3 Steps on deciding on a Binocular

As you know binoculars are used for so many activities these days, it can be everything from bird watching, and star gazing, following your favourite sports team or maybe watching what your strange neighbour is doing. No matter what you are going to use your binocular for, it is important that you get the pair that best suits your needs. Here we list three of the most important points to consider when you go shopping for your next pair of binoculars.

1) Think about which magnification you need. The reason this is important, is that you want to make sure that you can see your objects in good detail. You might think it is always best to choose the one with the highest possible magnification, but remember that these binoculars are sensitive to any small shakes, or hand movements will become more obvious. Most binoculars range from 7-12 times magnification, but you should think about getting a tripod if you decide to go over 10 times.

2) Decide on what diameter objective you require. Generally speaking it is good to get a pair of binoculars with an objective diameter about 5 times the magnification. Therefore if you wanted a pair with 7 times magnification you would go for an objective diameter of 35, these are generally termed as 7x35, or 8x40 etc. The objective diameter basically controls how bright the object is that you are looking at, so the bigger the diameter, the brighter the object. One important point to keep in mind is that increasing the size of the objective generally increases the weight and size of the binoculars. If you need a binocular with light weight, then this might not be your best choice. Compact binoculars are generally of a smaller magnification and smaller objective.

3) Finally the third thing to think about is the coating on the lenses of your binoculars. This is responsible for reducing the amount of fragmented and reflected light inside your binoculars. Through this the object you are looking at becomes brighter and clearer. There are generally four different types of lens coating that you will come across when looking at purchasing a pair of binoculars, they are, fully multi coated (being the best), then fully coated, multi coated, and lastly coated.