how to choose binoculars | best binoculars on a BUDGET

if you want some help on choosing the right binoculars to buy this video is for you especially if you were on a budget coming up right after this hi guys my name is Eddie and my channel is called adventure education I'm a wildlife biologist so I have a lot of experience as a bird watcher and viewing other wildlife and I've gone through many pairs of binoculars and I've definitely learned some important things about purchasing binoculars along the way whether you want to buy binoculars for birding or general wildlife viewing hunting or creeping on people at stoplights just kidding don't do that don't do that that was a joke no matter what you are doing with binoculars it is really important to understand how binoculars work and some other really important things when buying your binoculars so you can get the most bang for your buck so this video will be divided into two different parts in the first part I will give you ten tips on how to make sure that you get the right binoculars for you including how to save money and then in the second part I will recommend some specific binoculars that you should consider based on your budget so let's get into it tip number one is know what the numbers mean so you see those numbers how that says 10 by 40 - it's really important to know what these numbers means sometimes these number will say a 540 - or 10 by 50 but on any pair of binoculars they should give these two numbers and the first number is the magnification which is how large the object appears to you through the binoculars compared to if you were not using binoculars at all so here we see the bird with our naked eye then now with our binoculars we see him under 7 times magnification and now we see him with 10 times magnification with all other variables the same you can obviously see under 10 times magnification that the object is bigger than under 7 times magnification now the benefit of having binoculars with higher magnification is that you can get a closer view of things that are farther away but beware because there are definitely disadvantages of having binoculars of higher magnification for example there is a narrower fie the view and the field of view is basically the window that you look through so with the larger magnification you're looking through a smaller window so you see less area this is pretty important because it can make it more difficult to track the objects that you were looking for now I usually tell people that the best way to find birds at least that aren't like super far away is to find them with your naked eye first and then find them through your binoculars after you spot them with your naked eye and this can definitely become more difficult with a narrower field of view another disadvantage is the shakiness the higher the power and narrower field of view the harder it becomes to keep that image still when you were looking at it through your binoculars another disadvantage is that higher magnification binoculars often require thicker glass so this can let through less light which generally means a darker dimmer image the effect of this is probably pretty minimal there are other variables that affect this more thicker glass can also mean heavier binoculars so you should just know all of these trade-offs now the second number is the width of the objective lens which is the lens at the front of the binoculars it's not the front right here the front of the binoculars so as you can see this is the objective lens it's pretty dirty you can see my binoculars are pretty dirty not a good example of what your binoculars should look like by the way you should be sure that your binoculars are kept clean but back to the point the width of the objective lens is really important because with the wider objective lens you let in more light into the binoculars so that in situations with dim or light you will have a clearer brighter image now this is generally a big positive remember that water objective lens means it's going to be bigger which generally means that the binoculars will be bigger bulkier and heavier which could be a disadvantage as well so now just to review our main two numbers that you need to consider let's look at this bird and look how magnification and objective lens with effect the field of view all other variables are the same so they have the same thickness of glass and quality same lens coatings which we'll talk about more later so the views in the top row have the same magnification but different widths of object lenses the lens on the top left is a narrower objective lens the lens on the top right is a water objective lens and then on the bottom we have two views through binoculars with the same size of objective lenses but different magnifications the one on the bottom left has a smaller magnification the one on the bottom right has a larger magnification so if you are serious about trying to see birds or other wildlife I would recommend 8 by 40 twos which is the standard but you could also get 10 by 40 2's or 10 by 50 s just know that if you go up for magnification from 8 to 10 you will get closer up to birds from far away but just know that those disadvantages that I talked about of having higher magnification will start to slightly come into play but still the difference in feel the view of magnification from 8 to 10 shouldn't be too much and the difference in the amount of light coming into your binoculars between a width of an objective lens between 42 and 50 shouldn't be that drastic either now if you are only using your binoculars to spot things super far away like Raptors flying in the sky miles and miles away that you really just can't even see with your naked eye what matters most is just having a higher magnification so getting binoculars that are like 12 times magnification might be the best for that if you're looking to do some Raptor watching 12 magnification with like a 50 width of objective lens or even a higher magnification might be beneficial but again when you get to high magnification that shakiness really starts become a problem if you want binoculars that have over like 15 times magnification I would look into a pair of digitally stabilized binoculars if you're looking to get a magnification over 15 so my second tip is just to know what Porro prism binoculars are compared to roof prism binoculars and poor person binoculars the objective lens is offset from the eyepiece they provide greater depth perception and generally offer a wider field of view but in roof prism binoculars the prisms overlap closely allowing the objective lenses to line up directly with the eyepiece so this is an example of roof prism binoculars and it is interesting because these generally appear simpler than Porro prism binoculars but inside they actually have a way more complex light paths and require much greater optical precision and manufacturing so as a result they cost more to make and the pearl prism design is actually simpler and more light efficient and the images actually show better contrast but nevertheless the roof prisms design is favored by most customers probably because it's more compact so manufacturers went all-out to perfect it just know generally if you want to save money that Porro prism binoculars you generally get more bang for your buck than roof prism binoculars but again they're kind of bulky and just I don't know just not as nice to have her on your neck they're just kind of uglier in my opinion I don't know post in the comments below what you guys think but again if you're on a budget all seriousness Porro prism binoculars could be the way to go my third tip is to pay attention to the coatings on your lenses so they actually discovered in the last century that basic open ocular lenses with magnesium fluoride it actually lets in more light now we're not gonna get too into the details about how this works but basically the higher quality coatings that you have the more light is let into the binoculars which makes a brighter clearer image and it's not only the quality of the coatings but the more lenses inside the monoculars that are coated as well will allow a higher percentage of light to go from the beginning of binoculars all the way to your eye which again results in a better image so just remember when you were shopping for binoculars pay attention to how many coatings there are and the quality of the coatings and obviously the more coatings there are and the higher quality in there the more expensive your binoculars will be my fourth tip is to get binoculars that are fog proof and waterproof this should be self-explanatory but if you're out in the field there are so many places in the world where you could get rained on and the last thing you want to do is ruin your binoculars because they got water inside them my fifth tip is to get attachable lens caps no these did not come with attachment lens caps but a lot of binoculars do some people don't like attachment lens caps but I really do like him because I just feel like so many times I've lost them and it's just been so sad because then I don't have lens caps then you know you go through the trouble of ordering new ones but then that can be a pain it's just so much better I feel like if they're attachable and you know they're just always there I think sometimes they can be annoying where they can not really fold all the way down out of the way of the objective lens but you know as long as you bend them down far enough or whatever so they're not blocking the objective lens hi that's a no-brainer that attached lens caps are better tip number six is make sure that you pay attention to the eye relief when you buy your binoculars so that eye relief is the distance between your eye and the islands so a lot of binoculars will have these eye cups that will come out like this so based on all the dimensions of your face in your head you can usually adjust these so that your eyes are the right distance away from the islands but the thing is I know some of you guys are huge dorks and we're glasses I'm just kidding I wear glasses too I do look like a gigantic dork though but just don't obviously go to the store and pick out your binoculars with glasses on when you realize you're mostly gonna be in the field without your glasses with contacts and so you know just make sure that you pay attention to the eye relief when you're trying on your binoculars and deciding to buy them which is a good segue to the next tip tip number seven which is to make sure you try on your binoculars before you buy them and that is because no two binoculars are the same and no two humans are the same no two humans are the same shape of face no two humans have the same eyesight and you will really just not know exactly how binoculars feel until you actually go to the store pick them up you can see how much they weigh see how much they weigh on your neck and then you know again you can fit all around with the eye cups and I know that we live in the age of online markets with Amazon and everything but just to make sure that you can try them on and test them out before you have to permanently buy them so tip number eight is a tip to save you money and that is do not count out getting used binoculars I have found that online you can get so many use things that are still really high quality for really cheap for like a third half maybe even like a quarter of the price they have so many apps now like offer up obviously there's Craigslist there's Facebook marketplace all you have to do is just get on these platforms and look around and shop and obviously just like with anything you want your common sense when you're using a used product but just because someone has used binoculars for a couple years doesn't mean that they're low quality and you could really save a lot of money another thing that you just have to consider and ask yourself is what purpose do you want your binoculars to serve you when you're in the field for me I don't really care if my binoculars give me a perfect image when I look through them I really just want a good enough look at whatever animal I'm looking at to give me the best shot at identifying it what I really care most about in terms of having like a crystal-clear image is the photos that I get through my camera I'm really sort of shifting to put more of my effort on photography when I'm in the field so if your main thing is photography maybe you don't need a spankin new pair of crystal-clear binoculars maybe a use pair that's kind of worn but pretty cheap is better for you so yeah just think about your priorities and that leads me to tip number nine is that what matters just as much as the quality of binoculars that you have is how will you take care of them and how well you know how to use them so first of all you want to make sure you clean your binoculars which I obviously haven't done which again as you can see I made them dirty a purpose for this video I wonder if you guys believe me that I'm in I'm dirty on purpose anyways what was I saying oh yeah just make sure that you take good care of your binoculars put the lens caps on when you're not using them clean them with the right fluid with the right cloth that you're supposed to do and then also for adjusting there is a special way that you adjust your binoculars I'm actually thinking about making another video just on the basics on how to adjust your binoculars and how to clean your binoculars so let me know in the comments if you would like me to make a video on that then tip number ten is just kind of an extra tip but it is to not get zoom binoculars I've just met too many people who have gotten zoom binoculars and are just so disappointed with them it's because the problem is is that binoculars are essentially two telescopes right next to each other that need to sync in unison perfectly with each other to get a crisp image and if these type of binoculars are not like super high quality then you might not get a good image so unless you're on like a really high budget just do not get zoom binoculars so now into the second part of this video in which I will recommend some binoculars for those of you on a budget now one thing I want to make clear is that this video is not sponsored by anyone when I recorded this video I would is a very small youtuber I only had like 1600 subscribers I'm all going just based on my opinions yeah I'm definitely not advertising any equipment the names of the equipment that I described in this video will be posted below and you should just search for them on Google by yourself but first I just want to show you this chart so this is a chart that shows on the x-axis the price and on the y-axis the quality index of binoculars I don't know how they derived this I didn't look into it but as you can see there is sort of this theme of diminishing returns as you pay more for binoculars so as you can see at low prices the quality shoots right up as you go higher in price but then as you can see as you pay more and more and more the quality really starts to level out so my guess is that most people who are watching this video are on a low budget so I'm guessing that there is a high chance that you don't have more than a few hundred dollars to spend on binoculars and even spend $200 on binoculars is a lot for most people but again if you are on a strict budget definitely consider buying used binoculars now you can probably find some really cheap brand new but I clears from Walmart or you know whatever retail store for like $30 $40 maybe even cheaper but they're probably gonna be really junky and they're probably not gonna last long a pair of used binoculars that was made by like Nikon or Bushnell or one of these other companies that makes high quality products that was originally like 250 to 300 dollars it's probably still gonna be way better than buying a cheap like $40.00 pair of binoculars from Walmart but again you got to incorporate all the knowledge I'm telling you in this video now the other thing is some companies allow you to custom order your binoculars so let's say you find a model with all the coatings you want but you decide yeah I want a bigger objective ones then a lot of times when you order binoculars from these companies they allow you to you know customize your order so you can change things like that all right so let's get into my specific recommendations here's some ones that I recommend if you were on a budget under 250 US dollars for 150 listed online they have the nikon 72 45 action 10 by 50's extreme all-terrain binocular if you want to go higher quality they have the nikon 7 5 7 six monarch5 8 x 42 binocular for $250 and then Bushnell also makes the legend Ultra HD roof prism binocular which are 10 by 40 2's for $225 and then if you're looking to spend significantly more money there's the vortex optics viper HD 10 by 42 roof prism binoculars and these are going to be pushing $500 I know one person who uses the Bushnell Legends and I know one person who uses the Nikon 72 for five and they're both very happy they gave me good recommendations part of the reason why I'm recommending them in this video but again if you're gonna be serious about bird-watching and wildlife viewing and you want a brand new pair of binoculars and you want it to be a good investment that'll last you for years as long as you take care of your binoculars I would drop at least $150 on the other hand I don't think you really need to drop that much more than like $300 so yeah it is a lot of money off the bat the other thing though to to remember about wildlife viewing is that even though binoculars might be expensive the hobby of wildlife viewing is generally free unless you get into photography which can be super expensive too but finding wildlife and viewing it washing in the field with your binoculars it's free you know it's not like other things for example like golf which you know it costs you a significant amount of money to go golfing every time so yeah those are my recommendations am I gonna get into really high-priced binoculars because again my guess is that most people just want to spend a reasonable amount of on a budget anyways guys thank you very much I really hope this helps you out remember that exploring nature is always an adventure peace out

Channel: Adventure Ed

Views: 257,669

Rating: 4.845026 out of 5

Keywords: how to choose binoculars, best binoculars on a budget, binoculars, binocular, best binoculars, best binoculars for birdwatching, best binoculars 2019, binoculars what the numbers mean, buying binoculars, best binoculars for hunting, birdwatching, birdwatching tips, birding, hunting, nikon binoculars, bushnell binoculars, nikon, bushnell, best budget binoculars, best binoculars under 100, how to spot birds, begginner binoculars, cheap binoculars, binoculars review, good binoculars

Id: vWoQ8oAjFfo

Length: 17min 14sec (1034 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 11 2019