If you have been searching for the very best pair of binoculars on the market, but have been struggling to find the right ones for your specific needs, remember that you are absolutely nowhere near alone.
Truthfully, finding the best binoculars for the money has become more and more difficult in just the last few years – not because there are so few elite options, but simply because there are so many.
At the exact same time, every single person that ends up using a pair of binoculars will have different needs and ideal usages for a set of glass – which further complicates things dramatically.
Luckily, you should be able to use the quick guide included below to help you find the very best binoculars for the money, regardless of which types of applications you would hope to use them for.
Let’s dive right in!
Determine Your Need / Use For The Binoculars
It's hard to determine which binoculars are best to buy if you don't know exactly how you plan to use them.
If you want a good set of hunting binoculars, you will want something camouflaged and amazingly durable. Or, you could want a good set of rangefinders in order to know the distance to your target to make scope adjustments.
If you want a good set of bird watching binoculars you'll want something with a lot of magnification to see the small bird up-close, but without sacrificing the field of view, so you can see it as it flies or moves.
Having a pair to watch your child's football or baseball games is useful too.You may care less about overall quality and just want something inexpensive to get you in closer to the action.
For a concert or opera, you'll want something that has great low-light visibility, since a lot of events are held indoors with low light conditions.
At the top of the page, we have articles on what we believe to be the best binoculars for several specific uses, including hunting, for kids, binoculars with a camera, rangefinders, etc. But, before you go check those out, read this general guide first to know what you're looking at.
Price and Overall Quality
Whenever you are talking about a piece of high tech equipment like a pair of binoculars (there is a whole lot more to these pieces of equipment than just a couple of pieces of glass), you almost always get what you pay for.
On the flip side, there are very few people out there that have hundreds and hundreds of dollars (or even thousands of dollars) to drop on a pair of binoculars – no matter how tempting it may be.
You’re really going to need to balance price and build quality just as best you can, as it is really the only way to find the best binoculars for the money.
There are a couple of things that you simply cannot (and should not) compromise on, however. For one, you need to make sure that you are investing in a high-quality pair of binoculars with high-quality glass throughout.
After all, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to pay $50 or $500 for a pair of binoculars that aren’t going to produce any real results whatsoever.
That's unless you really will only use them once or twice, then just grab a cheap pair.
Secondly, you need to make sure that you are investing in a pair of binoculars that provide you with safety, security, and confidence when you’re using them.
Some people will use binoculars when they are in a completely stationary and relatively safe area, whereas others will be using them deep in the wilderness where bumps and bruises are common.
Be smart about the choice that you make.
Form Factor
Form factor is another critical thing that you need to focus on when you are purchasing new binoculars, and this factor alone may end up determining which pair of binoculars are truly the best binoculars for the money.
Again, you’re really going to need to focus on exactly how you anticipate using your new of binoculars before you can find a form factor that makes sense.
After all, you wouldn’t want to walk into the wilderness on some three-day camping trip with a pair of binoculars that were over 5 pounds – it would just be a back-breaker to add on to the rest of your kit.
At the exact same time, you probably wouldn’t want to keep a set of compact binoculars around when you are glassing out of a stationary tower – especially if you have a dedicated storage area that you can keep your binoculars in.
Obviously, you’re going to need to do a bit of outlining before you can decide on which form factor is right for your specific needs.
However, spending just 15 or 20 minutes outline exactly how you anticipate using these new pieces of equipment will help you find the best binoculars for the money.
Binocular Power
Magnification is absolutely everything when you are purchasing a new pair of binoculars, and choosing the wrong type of magnification will throw you all out of whack.
There are some out there that feel that a 10 power set of binoculars is just about all anyone ever really needs, and while it is a good rule of thumb for more “generalized” usage, you’re going to need to pay close attention to how you see yourself using these new binoculars before you can figure out a magnification setting.
You’re also going to want to focus on whether or not you want to go with a fixed setting (like a set of rangefinders) or a variable setting – and then determine what you are most comfortable with moving forward.
It’s critical to understand that at the higher in magnification you go the less field of view you will have (something that will touch on in just a moment), which may be a delicate balancing act that you need to figure out all on your own.
Field Of View
As we touched on above, field of view is the second most important detail that you need to figure out when you are purchasing the best binoculars for the money.
This is because the field of view is the “visible area” at that you’ll be able to see when you are looking through a pair of binoculars, and as the power of magnification goes up the field of view decreases.
You need to be smart about investing in the right magnification and right field of view settings for your needs, or even the best binoculars for the money budget wise aren’t going to fit your specific needs.
In some extreme circumstances (when we’re talking about a spotting scope or truly high power binoculars) narrow field of view may not be all that disadvantageous – and may in fact the a big benefit to the specific set of binoculars that you decide to pick up.
Special Features
Last but not least, you’re going to want to figure out if you need to invest in high quality special features (rugged casings for your binoculars, rangefinder capabilities, laser targeting capabilities, etc.) or if you can get away with a relatively “bare-bones” piece of equipment.
Like we mentioned before, the features you need will depend entirely on what you plan to use your binoculars for.
Final Conclusion
All in all, you should find it relatively simple and straightforward to not only find a pair of new binoculars that fits your needs perfectly – but also find the best binoculars money can buy without ever threatening to break your bank account or budget.
Pay close attention to the information above as far as finding the best binoculars for the money and you won’t have any headaches or hassles moving forward.