Bino's

macberran

Distinguished Member
With a budget of £500 roughly, what is good glass for the money. I have been using some old compact olymus 6x25 , then I ran over them withthe flail mower:oops:. Any ideas gentlemen.
 
Hello Gordon,

Hope all is well.

Have a look at the Minox range from Germany. They use Schott glass (as per Zeiss) in the price range you looking at, very well made and solid.

ATB

Tom
 
Hi there,I got myself a decient pair of leica on evilbay,just keep looking for swaro,leica,zeiss etc,also mccleods of tain have some very good deals also.
ATB John
 
Hi there,I got myself a decient pair of leica on evilbay,just keep looking for swaro,leica,zeiss etc,also mccleods of tain have some very good deals also.
ATB John

That's what I did, got a pair of Leica Trinovids in 8x36 and love them, cost was just on £400 posted.

Neil. :)
 

If you Do a search For MINOX HG and see what you think , then look at the Uk prices @ £600. Just purchased today Minox HG 8.5x43 from US for £337 + postage so will keep you informed if you want.
 
i have a pair of Dowling & Rowe 8x45 with bak4 prisms,had them for about 7 years and theve never faulted,out in all weathers!! and they are cheap too!! think i got them from jls Birmingham for about £200 if i remember rightly,but Ive noticed theve gone down in price since!! the only reason i got these was,i was once out with a stalker (i had a really cheap pair of binos!!) he said can you see those deer? i said no!! he then gave me his ZEISS! i was amazed i could see deer!! he then said..do you go to opera?..no i replied!! he then said do you know anyone that goes to opera??..no i replied!! arr well he said best throw them in the bin!! off to my house i shall loan you a pair of what i call cheap binos!! dowling & row!! he gave me some good advise that day, if you cant afford something like the ZEISS,etc for around £900+ mark,then buy some Dowling & Rowe until you can! they have lasted me a few years being abused by many clients he said.so i bought a pair and 7 years later i still use them,and they are great,but one day i shall buy a pair of ZEISS or SWAROVSKI for around the £900+ mark,theres no in between for me!!! thats like having a Bushnell scope,upgrading to Leupold,then wishing/wondering,should i have gone ZEISS/SWARO route,with binos of this quality the only thing left to worry about is hoping the misses don't find out you've just spent £900+ on a pair of binns!!!!:evil:
 
Minox have recently moved their construction from Japan to Germany. It was possible to get the run out Japanese HGs for £400 here in the UK but I don't know if there are any left, worth searching around. I think the German ones are about £600 and even at that I would suggest they are good value.

I believe that cameralandNY bought up the US stocks of the Jap HGs and they may still have some, or you can check their demo range as these are good as new. You can count on paying about 25% - 30% in tax and duty to import them but, as per the post above, you can still have them in the UK for a lot less than the UK price.

See if you can get to try the Minox HGs somewhere and if you get the chance compare them to the big money names, Swaros are probably the benchmark, in low light when your eyes have adapted. Many people buy the Swaros for the feel, construction quality, customer service and even the name and if I used them every day in a professional capacity then I too would have the Swaros, mostly for the customer support. I don't think you will find many people with the view that the Swaros are significantly better than the Minox HGs in low light and the difference in money would pay for a syndictate place for a year or a week at hinds or...

Saw these for example, on and they are not really "range finding" despite the yards/meters options it is just the focus ring is calibrated to give some indication of range within about 50 yards

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/minox.pl?page=62155
 
Last edited:
I've got a set of Minox HGs 8.5x43 and there on a par with my s&b 8x56 scope so very impressed with them
 
Thanks to you all for your repies, and Thomas, thanks all is as could be even with the darketh flow of outrageous fortune( including the binos).
Its all very intresting and have read and noted it as so. I would be interested how you get on Patrol01 and how any warrenty is affected. There is it would appear some very good glass for the money and I(and I'm sure others) appreciate this responce, ATVB
 
For people wanting to try a few pairs of decent bins, most of the RSPB reserves that have a shop on site, hold open days, so you can try before buying.

Neil. :)
 
buy a set of used top brands like zeiss i sold my like new zeiss 8x40 on e bay for £475 they are a much better bet than new of inferior quality
 
why spend so much on optics , any optics £100 will do the job just fine..burris,bushnell etc.
 
Not only because I'm a former Otley man - but I too use the cheaper Bushnells... I find them to be more than adequate for the stalking that I do.
I'm not saying that I wouldn't have a pair of zeiss, or swaro's if I got the opportunity though!

DC
 
Any of the forum members using Zeiss Conquest ? Either 8x30 or 8x40 or other model. They are very light and get good comments in most reviews.
 
I usa a pair of tasco 7 x 50 offshore sailing binos, fully waterproof, compared them last night against my sb 8x56 and my leupold mk4 lrt and found them to be just as good, i have seen them on ebay for 60 to 80 pounds, apart from the fact that they are black not green i just cannot see any reason to pay more
 
I use a pair of Opticron 7x42 which I have had for years. They work fine for me but when I look through my mates Swarvoski I think bugger. If I was a rich man. I will have to stick with the Opticrons though, my wife would have the hammer out if paid out that sort of money.
 
Patrol1, any sign of your glass yet and will Minox honor any warrenty claims.

not yet posted by priority international us mail. checked tracking picked up on 6th from new york arrived newjersey international depo 11th its 10 miles from where they were picked up:rolleyes:. 5 to 10 business days delivery quoted :eek:. will let you know, knowing my luck I have a us posty that likes elvis " hope he dosent return to sender":lol:
 
Back
Top