what binoculars

[BIG white hunter]

absolutly,stick to the top names,the price reflects the quality,take a look through the new swaros,man the pic is amazing,but so is the price....

Fair enough. As long as you're happy.

I've made the same mistake over and over again (rifles, bins, scopes etc), buying cheap the first time then upgrading to mid-range then realising my folly and spending out again for the item I should have bought in the first place.

 

[gerald]

sorry to blow you out the warter but i bought a pair of 8x42 bushnall H2O under £100 quid spot on for me doing woodland stalking great low light peformance so why pay hundreds for a pair when you dont need to. ok let the rants fly

 

[Bramble]

We use Opticron 10x42,very good for your price range,cheers

 

[dweeb]

Hi there mate if u can wait a little bit and save up a bit more i would get the new Zeiss 8x42 conquestHD or the 10x42 conquestHD or the new victory HT range both ranges are very good glass and amazing at low light mate well worth the wait and the money and will last a life time

dweeb

 

[bri 243]

save your money and buy the best , swarovski you cant beat them

 

[Paul at Fechan]

Well the swaro name is about the best but I had my bushnell elite 10's beside swaro 10's at the range and you needed vision better that my 20/20 to tell the difference in bightness and clarity. Get over it, bushnell are right there now in their top end optics

 

[grizzly adams]

Binoculars

Save a bit more and buy s/h swarovski,very good.

 

[shotz]

have swaro 10x42 zeiss 8 x 42 also minox 8x43 hg glass and all are exellent no need to spend 1000 pounds minox hg are about 675 shotz

 

[Sharpie]

if u can wait a little bit and save up a bit more i would get the new Zeiss 8x42 conquestHD or the 10x42 conquestHD or the new victory HT range both ranges are very good glass and amazing at low light mate well worth the wait and the money and will last a life time

+1 for the new Zeiss Conquest HD. Very very good, and would be value at £1000, yet sell for £650, which is actually less than competing Minox, Meopta etc. and has the Zeiss brand which means they will always be worth good money. My partner recently bought a pair after testing all the competitors, I posted about this on another thread.

My "best" bins are humble Hawke Frontier ED 8x43 which are pretty good and cost under £200. Price has gone up now that word has got out about their performance. They've brought out a new version (which is no real improvement) so some dealers are clearing out the original model at near trade price, which makes them a bargain.

Very tempted by the Zeiss for myself, but I could have eight stalks instead. Maybe J will let me borrow hers ...

In answer to the OP, with your budget definitely spend your money on a good secondhand pair of Swaro/Zeiss/Leica, even if you have to stretch a little. Look after them, and if you ever decide to change them you will probably get all your money back, maybe even a profit.

If they ever go wrong, these manufacturers stand by their products and will sort them, even decades later.

Buy any other brands and there will not be this certainty of resale or service.

Spend your entire budget on a new lesser brand and they will be almost worthless if you ever do want to upgrade. Pay more than say £250 on a lesser brand and you are into rapidly diminishing returns, £400 will not get you much more real performance.

Binoculars - BirdForum is a good resource for research, some of these birdwatchers are very knowledgable. Might not be a good idea to let on that you want them for hunting though

 

[wag]

Dont forget Nikon.

http://uk.shopping.com/Nikon-10x56-Monarch-ATB/info

 

[big cat]

hi all went and took some of your advice .just bought a new pair of minox hg 8x43 at very good price ,it was after my mate lte me use his,couldn't fault them