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November 1999, Volume 33, Number 3
Whether you are a beginning birder looking to buy your first pair of binoculars or a venerable veteran looking to replace that old battered Spacemaster scope, the Internet can prove a very useful tool. Even if you don't buy online, you can find invaluable information on what's available, what features to look for, and how much it will cost. A good place to start is the American Birding Association's website. It includes both an online catalog and an informational section ("Some Considerations Before You Buy New Binoculars"). Here you can find basic buying tips and a link to an extremely useful chart identifying and comparing the various features for all binoculars they sell. This is at http://www.americanbirding.org/abasales/catoptgde.htm. Commercial sites can offer helpful information. Eagle Optics, for example, answers questions about magnification, porro prism versus roof prism designs, field of view, eye relief, and more. Its buying guide is at http://www.eagleoptics.com/eagle/guides.html. Detailed information about a particular brand often can be found at its manufacturer's website. Links can be found at sites listed above, or you can do a search for the company's homepage. Discovering what owners have to say about a product can be especially useful. Deja.com allows users to critique a wide range of consumer products, including binoculars and spotting scopes. It's one thing to note the weight of a certain pair of binoculars on a specification sheet and quite another to read owners' anecdotes about neck strains and difficulty holding steady a clunky pair of binoculars. Go to http://www.deja.com, type in the word "binoculars", and see who has what to say about it. Whatever may look good online, there's no substitute for the "hands on" and "eyes on" experience of using a pair of binoculars before you decide to buy. The Internet or the Yellow Pages can direct you to a retail store that carries the brand you are considering. |