Binoculars for South Africa

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  Bonsaichop on 21/06/2015 - 14:56

  +2

  If you want to get some seriously good binoculars, forget the hiking/weekend warrior stores. You need to look at some hunting stores for the good gear. Depending on your price range they can go up quite high but the optical quality is well worth it.

  On the lower end of the spectrum is Bushnell (up to $150ish), then Leupold/Nikon (up to $300ish), then Zeiss/Metopa (up to $800+), then you can even go further up with Leica/Swarovski (who make some seriously awesome optics gear) but goes into the thousands.

  Depending on your timeframe, you can get a better deal from the USA and ship it over here rather then to buy locally.

  I have a pair of Zeiss Terra 10x42mm and they are seriously awesome and so very clear compared to the cheap and nasty stuff. Cost about $450 delivered but well worth and super rugged too. There's a video online where they drag one behind a quad bike, throw it in a lake then run over it and the optics are still spot on. http://www.eurooptic.com/zeiss-terra-10x42-ed-binoculars-524…

  If you're worried about cost and are only going to use it on your trip, they have a great resale value, you might even make some money if you get one from the USA then resell in Australia.

  Best bet is to find some Australian hunting/fishing forums they'll be able to give you some good direction on where to go.

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  grovesy15 on 21/06/2015 - 15:01

  Thanks for the great advice. It is likely that they will only be used for this trip, and maybe future trips, but not enough to spend the kind of money you mentioned for the Leuopold/Nikon and upwards.

  High re-sale value is nice, but probably not enough incentive for me to pay that much up front for something I may only use 3-5 times in a 2-week span. The time and effort for re-sale is also something I probably don't want to deal with, since I'm not even 100% sure I would notice the difference from a high vs. mid-market pair.

  Cheers!

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    Bonsaichop on 21/06/2015 - 15:10

    No worries, just had a quick look and found some sub $200 compact Leupold binoculars;

    http://www.arindustrialsupplies.com.au/LEUPOLD-GREEN-RING-RO…
    http://www.arindustrialsupplies.com.au/LEUPOLD-GREEN-RING-RO…

    The difference is that one gives slightly higher zoom (10x vs 8x).

    You're right with the high vs mid market binoculars for most there's no justification on clarity vs price unless you're looking through them regularly, however there's a pretty huge difference with the low end to mid range market. The better ones cut out glare and distortion. Cheaper ones also have less eye-relief (the distance at which your eye needs to be from the occular in order to see, the better binoculars are more forgiving).

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  anna10 on 16/09/2015 - 17:02

  I too am interested in some binocs for an up coming trip. I'd like really light weight ones. Would you suggest the same brands?