Three Biggest Binocular Buying Mistakes
Two of the big mistakes are buying binoculars too big and too small.
What are the three biggest mistakes binocular buyers make?
They buy one that's too big and too powerful
They buy one that's too small and too powerful
They try to get one on the cheap.
Don’t fall for too much magnification. Above 10X most of us shake or tremor too much for a sharp view. A vibrating view is as bad as a soft focus. Higher power also means a smaller field of view. This makes it harder to correlate what you saw with your naked eyes with what you’re seeing at high magnification, making it difficult to locate your target. High magnification also magnifies any imperfections in the glass, reduces brightness and limits field of view. Objects looks so absurdly large you can't tell what part of the view you're seeing. Finally, higher power reduces depth of focus. Areas closer and farther than your target are so out of focus they don’t make any sense. This makes it harder to find your subject and adjust sharp focus on it.
Birders generally need more power than deer hunters.
For general use in a mix of brush, woods and open country, stick with 7X or 8X. You might like 10X if you’re steady, accomplished at finding your targets and mostly working in open habitats. A 6X is ideal for woods and brushy habitat and provides a delightfully wide field of view. It's great for large animals, but not best for birding.
Overall binocular size is mostly a product of object lens diameter. The bigger the objective lenses (the ones out front) the more light that gets into the binocular. This is a good thing until you have to carry it. Big glass weighs a lot. You get tired of lugging it around. You leave it behind.
Looking through the 2mm exit pupils of a 10X20mm mini binocular may feel like peering through a pinhole.
Opting for a mini or pocket binocular is going too far the other direction. With 20mm to 25mm lenses, these are easy to carry, but hard to use, especially at higher powers. Combining high power with small objectives is the optical kiss of death because it creates tiny Exit Pupils, the little circles of light that exit the eyepieces of a binocular. It can feel like looking through a pinhole.
The best all-round compromise is 40mm to 42mm objectives at 8X or 10X power. The best lightweight compromise is 32mm objectives at 7X or 8X.
Not too big, not too small, an 8x42 binocular is the Goldilocks binocular.
As for getting an effective binocular cheap, forget it. Spend as much as you can afford. Best buys are Porro prism models. $100 will get pretty good quality in those. With roof prism models, spend at least $250. After $1,000 you reach the point of diminishing returns.
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