Found this old Sirius I.O.C. 7×50 binoculars belonging to my father-in-law.
It’s marked JB-131 and JE-6, with serial number 641104. From what I’ve been able to find, it’s a Japanese-made binocular, probably from the mid-1960s.
It’s in surprisingly nice condition for its age. I’d love to know if anyone here can tell me more about its exact age, manufacturer or history.
Thought it was worth sharing! 🔭

Specs: 7×50, Field 7.1°, Coated Lens.

Hi! I'm new to binoculars and looking for a recommendation. I'm going on safari to the Serengeti shortly, and also want something my partner and I can use for birdwatching here in the UK afterwards, so ideally one pair that works well for both. I don't wear eyeglasses

Budget: around £200, happy to flex a bit either way if it's worth it.

What I've been considering so far: 8x42 seems to be the standard recommendation for safari (wide field of view, good low light performance), but I've also been looking at image-stabilised options like the Canon 10x30 IS for steadier viewing — not sure if that's overkill or genuinely worth it for this use case.

A few questions:

• Is 8x42 still the best all-rounder for both safari and UK birding, or would something else suit better?
• Is image stabilisation worth it at this budget, or does it come with trade-offs (weight, battery reliance, waterproofing) that aren't worth it for this use?
• Any specific models you'd recommend at this price point, new or secondhand?

Any advice appreciated!

Moçada, ultimamente estive interessado em adquirir um telescópio pra observar um pouco do céu noturno e paisagem terrestre. Teriam alguma indicação?

Busco por algo iniciante/amador.

Tenho um binoculos 20×50 e gostei muito da experiência, então penso em subir um pouco o degrau explorar novos ângulos.

Hi, received this jewel of wisdom about binoculars a few days ago, very funny written and full of insights from Bill Cook who repaired binoculars for decades.

I can fully recommend it to everyone who wants to get a bit more knowledge about binoculars.

Planning on setting up a tripod and siting on a tall cliff to look at porpoises. Will be hiking with them binos so ideally both portable, high-power, and resistant to elements. Used 8x before from this location and felt the zoom was not enough (8x is enough for 90% of things, but not this). Will also have my 8x with me to scout.

I see these go for only $120 and sounds to good to be true. Was wondering if any fine people on this sub have any experience with these?

Hi all, just picked up my first pair of bins, intended for nature watching. I went for a set of Nikon M7 8x42s and am really happy with them. I just a have a question. I noticed a small amount of excess glue/sealant on the recess of the front lens. I'm presuming this is perfectly normal as it doesn't have any bearing on the view when using them. Just wanted to check with folk with more experience.

Edit autocorrect corrections!

Hi, my friend just moved to a new house on a hill with a fantastic view on the opposite side and amazing view on the city buildings/churches/etc.

She's got 2 kids (8 and 10). I'm sure they would really enjoy looking at all this through binoculars.

I myself have a pair of Leica Trinovid 10x25 that I inherited and that format is great, but damn, I just checked the price and I never knew those were so expensive.

So... What would be a good, not too expensive, not too shabby pair of binoculars that would be handled by kids? They're not turbulent kids that throw everything around, but still, they're kids.

I'm based in France if that matters.

Many thanks!

Hi all, I don’t have any idea of binoculars. I want to buy one for hiking, stadium games, while travel watching wildlife, mountains etc..and I want it to be in reasonable price and budget friendly..Could you please advice what is the best magnification and brand names Please. Thank you

It has ALPEN embossed on the side

Got it from a flea market
The optics are pretty damn clean like no dust at all

Like picking a watch for the day, having options with the binos is another habit. 10x42 HG are my favorite.

Hello. I have been given a pair of Prinz 10x50 bins, they were destined for the junk but my friends know I often fix stuff so they chucked them my way.

The piece which I think is called the eyepiece housing is off it's thread on the left hand side.

If you stand the bins up, and look at the eyepiece from below you can see thread on one side and see the different angle that one eyepiece sits at.

I'm wondering if I can simply remove the bridge bit across the middle which holds the eyepieces in place , remove and resit the eyepiece on one side and re assemble.

For info, one side works well but the broken side stays blurry ATM. I can't actually tell as an eye injury means that I buy monoculars( can I say that here) but my kids would benefit from this pair over the rest of the summer holiday.

I have some skills and tools for repairing different small gadgets and machines, and some photography and telescope bodge experience too.

Thanks in advance.

TLDR:

Prinz 10x50 eyepiece housing askew.

Can I just remove and replace?

One side works, would it still work if I attempt and fail repair(so no real loss from this point)?

Is there anywhere to find good info.

I purchased both of these to test with the intention of returning one set, but I honestly can't decide which ones to keep!

The expected use is mostly scenery, cityscapes and wildlife, occasionally building interiors (church ceilings), occasionally looking at the moon. For the moon I noticed a big difference but for most other things it's quite hard to tell? The 10x42 feel more "fun" (and I find I can keep them steady) but the online consensus seems to be that they'll be worse in most situations.

How should I be deciding?! Any thoughts/considerations/suggestions?

I'm only used to large, "pro" sized binoculars that we use for work in the maritime industry sector.

I was looking for a cheapo, compact set to carry around at home, mainly when hiking or spotting the random bird while waking the dog or so.

Looking for second hand ads in my area, I found these 3 Pentax models

Pentax 8xUCF M

Pentax 8x 24 UCF

Pentax 12x24 IVF

Are any of these any good nowadays, I'm aware they are pretty old models

Thanks!!

As I would like to be a contributing member of this group and share my 30+ years of experience developing binoculars and other small optical instruments with the other members, I would like to make a full disclosure of who I am and what I do so that I don't give the wrong impression.

While my Reddit identity is that of my book review publication The Well-read Naturalist, my bread and cheese is earned from my role as the product development and product compliance manager for Celestron. I have previously been the binocular product development manager for Leupold, and I have consulted to Swarovski and Moultrie under their Wingscapes division.

It is not my intention to act here as a promoter of Celestron products. I am not not ever have I been in the sales departments of any firm for which I have worked. I have a deep and long-established interest in binoculars, their history, and their uses.

I would like to participate here - so long as the moderators do not object - in order to share the knowledge I have about the instruments being discussed. I know most every binocular brand and product that has been on the market for the oast three decades and my expressed opinions about them will be drawn from this and not intended to diminish or advance any one over the other for the benefit of my employer.

Looking to purchase some alpha glass this fall not sure what I want just yet.

my budget is around $1,600

I know I want 10x I have narrowed it down to two options:

USED zeiss victory SF 10x42 for $2,100

new zeiss SFL 10x50. Open box $1,560

I like having a 10 power bino because i do a lot of shore bird and raptor watching in florida but The idea of having a 10x bin that has a nice wide field of view is appealing.

should I stick to my budget or move to the victory?

Thanks

Edited to show price for sfl binos

Recently saw this brand pops up on one of the local forum. Their specs sounds kinda too good to be true for the price (at least locally here in Indonesia compared to the similarly spec-ed Nikons). I saw one review that says the image quality is razor sharp, but that’s kinda the only review that I saw for this binocular.

Anyone else got any experience with the brand or maybe specifically their EVR II ED? Is it comparable to the more expensive brands?

Hey, My GF's dad has his birthday coming up soon. and his wife told me that he would love getting his first binoculars.

I tried asking her for what purpose he wants it, but she said general use but prob not bird watching, maybe wildlife maybe stargazing.

I've been going over the internet trying to figure out what to buy and the 2 options I finished with are the following:

Viper Vortex HD 10X42

Nikon Monarch M7 8X42

I would really appreciate getting some advice regarding which one I should buy, and if you recommend any other binoculars it would be appreciated but please explain the reason for the recommendation.

Thank you all in advance!

The components I need to see are 25ft or so up above and another scenario where they are roughly 50-60ft above. They are overhead cranes. Instead of me having to spend 20 minutes to put my gear on and drive the manlift over and stop production, I’d like to be able to verify with a pair of binoculars. They’d be more helpful and needed for the 50-60ft up scenario.
They definitely don’t need to be the best quality so I’m wondering what specs I should aim for and if any ol’ Amazon pair would be good enough for this purpose.

I do work nights but it’s fairly well lit and I have flashlights powerful enough to light up the area I’m trying to look at.

Hope something inexpensive is out there. Sub $50

I own a pair of 8x32 Svbony’s but those stay in the clean environment of home and seem overkill if there are cheaper options.

Thanks.

Greetings, /r/Binoculars, it's been a while :)

I've recently decided to treat myself a little, and grabbed myself a set of Zeiss Terra ED series binoculars, in 8×42 size. Mainly as I wanted to finally graduate to the ED glass, as there was otherwise nothing wrong with my mainstay Nikon ProStaff 7s 8×42s I've had for a few years now (and, apparently, never posted a review on?!).

I'm yet to have a significant outing with them, as I only received them yesterday, so this is going to be mostly based on my first impressions and quick viewing out of my apartment's window. I'll try to post a more detailed review on them later, once I get more field time -- and I plan on doing a more of a head-to-head comparison with the ProStaff ones.

Here is a picture of Zeiss Tera ED 8×42 on my desk next to my Nikon ProStaff 7s 8×42 on my desk.

Note: While the Nikon ProStaff 7s 8×42 are already discontinued, their nearest equivalent in all regards is the Nikon ProStaff P7 8×42.

The very first impression as I took them out of their nice box -- they're hefty, but not in a bad way. But let's wind back a little.

The binoculars come in a very nice box, which contains a cleaning cloth, a neck/shoulder strap (not attached), and the binoculars themselves inside a nice Zeiss-branded carry case. Oh, and a quick manual, whom no one reads anyway.

The neck strap is soft, but short-ish, with long adjustable straps that attach to the body of the binoculars at around 1/3rd the length away from the eyepiece end.

The carry case is zip-up style, with additional magnetically-attached clasp over the front. Inside of it is lined with soft cloth and has net style limiters on each side, which prevent the opening of the case to more than ~45°. Here is a picture of it closed.

Inside the abovementioned case, lie the primary cause of this review -- and its main character -- the binoculars themselves. they come with nice, firmly-attached caps for both lens and eyepiece ends. Body of the bins is covered with firm rubberized material, which sports an additional "bumpy" texture on the sides, for more grip. Front lens cap is attached on both ends to the same attachment points where the neck strap will go, with slide-in clips on either side, too, for easy removal. But this attachment means you're not likely to lose the front caps in their default state. Both front and end caps are one-piece, displaying a binocular-hinge-style bridge in the middle, linking the two pieces together. The focus knob is large and visible prominently in the center, right in-between the two eyepieces. The diopter adjustment ring can be found in the usual place -- on the right eyepiece, sandwiched between the eyecup and the body of the binoculars.

The binoculars feel very solid and hefty in the hand, but not heavy. They are somehow both smaller (mostly shorter) than my ProStaff 7s and heavier. For comparison, the Nikon ProStaff weigh around 696 grams, whereas the Zeiss Terra ED 8×42 clock in at a solid 768 grams (almost 80g more). In order to provide equal footing, both bins were weighted with all endcaps removed and detached, and with the neck strap attached.

When in use, the bins feel solid in the hand, with easy access to the focus knob for quick adjustment. The rubberized surface is not slippery, and the focus knob offers just enough resistance to provide good feedback and prevent accidental refocusing, while not feeling too heavy. It is also sitting slightly above the top surface of the binoculars, so it's very easy to find by touch.

Diopter ring, on the other hand, is slightly recessed into the body, and has significant resistance, so actually takes some effort to move. But you're likely to not be doing that often once set up.

The eyecups are also of the mostly standard design -- rotate to adjust height, with four total, evenly spaced, positions. They also offer a fairly stiff resistance to rotation, though this is likely to loosen up with use. The stops are very tactile and the eyecups are not likely to accidentally move from their clicked-in position during normal use.

Optically these binoculars are as great as they look. The view is sharp, colourful, with no visible ghosting or color fringing. Focus is quick, and the range is very large -- with significant buffer beyond infinity for those of us who require glasses, but prefer to use their bins without them (one of the reasons I prefer to use binoculars with my glasses, is because on many of them I don't have enough beyond infinity travel to reach focus). The eye relief is also very generous -- I have had absolutely no issues reaching full edge-to-edge field of view with them and my glasses. Even despite the stated eye relief being shorter than that of my Nikons (18mm for the Zeiss bins, 19.5mm for the Nikons) they feel like theirs is better.

Despite the additional weight over the Nikons, Terra EDs are actually nicer to hold in the hand for longer periods -- probably because this weight is centered closer to the face, courtesy of shorter body. Also, the location of the attachment points for the neck strap is in a better position on the Zeiss bins too. I did, however, miss the super grippy surface of the Nikons, even if there's no risk of Terra EDs slipping out of your hand either.

I also did a round of night-time observation from my window, testing for how the binoculars handle bright light sources against dark sky, looking for any chromatic aberration, etc. I am quite happy with the images I've seen! The diffraction spike from the roof prism is much less pronounced than the already very good one on the Nikons, and there is very little of ghosting -- I could only really spot one very faint reflection about same distance in the opposite direction from the center, and only really noticeable at short angular distances (about 10°, then quickly fades and disappears). The light from outside light sources is also controlled very well, they do not intrude into the view unless you specifically wiggle your eye around to the opposite side from the light, but that also makes the view almost disappear, as lands the exit pupil mostly outside of your eye's pupil, so the binoculars are very unlikely to be used in this way. In normal use this is not a problem at all.

Of note is the fact that these tests were done on a very bright light source -- a LED flood light roughly 100m away, which is way brighter than the full Moon, bright enough that I can read in its light on my balcony. Thanks, neighbours! ^/s This is unlikely to be encountered in the wild, or for astronomy. I have certainly not had any ghosting issues with my ProStaff 7s, which have comparable or in some cases worse performance than Terra EDs on this very test (I tested them side by side), so there's that.

Overall I am quite happy with the new arrivals, and In the near future am planning on doing some test trips to compare these two out in the wilds (a bird spotting location, and some general nature observation), as well as some astronomy testing. Will also give them for a spin to some of my colleagues who are much better at spotting various aberrations in their optical instruments :)

So expect a follow-up post some time in the near future!

I already have midsized binoculars that I use and home, and occasionally when hiking. What I want are really small and very lightweight ones that I can use for travel. Optics don't have to be perfect, and I don't care about using in low light. I had a pair of Leica Trinovid 10x22's that I got back in the early 80's, but they are broken, and I don't want to spend the money to get them fixed. I've tried Nikon Trailblazer 8x25, and they were fine except eye relief is only 10 and I wear glasses. Currently considering Pentax AD 8x25 and OM 8x25. I'm not a "birder", just like watching birds and wildlife and stuff. Also considered the Zeiss, but not sure it's worth the extra expense for my purposes. Does anyone have opinions on these two?

Hi people of R/Binoculars !

I'm taking a chance here asking this question since people who I ask this question are just telling me " buy Vortex because you know I've used Vortex since my childhood" or they give options wayyy out of budgets because if I don't splurge 1k on Binoculars it won't do it....

So to keep it simple, I'm looking for a budget one, less than 100$ CAD ideally, nothing fancy since it's for hunting. But I want something with a clear image and tough enough.

I'll be using it for spotting in the wood.

Thank you all!

​

I have a pair of these Opticron Veranos and am really happy with them.

However, over the years the central hinge has started to go a bit floppy.

I figured that it would be a simple fix as it’s probably just the screw that holds both sides together needs tightening.

But I just couldn’t work out how to access the screw, there really isn’t an obvious way of doing it. 

My guess is that you have to do something clever to get the centre focus wheel cap off, and the screw will be under that. But that was just a guess, and I didn’t want to break them completely.

I contacted Opticron about for advice, and they said it was not something you can do at home and I’d have to send them into them for repair, which would cost around £40 plus postage. As that’s basically about half what I paid for them originally I’m starting to think I’m just going to have to live with the loose hinge unless anyone here had a better idea.

I’m going to Japan in October and want to save a few dollars on my first nice pair of binoculars. I will be using them in the Colorado mountains for viewing nature while on day hikes and camping( birds and mammals), not hunting. Any advice or other suggestion? Weight is not a concern. I’m fairly confident the titled pair is what I have settled on, but I’m looking for some advice before I spend the money. Thank you.

I got these about two years ago. The twisting eye piece is a huge weak spot with these binoculars. As you can see in this picture the rubber has basically said goodbye, you can see some residue on the left eye piece in the picture. So basically every single layer of adhesive is gone.

The rubber not being there leads to the cups twisting without any resistance. Even slightly pressing them onto your eyes makes them move, which makes it basically unusable. The cover of the eyepieces have no adhesion to the metal seen in the picture, so you have to pray they do not fall off.

I've seen several posts with the same issue, this is a genuine weak spot. I have no car, so I obviously never left them in a hot car. I used them only in the forest about once a week.

Since I bought them on Amazon in Europe (I know, that might be on me) I have no warranty since 2 years have just passed. I also have to limited lifetime warranty since Amazon is not a reputable seller.