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 Binoculars Tips You Need to Know Before Purchase

Before you purchase a set of binoculars, it is important to fully understand their purpose, any special requirements or features you will need and have a price range in mind. Example: if you are an avid day hiker or back-packers in the outdoors you might think about compact, lightweight binoculars that are waterproof and shockproof. If you are purchasing your optics for sheep hunting you would want rugged, high power magnification, large objective high quality lenses for long distance viewing with critical eye relief (less straining on your eyes as you view). 

My experience has proven to me that when buying binoculars, all things being equal, you get what you pay for. If you are buying binoculars for your grandkids there are plenty of brands offering inexpensive, attractive and quite functional optics perfect for the beginner. However, if you are buying for yourself it is my recommendation to do some homework, look around and compare different brands, features and price ranges.

Then while making your decision on the right set of binoculars strongly consider the fact that this purchase is an investment that you will have for your lifetime. This is not the time to go economy and shave the budget. Believe me, a great set of binoculars are more money but very well worth it.

Now, let's discuss how to define what a good set of binoculars is and what features you should consider:

Warranty: this is a good place to start. A limited lifetime warranty is very important and something you want. If you narrow your search down to two pairs of binoculars sometimes the warranty can be the tie breaker.

Quality of Lenses: understand the type of lenses, materials used in the lenses and what benefits the lenses offer. Most lenses are made out of glass, crystal, plastic or high-tech composites and have some type of coatings offering various types of advantages. Better quality binoculars will have a higher level of clarity and resolution providing the greatest advantage over the inexpensive binoculars.

Waterproof: a good set of binoculars will be waterproof which is always a good idea since most are used outdoors where the elements can turn nasty. To have a nice set of binoculars ruined because they were not waterproof would be a disappointing event. Waterproof binoculars are usually filled with nitrogen which helps them to stay moisture free. Waterproofing is actually done with the construction of the binocular and if it is fully waterproof it will be printed on the binocular. Most of the waterproof binoculars are also available with individual eye focusing system.

Shockproof: having the benefit of shockproof binoculars is a good idea. We do not intent to be rough on our optics but events happened in or out of our control that could permanently damage binoculars. I dropped my favorite set of binoculars many years ago and they were permanently distorted. Nothing I could do but throw them away as I mourned. 

Rubber Armor: this is not a must but it sure is nice to have exterior rubber armor on your binoculars. It provides some shock resistance, helps tremendously with your grip and reduces the tendency of sliding while lying on table tops or similar.

Objective Lenses: generally, the larger the objective (the size of the front lenses) the more field of view you will have and the more light that will be collected in low light conditions such as dawn and dusk. If you have not experienced this it is very neat. It can be almost dark out and look through your binoculars with large objective lenses and you can mysteriously see like an owl.

Eye Relief: Eye relief is the distance from the eyepiece to the point where you can see the whole picture. Small compact binoculars have more challenges with eye relief than most others. People who wear glasses often have trouble using binoculars, because their glasses hold the eyepiece too far away from their eyes.  People wearing contact lenses or people who do not need prescription glasses should not experience difficult eye relief issues.

People who need glasses but do not have astigmatism can look through binoculars without their glasses, adjusting for their nearsightedness or farsightedness merely by adjusting the focusing device. Generally, in this situation you take your glasses off before raising the binoculars to your eyes.

Weight: hunting or hiking all day with a large heavy set of binoculars can get annoying and not to ignore the fact about chaffing the back of your neck from the carrying strap. Weight should certainly be considered when selecting the right pair of binoculars.

Carrying Case: you want to protect your investment in between uses. A good hard shell protective carrying case is recommended.

Purchasing a good set of binoculars is an investment you will enjoy for a lifetime. Do you homework, consider all your options, make your investment and then enjoy!

Key words:Waterproof Binoculars, Binoculars
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