Subject: Binoculars
Date: Jan 3 11:55:54 1999
From: Tom Foote - footet at elwha.evergreen.edu



On Sun, 3 Jan 1999, steve rothboeck wrote:


[snip..]


> I would be curious to get opinions on two questions.
>
> would I only want to upgrade a year down the road to get $500 + bins

YES!


> (which actually is out of the question with a daughter at Whitman, and a
> son soon to be in college too).
>
no it's not...take it out of their inheritance.. :)

or transfer your kid to a State school and pocket the
difference.. :)



> And second, are 7 X 50's a good choice for bird watching?
>
7x50's are the old U-Boat bins... the 50mm objective
gives you great light gathering at dusk..(best time
to torpedo convoys..)

there have been so many advances since then..with cptr
ground lenses etc., that you get really good light gathering
with 40mm.. if you've been using Tasco's stuff, anything
will seem like an ephiphany for you... ^^^^^^^^

advice is cheap..here's mine:

go out on an Audubon field trip and look through some
high end glass...something like an organized outing to
the Skagit to look at hawks..find the gyr,etc... and
try out some really good bins.. once you see what you've
been missing, you won't want to go back to low end stuff..
and you'll see why compromising quality doesn't make sense.
Birding is one of the few hobbies/obsessions that you can
outfit yourself with the best equipment for a couple or
3 thousand bucks.. my last airplane Annual Inspection
was $1300... (sold it 2 years ago...)

don't compromise...step over a dime to save a penny...


other advice: dial up the Better View Desired WEB
page and see what Stephen Ingraham has
to say about varioius bins..


Tom, (currently looking at a Nuthatch through his Zeiss)