Binoculars are clearly the greatest invention ever bestowed upon the naturalists of the world. Before binoculars, our knowledge of many birds was vague to nonexistent. Now anyone can pluck distant hawks out of the previously empty air or pin images to the mysterious whistles in the high treetops.
But for too many people, binoculars fail to live up to this enormous possibility. I find that the average person’s dismissal of binoculars stems from a brief and unskilled encounter with a poorly chosen and poorly functioning specimen of the tool. But this is like dismissing the beauty of stringed instruments on the basis of two minutes with a mistuned toy ukulele.
Instead, you need to try a real pair of binoculars — with reasonable specifications of magnification, size and quality —and you need to know a few simple principles of how to use them successfully. Start with a few basics. When you survey the world of binoculars, you will encounter three key numbers: the magnification, the size and the price.
The first two are typically represented together, in some combination such as “8×30” or “10×42.” For magnification, my advice is simple: get 8x or 10x binoculars, and lean towards 8x if you find 10x the slightest bit difficult to hold comfortably steady. For price, the advice is also simple: spend at least $100.
Fifty-dollar binoculars will almost inevitably frustrate and disappoint. The more you spend, the brighter and sharper your image will be, but most people do no.