# Binoculars



## Naturedude (Jun 29, 2012)

Hi folks ,

Just wondering if anyone can recommend a good pair of binoculars for $50 or less. Not looking for anything spectacular but don't want junk either. Thanks!!!!


----------



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Just for the sake of honesty, you will not get a great pair of binoculars for under $50. The best low cost binoculars I have seen are Aplen Pro 8x42. They are porro style and have a rubber armor on them. They are very clear and magnify well, but they are not waterproof. You may be able to find them for around $50-60 on sale but normally they run closer to $70-80. My oldest son has low end Bushnell & Tasco binoculars (for Scouts) that work, but they do not compare in quality to the Alpen Pro's.


----------



## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

You can visit places like BassPro and look at any of their cheap glasses ... they have a few options in their RedHead line, but, if you want a real quality set of binoculars, you would want something that is also water-proof like what you can find in the Bushnell line of H2O glasses - but - they start closer to the $100 range. I personally have a set of Bushnell H20 in 12x magnificationa and I think that they are just amazing - clear!


----------



## Naturedude (Jun 29, 2012)

Sentry18 said:


> Just for the sake of honesty, you will not get a great pair of binoculars for under $50. The best low cost binoculars I have seen are Aplen Pro 8x42. They are porro style and have a rubber armor on them. They are very clear and magnify well, but they are not waterproof. You may be able to find them for around $50-60 on sale but normally they run closer to $70-80. My oldest son has low end Bushnell & Tasco binoculars (for Scouts) that work, but they do not compare in quality to the Alpen Pro's.


Thanks for the info! I just found Alpen Pro 8 by 25 for $50. Would that be ok? Not sure of the difference between 8-42 and 8-25. Lol


----------



## Sentry18 (Aug 5, 2012)

Smaller field of view (read as smaller lenses). The 8 means 8x magnification, the 25 means 25mm objective. If these are just for recreation those should be fine. Otherwise NaeKid is right, you want waterproof. Again depending on purpose, you can check out monoculars too.


----------



## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

My advice? Stay away from the miniature glasses (8X20, 8X25, 10X25, etc,). Most are a pain to use and the field of of view (in actual usage) is quite small. They're difficult to focus, have poor light gathering ability and if you wear eyeglasses they're even harder to see through.

Stay with at least a 35mm objective lense with 40mm being better and 50mm being best as long as you don't need to pack them around on foot. Lower magnification glasses tend to be a little sharper (less distortion) so stay with a 7 or 8 power magnification. 

What you might do is have the clerk set several pairs on the counter then take them one at a time and focus on something that needs a lot of clarity. If you're near a window try reading license plates on the cars in the street or parking lot.

Look through one glass then the next and set aside the one that is less clear or more difficult to focus. Then take the next pair and do the same thing. You'll eliminate the less effective glasses that way and when you get to the last one it will be the clearest of them all.

What you'll notice in doing this is that clarity is more important than magnification.

Steve


----------

