Whether you are a hunter, bird watcher, astronomer, or other user of binoculars, the tips in this article can help you choose the best quality binoculars for your purposes. Following are three major quality factors you should examine before buying a pair of binoculars.
First of all, you'll need to choose the magnification power of your binoculars. The most common magnifications range from 7-12. More is not necessarily better, though. The higher the magnification power of your binoculars, the more noticeable the shaking of your hands becomes. For most uses, 8x is a good magnification to choose. If you go over 10x, you should consider getting a tripod.
Second, you'll need to choose the objective diameter for your binoculars. All other things being equal, the larger the objective diameter, the brighter the image you see through the binoculars. For most uses, look for a objective diameter that is five times the magnification power. So if you have a pair of binoculars with 8x magnification, they should have an objective diameter of 40. A pair of binoculars with these specs is generally called 8×40. If you plan on using your binoculars in low light conditions, you may want get an even higher objective diameter, such as 8×50. Do keep in mind that a larger objective diameter will generally increase the size and weight of the binoculars.
Thirdly, you should pay attention to the coating of the lenses on your binoculars. The coating cuts down on reflected and fragmented light inside your binoculars, and so increases, the brightness and clarity of the image. There are four terms generally used to describe the lens coating. Here they are, in order for least desirable to best: coated, multi coated, fully coated, fully multi coated.
No matter what you plan to do with your binoculars, paying attention to these three points when making your purchase will greatly increase your chances of getting the perfect pair of binoculars!
