Lydia,
In reply to your post:

"My ancient, heavy weight binoculars have developed "double vision". Where
can I go to try and get them fixed? I think I may just want to get new ones
because the ones I have are so heavy they make me slouch from the pressure
on my neck (not really!). I can't spend a fortune, and I found some
"Dakota" brand binos at Kit's Camera. These are around the $100 range and
are virtually weightless compared to my antiques. What I have now are 30+
year old Halco Zoom 7x -12 x 40."

It would be much better to put money into a new pair of binoculars rather
than trying to fix your old ones. Based on your posts on Tweeters, birding
is important to you. You owe it to yourself to get the best optics you can.
Before you spend any money, first I would spend some time. Read the articles
"Bird Worthy Binoculars" in the Better View Desired web page
http://www.lightshedder.com/BVD/. Also check out the Optics for Birding home
page at http://www.optics4birding.com/. Next, decide if you are going to buy
retail or mail order. Retail offers the opportunity to actually try out
different models, but you can save considerably by purchasing by mail. I
don't believe it is ethical to try out binoculars at a retail outlet and
then mail order them. For retail, the best place in Seattle is Captain's
Nautical Supplies (Seattle WA) 206-283-7242, 2500 15th Ave. West, Seattle WA
98119. For mail order, I use Eagle Optics at http://www.eagleoptics.com/. I
suggest going on some Audubon trips, checking out the binocs that other
people are using (most birders are happy to oblige), and then ordering mail
order. As a starting point, I would suggest the following models (prices
mail order):
$100 range Bushnell Nature View
$ 200 range Swift Ultralights
$ 300 range Nikon E series
$400 range Fujinon CD
Determine how much you think is reasonable to spend, multiply that figure by
1.5 or 2.0, and then spend that amount. You will appreciate the quality long
after you have forgotten about the money.

Best of luck!


Jack Stephens
Edmonds, WA
jsteph02 at sprynet.com