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Binocular Features |
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ND2000
Optics Journeyman Joined: January/29/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 308 |
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Posted: February/15/2007 at 08:25 |
Just curious what was the key decision factor for most people. It's hard I know!
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You either get what you pay for or what you deserve.
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jonbravado
Optics Master Joined: October/05/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1131 |
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i look for lowlight performance.
if i forget my binos, i feel like i shouldn't even sneak into the woods.
J |
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anweis
Optics Master Joined: January/29/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1148 |
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I select binoculars for all of those features, except price and brand name.
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FrankD
Optics Journeyman Joined: November/11/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 686 |
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I am with anweis though I decided to throw the lone vote in for field of view/depth of field since it seems I prefer bins with a wide, sharp sweet spot and preferrably in 7x or 8x for better depth of field.
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Frank
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spf2
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/02/2007 Status: Offline Points: 169 |
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Almost agreed.. If everything else is equal or comparable, I will just go with price.. The lower the better.. |
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ND2000
Optics Journeyman Joined: January/29/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 308 |
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Clearly they all matter to differing degrees. I put together the poll more with the thought in mind of "what's the one feature that you have to have." Again, I recognize the purchase decision is largely a personal optimization of many of those factors. I guess that is what makes looking through binos fun.
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You either get what you pay for or what you deserve.
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Bird Watcher
Optics Master Joined: August/30/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1523 |
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It would have been even more interesting if you had added "magnification" as one of the features in the poll.
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RifleDude
MODERATOR EVIL OPPRESSOR Joined: October/13/2006 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 16337 |
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For me, the priorities are, in order:
1 - Sharpness 1.5 - Brightness 2 - FOV / DOF 3 - Color 4 - Price, Comfort, Ergo
However, if the #4 priorities are so out of line with my budget or liking, 1-3 don't really matter.
Name is only important to me from the standpoint of how well that company takes care of its customers and its reputation for durability. |
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Ted
Money can't buy happiness... but it's much more comfortable to cry in a Porsche than on a bicycle. |
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ND2000
Optics Journeyman Joined: January/29/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 308 |
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Not sure what other's thoughts are, but I've looked through a lot more pairs of binoculars that are bright as opposed to sharp.
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You either get what you pay for or what you deserve.
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gremlin
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/16/2004 Location: left of center Status: Offline Points: 115 |
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I would qualify my response with the caveat that after certain minimum standards of brightness and clarity were met, the deciding factor in my decision between brands almost always comes down to one thing:
EYE RELIEF As a long time eye glass wearer, nothing causes me greater fatigue than not having enough eye relief. The vignetting that goes along with having to align binocs close to my face frustrates me and over long periods of glassing for game, it drives me nuts. That's not a good thing when you're holding a 30-06... The longer the eye relief, the quicker I can bring my binocular into play when I spot an instant of movement. Whether I'm birding or hunting, it's that ability to get the binocular lined up quickly with my pupil for maximum field of view that determines whether or not I spot my prey or my bird. Again, that comes after minimum standards of brightness and clarity have been met. Eye relief is the biggie that causes me to spend my money. It's the same thing with a rifle scope. If I'm packing a .22 in the field and hunting squirrels, you can bet it has a long eye relief fixed 4x28 scope on it. If the eye relief is long enough, you can practically start aiming before the rifle hits your shoulder--that split instant you gain before the squirrel ducks behind the trunk will put more stock in my pot than a 3x9 with short eye relief. With a high powered rifle, that extra half inch of eye relief makes me a much better long distance shooter and I don't have to worry about recoil causing the scope to hit my eyebrow. Yup, the older I get, the more I appreciate the comfort that long eye relief brings... |
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Tero
Optics Apprentice Joined: December/04/2006 Status: Offline Points: 135 |
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After sharpness, brightness is a close second. I found that I need to adjust my diopter in nearly all binoculars, during a day. My two eyes are just differerent at different distances, very similar at far distance. So I found out the hard way that at 10x especially I need the brightness. I adjust the diopter to a happy medium and leave it there. With dim binoculars it just does not work. I am adjusting the diopter all day.
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