I am thinking of buying my dad a new pair of binocs for his birthday. Right now I am looking at the Leupold Acadia's. But I am wondering if maybe some Pentax DCF's would be better. I would like to buy better optics for him but right now I can't afford it and he is using some crappy tasco's or the like.

He has some Bausch and Lomb's but won't use them because they give him a headache. I do know that they are over 15 years old for sure and I figure that lesser optics have closed the gap since then.

What is your best 10x42 (or comparable) optic for $200?

Sorry, George, I don't have the answer for you. But one place you could also research is on this bird watchers' website:

http://www.birdwatching.com/optics/binocular_advisor/

They recommend quite a few lower priced binocs in adition to the high end stuff. I don't know if they recommend a 10x42 in the $200 price range?

- mike

P.S. George, I have been wanting to ask you. Since it appears your Dad hunted a lot south of Malta, does your "pen name" indicate you have anything to do with Belknap??

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But I am wondering if maybe some Pentax DCF's would be better.

Yes, the Pentax DCF SP's would be better, and probably can be had for around $400 on Ebay.

Make it a birthday/Xmas present.

$200 may not get you much in the way of optics these days. Minox seems to get good reviews in the low end market:

http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0049756712883a.shtml

The only roof prism 10x42mm binoculars for around $200 I would recommend are the Olympus Magellan EXWP I and the Vortex Diamondback. I would not go for the Leupold Green Ring Acadia because it is not phase corrected. The Vortex Diamondback 10x42mm is on special for $130 at CameralandNY (regularly $210) and have been getting good buzz. I've looked through them and they are on par with the Olympus. The Stokes Talon is about the same as the Vortex Diamondback and costs $210.

Another option would be a porro prism binoculars which will get you a better view for the same or less money. Some porro possibilities are:
Leupold Mesa 10x50mm $180
Pentax PCF WP II 10x50mm $190
Nikon Action Extreme ATB 10x50mm $150
Audubon Raptor 10x42mm $130
Bushnell Legend 10x50mm porro $125

Check e-bay etc. and see if you can find some former East German 7x40 Zeiss-Jena military glasses.

Right now, I see Cameralandny has refurbished Monarch ATB's for $249. Right now they may be our boy. I know I have seen Burris Sig Select's on Ebay go for less than $300. If I can find a deal like that again I won't be able to write the check fast enough.

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Originally posted by GrosVentreGeorge:
Right now, I see Cameralandny has refurbished Monarch ATB's for $249. Right now they may be our boy. I know I have seen Burris Sig Select's on Ebay go for less than $300. If I can find a deal like that again I won't be able to write the check fast enough.

I actually did not think the Nikon Monarch ATB 10x42mm was as good as the Olympus Magellan EXWP I 10x42mm I looked at. If you can find new Burris Signature Select 10x42mm binoculars for under $300 that would be a no-brainer.

How would a pair of 10x40 Steinar Predator's for $234 stack up.

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Originally posted by GrosVentreGeorge:
How would a pair of 10x40 Steinar Predator's for $234 stack up.

I don't like the way Steiners change the colors of things in an attempt to make the view seem sharper. I've never been impressed with Steiners costing less than $500.

You can luck into some pretty good binoculars in this price range. Ironically, it is not so much the optic qualities, as everyone's optics are pretty good these days. It is the collumation (barrel alignment) which makes the biggest difference.

Your dad's old binoculars which give him a headache do so because each barrel is looking a slightly different direction. This causes incredible eyestrain after using them for a while. Because your eyes (and brain) automatically try to compensate for the slight double vision this causes, you may not even notice the misalignment after awhile until the splitting headache starts.

Do this: Go to a retailer where you can try out the binoculars. Take a QUICK look through a set to check collumation. Find a distict distant object and close one eye, then the other. If there is proper collumation the object will not appear to "jump" slightly to another place in the sight picture when rapidly changing the eye you are using. Go through a stack of binoculars, if necessary, to find one which is properly collumated. Unfortunately, I have found that even many higher-priced optics are poorly collumated, so price is no guarantee of quality on this count. If you are lucky enough to find a well-collumated glass at a modest price, buy it. It will serve you much better than the "high priced" optics if the high priced instrument is trying to "look" at both Venus and Mars at the same time.

By the way, IF-style binoculars are much easier to collumate and they hold their alignment better due to their non-moving frame. They are hard to come by as everyone seems to want the center focus models, but they are tougher and more reliable in mechanical terms.

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Originally posted by Stonecreek:
Your dad's old binoculars which give him a headache do so because each barrel is looking a slightly different direction. This causes incredible eyestrain after using them for a while. Because your eyes (and brain) automatically try to compensate for the slight double vision this causes, you may not even notice the misalignment after awhile until the splitting headache starts.

That's what I told him. Unfortunatly B&L no longer does binoculars and i don't know who would be able to fix them.

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Originally posted by jackfish:

quote:

Originally posted by GrosVentreGeorge:
Right now, I see Cameralandny has refurbished Monarch ATB's for $249. Right now they may be our boy. I know I have seen Burris Sig Select's on Ebay go for less than $300. If I can find a deal like that again I won't be able to write the check fast enough.

I actually did not think the Nikon Monarch ATB 10x42mm was as good as the Olympus Magellan EXWP I 10x42mm I looked at. If you can find new Burris Signature Select 10x42mm binoculars for under $300 that would be a no-brainer.

That's the thing, you have to be extremely vigilant to catch those extremely rare sig. select's on ebay for auction and not butitnow. The couple I have watched went for way less than they were worth.