What to buy - binoculars!?!

[kinkladze]

Sorry if this is not the right place for this, but couldn't find anywhere else to ask. I've been on here in the past and always got good advice.

I want to get my dad a set of binoculars for his birthday. He will use them when he is out and about in the countryside walking etc. Just to look at 'nature' (birds, animals etc). They need to be lightweight and compact too.

Can anyone recommend a decent pair? I can spend up to £100, ideally less though .

Thanks in advance,


Dan.

 

[HMHB]

I've got a great pair of Nikon compact bins for bird spotting, they are pocketable if you have reasonable sized pockets but aren't as powerful as the bigger ones.
These are the ones I have, but there are others in that range and from other manufacturers available. I find mine very handy as they are not too big, but serious twitchers would probably laugh at them

 

[denno75uk]

We got my father in law a pair of Opticrons a couple of years ago. I think they were countryman, 8or10X42 porro prism ones (traditional style). They were relatively well specced and extremely bright and clear. Around £110 if I remember rightly.
There's also these that I've been considering for a while now. I've tried to do some general research to see how they stack up against others and they seem incredible spec for the money. The only thing is I haven't found much on the brand as a whole so no idea if they live up to the claims. That said they are recommended at Ray Mears website, one of only two pairs of binoculars available at his online shop (the others being Leica) so that's always struck me as a bit of a endorsement.

 

[davepuma]

If they're just for occasional use, a pair of 8x25 compact field jobs should do. I have a pair of Opticron Imagic BGA PC that I've had for a few years. They are light, well built, water proof and great quality (and come with a long warranty). In fact, they were as good as the Carl Zeiss ones I used to use at work and people were forever borrowing them. I bought them as I used to wear glasses and they worked great but if it's just for general use out walking I wouldn't worry too much about long eye relief etc but it's something to consider. Bushnell, Nikon, Canon, Swift and others all do ones around that budget. An old pal from work told me the RSPB website was good for binocular recommendations (he was a twitcher).

 

[PaulBoy]

I got a pair of Nikon Travelite (the 8x25 ones HERE) which are good quality but only pocket size - use them for casual bird watching etc
Paul