Bushnell Binoculars

Bushnell is a well-known name in the area of binoculars. Because many good quality binoculars are hard to find once you dip below the $500 mark, this company has actually gotten good reviews on theirs. If you want one of the best quality instruments for the lower cost, consider this brand. It’s easy to find a pair of Bushnells because they’re widely available. Hunters should know the Bushnell brand as well as any one consumer group.

Their Power View 10×50 Wide Angle Binocular does have a tendency to fog over and has a strong magnification when close to the subject. But for the most part, they are a great bargain. These are recommended for the casual user, birders, and astronomy buffs.

The Bushnell Power View 12×25 is a compact roof prism instrument and is one of the cheapest priced binoculars you’ll find for the quality/money ratio. At $20, it sounds too good to be true, but they’ve gotten great overall ratings. They can be carried in a purse or pocket. These are recommended for vacations, concerts, and football games, etc. Teach your kids responsibility with this budget-friendly pair and help them learn more about nature as well without breaking your bank account!

Bushnell also makes telescopes, rifle scopes, speed guns, digital cameras, laser rangefinders, and sporting scopes. They operate in North America, Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

Bushnell offers a list of 20 different types of binoculars with a host of styles and features in each category. A recent list of their items on the market and the count in each category:

1. Birding series-6
2. Trophy line-12
3. Waterproof line-11
4. Tactical line-2
5. Image Stabilizing-1
6. Excursion line-8
7. Legend line-7
8. Discoverer line-2
9. Infinity line-2
10. Elite E2 line-2
11. Elite line-4

One of their impressive features is the bright light protection circuit included in the features for their Night Vision 3.1×50mm Gen. 1 binocular. To the inexperienced user, it isn’t known that bright light can harm your night vision products. Wildlife management officers, security personnel, and rescue squads would find this feature especially helpful to protect their equipment!

Of the higher priced Bushnell binoculars, the Elite 10×50 sells for $1200 and are said to be the brightest in their class. The Legend 19-3209 sells for around $300.
As you can see, the company offers a varied price range for consumer flexibility. They’re sold at various sporting goods stores across the United States.

Another well-received binocular in the $300 range is the Bushnell Legend 8×32 camouflage binocular. If you have been known to get soaked when you go fishing, boating, etc., ruining the contents of your pockets is no fun. This pair has a waterproof housing, which holds up even when submerged.

So, whether you just want to try a binocular out for the first time or are considered a professional of some kind who needs his first great pair of binoculars and finally has the money to spend, Bushnell should be able to accommodate your shopping satisfaction.

November 15, 2008 · Filed Under Binoculars

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Steiner Binoculars

Binoculars used to weigh as heavy as 6 pounds and were huge compared to all the styles offered today. Just the government issued binoculars were enough to make our servicemen groan. After you carry around a little 6 pound baby just half a day without a stroller or baby carrier to give you relief, you’ll understand how something as seemingly lightweight as 6 pounds can wear on your muscles. Added to the other gear an outdoors activity adds to a person’s burden, this is an unwelcome strain.

Most Steiner binoculars are used for outside activities of some type. Military, police officials, hunters, birders, mariners, fishermen, and more get their enjoyment from this brand. A good, quality set of binoculars can enhance the outdoors excursions of many different fields of work and enjoyment.

For birdwatchers, it is recommended to beware of those little extras that are offered with a pair of binoculars and focus on what is most important to avoid paying for things that won’t be of specific use in your area. Zoom, image stabilization, and fixed focus may add to the cost while taking away from what you could truly benefit from. Color and style won’t matter if it reduces the qualities that will be of the most use for your experiences.

The Steiner Company has been operating since 1947 and has grown from a one-man operation to a staff of at least 300. They have representatives all over the country. Some of their newest products include:

1. Peregrine XP
2. 10×40 Predator Pro
3. Commander XP 7×50 C
4. 12×30 Wildlife Pro
5. Nighthunter XP with NANO protection

The Peregrine XP is offered as an 8×44 or a 10×44, has water-repellant coating on the objective and ocular lenses, and provide a high depth of field.

Steiner has benefited police departments with their 7×50 and 10×50 police binoculars, making our public and our officers more secure. If the police have reliable tools to perform their jobs, we all benefit. Steiner provides them with binoculars that are waterproof, shockproof, fog proof, lightweight for long hourly use, have long range vision, and operate with little or no lighting. They are, of course, available for public use should you desire to pay around %400 for this type quality.

Many versions of binoculars can be used in more than one area. Keep this in mind when you shop around and remember that a quality pair, no matter whether the price is low or high, can provide you with years of good service.

It helps to scour the customer service reviews to help you determine if the negative points of any one pair will outweigh the positives required for your particular use. What one person sees as a negative problem may not bother you in the least.

Steiner has a wide price range for different budget levels. They are available used if you prefer to try your luck at online auctions, which can sometimes still provide reviews. Pawn shops, an ad in the newspaper, or other binocular users are sources for finding used binoculars. Just remember that the warranty will be less if any at all for a used pair, and parts on used items sometimes have become obsolete.

November 14, 2008 · Filed Under Binoculars

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Night Vision Binoculars

Why would someone want night vision in a pair of binoculars? Well, privacy has become a loosely defined word, especially in the world of famous people. If you have a big name in Hollywood, sports, or any other area, you can bet someone out there has bought a pair of night vision binoculars (namely the paparazzi) to watch your every move, day or night for any tidbit of news or gossip to boost their own ratings or popularity.

But night vision binoculars are important to those of us who have better things to do than obsess over famous people. Like hunters, for instance. Yes, hunting does have its benefits. It reduces overpopulated animals and provides food to needy charities that rely on any help they can get to feed the starving and underprivileged. Keeping the animal kingdom in balance is important and can be a struggle for us humans because of our compassion on one end and our greed on another. Like anything else, it can be taken too far and abused. But, hunters do have their place in this world and need reliable binoculars to help serve their purpose.

The binocular industry certainly isn’t doing too badly with prices ranging as high as $6000 for one particular pair of night vision binoculars. (You don’t even need a license for those, just a hefty bank account —or a good line of credit!). Because of the added necessary feature, night vision binoculars will cost more than those for use in daylight only. But don’t despair; there are plenty of others that are more in the range of the average person, although you’ll want to get what you pay for. This particular type of binocular seems to run in the general range of $500 on the low-cost end.

Don’t get confused between night vision binoculars and night vision goggles. Goggles are made with a head piece to strap onto your head. The night visions are often created with infrared illuminators built into them, along with light intensifier tubes.

The most popular and widely sold binoculars are of the Generation 1 rating. This basically means they’re made more so for the general public than for a profession such as law enforcement or the military.

It is possible to find a pair for $344, which is fine for the property owner who needs to scan his property for intruders of the human or wildlife variety. They’re good for camping trips as well as other things. The NZT-2 MBN Binoculars have a 4x magnification, a recognition range of 100 m/y and should satisfy basic binocular needs.

Whether you are buying a pair of binoculars for night or day use, you’ll want good image gain and resolution to have a clear picture of what you’re trying to see through the lens. Magnifying a blurry image doesn’t really provide much satisfaction to identify your subject! Green is the color of choice for night vision illumination because our eyes can best adjust to that color to differentiate. Night vision is designed exactly for what it’s called, to see in the dark. But a little light is still required to help this happen.

It is easier to get eye fatigue with night vision equipment that is used for long periods of time, just as long periods of computer use can cause eye strain. One drawback of night vision equipment is that it attracts dust particles and some say it is normal to have some spots on your viewing lens that won’t go away.

November 13, 2008 · Filed Under Binoculars