September 10, 2024

Gear Review: Pocket Binoculars

 
 
From All About Birds, Cornell University's great birding site (I rely on it a lot), comes a review of pocket binoculars: "Our Search for the Best Tiny Binoculars."

The review covers a price range of $100 to $1,000, in both double-hinge or one-hinge design, which, as you can see, I prefer.  In the photo (not reviewed) -- Wind River 8 x 25. Made in Japan for Leupold; they have given good service for their low-end price. Or there is always Swarovski, which are always top-rated, have great service -- and you pay for that.
 
Reviewing binoculars is inherently subjective, and what works well for one viewer may not work for another. Individual aspects of a person’s body geometry such as eye width, eye depth, hand size, and overall size can affect how well a binocular model fits.  

Do you carry "binoculars" or a 'binocular"? Industry types seem to prefer the latter usege, as do these writers.

Of course, to put pocket binoculars in your shirts, you need capacious pockets. Some designers of outdoor clothing just don't get that.

2 comments:

Darrell said...

The downside: tiny exit pupil, poor performance in low light conditions. Divide the aperture (second number) by magnification (first number) to derive the exit pupil, the diameter of the cones of light exiting the eye lenses, 3.125mm in this case. The human eye dilates to ~7mm in dark conditions, ~5mm for older eyes. This is why 7x50 field glasses are ideal for general use, they give a hair over 7mm exit pupil. My 8x42s work for my old eyes, a shade over 5mm. But you do you!

Chas S. Clifton said...

True. And normally I carry a full-size model too (see link). But there are times when you want to go light. https://www.southernrockiesnatureblog.com/2020/09/news-report-more-colorado-women-hiking.html