pair of binoculars has experienced standing 10 or 15 feet behind the rest of the group to look at a bird that was inside their close focus capability. General-purpose binoculars have a close focus around 20 to 25 feet. A good birding binocular should have a close focus of 10 feet or less, with the current close focus champ coming in at a mere 3 feet.

The Glass

Objective Lenses

In the optic equation, objective lenses are the light gatherers. Larger lenses let in more light. A 50mm objective lets in nearly 42% more light than a 42mm objective, and twice that of a 35mm lens. More light gathering means more detail when the light level drops, and therefore, more quality birding time when the birds are active.



Prism Glass

There are two types of prism glass currently in use: BK-7 and BaK-4. Both names indicate the element used to modify the glass composition. Ba is barium; B is boron. BaK-4 is the better and more expensive prism. Any binocular that has BaK-4 prisms will probably say so in their specs. If the prism glass is not specified, assume it is BK-7.



Coatings

Both prisms and lenses get coated. The main reasons for using them are to reduce internal reflections and correct the focusing of the various wavelength of light.

The Body

Body (Prism) Design

This is one of the most basic choices in choosing your binocular. Porro prism binoculars are less expensive to make than roof prism binoculars. You can get the same optical quality for significantly less money. However, they are heavier and harder to weatherproof. A roof prism binocular of the same optical quality will be lighter and have fewer problems. Even though they cost more, they will probably be more rugged, and in the long run, they may also be more cost effective.



Weight

F=ma. All you really need to know about weight is Newton's Second Law of Motion. Yeah, right. You also have to consider the implications. What we're really talking about is mass. Weight is mass at gravitational acceleration, i.e. directed downwards. It takes more force, and therefore more energy, to lift a more massive binocular, hence you will feel more fatigued at the end of the day. But forces don't only point down, and Newton's First Law of Motion tells us that it takes force to change a body's motion. A heavier binocular will also resist moving, so it should be easier to hold steady.

If you take the time to do the research, you will find a wide range of weight specifications for binoculars in the same size class. One manufacturer has a line with a 10x42 that weighs 25 ounces and a 10x50 that weighs 29. Another has a line with a 10x42 that weighs 30.7 ounces, and a 10x50 that weighs 40.9. As you can see, objective size contributes to the weight of a binocular, but may be only a small factor. A lot depends on other design specifications. If you want the extra light gathering capability, you can find binoculars that are within a useable weight range.

The bottom line about weight is that it is one of the most overrated of all binocular specs. Today's construction materials are lighter and stronger than ever before. With some mid-priced, bright, quality, 10x50 binoculars weighing less than 30 ounces, any able-bodied adult should be able to handle them easily. Unless you are very experienced, you would have a hard time picking up a binocular and telling whether it weighed 28 ounces or 32. Even over a day's use, it is doubtful most people would know the difference.

The real concern should be balance rather than weight. A well balanced binocular should put very little stress on your arms, wrists, and hands. A poorly balanced pair, even if it is lighter, will strain your muscles by forcing them to work against the unnatural torque.



Ease of Focusing

Often overlooked until it is too late, focusing mechanisms can be a joy or a pain, depending on your preferences. The keys to a good focusing binocular are speed and precision.

If you can't change focus quickly, you'll miss the bird. A good focusing mechanism will go from close focus to infinity in a full turn (360º) or less. Most binoculars have a linear focusing gear. If the gear has a slow gear ratio, it will do well in the close range, but will be difficult to focus in the distance range. If the gear ratio is fast, it will be difficult to focus in the close range but excel at long distance. A new innovation in binocular focusing is the variable speed focusing gear. With this type of gear, the focus is slower close in and faster farther out.

If you can't get a sharp focus, the image will be difficult to look at. At any distance, you need both the proper focusing speed and depth of focus to be able to hit the mark. If a binocular has shallow depth of focus, it will take extra effort to get the image tack sharp. This can also affect focusing speed when close to proper distance.



Eye Cups

Eyecups help keep stray light away from our eyes while using binoculars, and help measure the distance from the oculars to our eyes. Originally, eyecups were made of rubber and could roll up or down depending on whether the user wore eyeglasses. The problem was that repeated rolling cause the eyecups to break. The first advancement was eyecups that slide rather than roll, but these were hard to keep in place, so they were replaced by eyecups that twist up. They can be left at any position from all the way up to all the way down. The newest eyecups have click stops at regular intervals in the twist-up path with the eye relief distance for each stop marked on the cup.

Protection

Weatherproofing

Weatherproofing ranges from none to showerproof to waterproof to nitrogen purged. Waterproof sealing is done with rubber "O" rings. Active birders should get nitrogen purged waterproofing, whether they live in a humid climate or not. Nitrogen purging can also keep out dust, sand, or anything else that can get inside the binoculars. That's why we prefer the term "weatherproofing".



Armoring

Usually made of a synthetic rubber, armoring protects the body of the binocular from physical harm due to bangs, bumps, and corrosive elements. The more you pay for your binoculars, the more you want to treat it like a long-term investment.