A close look at choosing your binoculars
Binoculars are as vital to a bird-watcher as a fishing rod is to a fisherman. A requisite tool of the trade, the right pair not only prevents the finches from looking fuzzy but also enhances the total birding experience.
Steve Grinley, an avid birder and owner of Bird Watchers Supply & Gift in Newburyport, said there are more choices than ever for those in the market for bird-watching binoculars.
"The optics and overall quality have improved exponentially as demand has grown," said Grinley. "Today, you can pay anywhere from $200 to $2,000 for a decent pair of binoculars, and there are more styles and choices available in all price ranges."
This binocular blitz arrived on the wings of a bird-watching boom over the past decade. A May 2007 report from the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows recreational birding is up 13 percent since 1996, with about 47.8 million bird-watchers currently in the United States.
In response, manufacturers have scrambled to provide birders with a wide range of styles and innovations promising the best possible bird-watching.
Grinley said while buying binoculars is a highly subjective experience, there are some basic factors to consider when you're out shopping.
"First, it depends on the kind of birding you're planning on doing, how experienced you are, and how much you want to pay," he said.
Second, pick your power. Birding binoculars today are usually 7x power, 8x power, or 10x power, he said, which means an image appears seven times, eight times, or 10 times closer.
"You'd think the closer, the better, but serious birders tend to favor the 8x power," he said. "If you're doing some long distance birding on marshes and rivers, the 10s come in handy. Otherwise, closer isn't necessarily better."
While 10x power increases magnification, it decreases the field of view, which can make it more difficult to locate birds, Grinley said. Also, the 7x or 8x models of most binocular brands tend to have a brighter image and a closer focus than the equivalent 10x models.
"Binoculars are personal to everyone. For me, it's how they feel in my hand. It's important that they be comfortable," said Linda Ferraresso, a bird-watcher from Watertown. The only way to find the right fit is to try out a number of different brands, she said.
"The good news is there are so many choices today and you can get a really decent pair for about $300," she said.
For instance, there are two primary types of binoculars that are classified by how their prisms are arranged: porro prism and roof prism.
The porro prisms are more traditional and look like the kind of binoculars your father had. Roof prisms, on the other hand, "look like two toilet paper tubes side by side," Grinley said, and generally offer higher quality optics from a variety of points of view. Porro prism binoculars tend to cost less than roof-prism ones, but they're usually heavier, bulkier, and less water resistant, he said.
Wayne Peterson, director of Massachusetts Important Bird Areas Program for the Massachusetts Audubon Society , said beginning birders should pay as much as they can afford for a pair of binoculars because eventually you'll have to replace them or trade up. And if you're serious about birding, he said, you will most definitely trade up.
"Once you put a really nice pair of binoculars in someone's hands, they're addicted, there's no turning back," he said.
