BinocularsBlog – Advice on Digital, Waterproof, & Compact Binoculars for Bird Watching, Sports, Astronomy, Night Vision, & more!

Approaching new moon, so time to dust off the astronomy binoculars. Summer is my favorite time of year for globular clusters in the binocular with not only M13 and M92 in Hercules, but also a half dozen more in the constellation Ophiuchus and a couple of keepers in Sagittarius - under dark skies, that is. Even under my wretchedly light polluted skies, though, I can usually see M10 and M12 as faint fuzzies. Okay, not exactly breathtaking to behold, but for me, the fun and the challenge of observing in the city is in finding objects. I'll ooh and aahh when I get back out west under darker skies. In the meantime, I'll make the best of what I have. My binoculars will not sit idle for long. Hey, beats sitting in the apartment, anytime.

Spotted a young male Ruby-throated Hummingbird on one of my favorite bike trails, last night. The trail is a wonderful single-track that leads through a meadow with a brush choked stream in the middle. My Swarovski Crystal Pocket binocular allowed me to see the beginnings of a ruby throat on this Hummingbird, so I was able to identify this bird as a young male. Great news, as this means I have a nest in the area and can return again and again to add a Hummer to my birding lists. For added color, also saw a male Yellow Warbler, a Rose-breasted Grosbeak, many Goldfinches, Cardinals, a second year Oriole and many other nice birds. In other words, a very pleasant evening of summer birding.

The birds have been telling me it is late summer. Seeing lots of swallow families, fully fledged and flying about, getting those reserves up for fall migration. Purple Martins (species of swallow), for instance, are always a treat in a binocular. Want a charge of energy? Just watch Purple Martins for a few minutes. We have a nice house at a suburban lake, maintianed by one of our area's best birders, so the colony is always healthy and abundant. I make it a point to sit and watch them with my compact binoculars while riding the bike trail in late July and August. Martins seem to be in a hurry to head south in the fall and are gone long before the days turn cool and insects disappear. Once gone, it's a long wait to see another Purple Martin the following spring.

Had a customer ask why a standard size binocular needs a tripod adapter to mount it on a tripod. Why not just place the threaded portion directly underneath the binocular? Answer is, there really is no place to put a thread piece that would also allow you to conveniently use the binocular without a tripod. A threaded tripod adapter pointing straight down would simply take up too much room and interfere with normal use of the binocular. That's why the threads are located under the cap at the front of the center hinge. In fact, many binocular owners don't even know it is there.

For those of you who have been waiting for the new Nikon EDG binocular, just got a couple in, ready to ship. Better hurry, though, we only received one of the Nikon EDG 7x42 and one of the Nikon EDG 8x42. According to Nikon, we may not be seeing anymore for some time. Now as soon as I see an 8x32 Nikon EDG, I will pounce on it, myself. Yes, I see another Nikon binocular in my future.

Joanie's binocular tip of the day. Did you know that most people have one eye that is stronger than the other? It's actually uncommon to have two eyes that are exactly equal. That's way all binoculars, with the exception of inexpensive "no focus" models, have a diopter (strength) adjustment. When making the initial diopter adjustment for your eyes, don't make the mistake of closing one eye and then the other. You'll get the most comfortable setting, with the least amount of eye fatigue, if you keep both eyes open when you make a diopter adjustment on a binocular. After all, both eyes open is the way you will be using a binocular. If you find it difficult to use both eyes, simply hold your hand over the other side, but do not close your eyes.

If you need a way to torture a binocular addict like me, here's a good one. Ask me to choose between a Swarovski EL 8x32 or the new Nikon 8x32EDG. I've always loved the Swarovski EL form the very first time I had one in my hand at a birding festival. It was new, it was revolutionary and so perfectly balanced. The EL was so hard to put down, folks in line got angry from waiting. Haven't had a chance to hold the 8x32 EDG, but I have tested the Nikon 7x42 EDG prototype and, well, wow! The way to a mans' heart may be his stomach, but the way to this girl's heart is a premium binocular. Either will do, nicely, thank-you.

Mid summer and warm muggy days are upon us. Unlike most folks, I really enjoy this weather. Just something about these lazy days that makes me want to sit by a lake or pond with binocular in hand and watch, not only birds, but insects, butterflies, bullfrogs, turtles and anything else moving about. I even use binoculars to observe distant wildflowers, grasses and aquatic plants and all form the comfort of a folding camp chair I strap to the back of my bicycle rack. Best of all, I often have the pond to myself, since most folks have retreated to their air-conditioned sanctuaries. Not this girl. I love all seasons and all weather. Don't look for me indoors.

Starting to get customers shopping for hunting binoculars. Guess it's about that time. Where has the summer gone? Many of my hunters automatically choose a 10x binocular, but I'd like to remind them that an 8x binocular will do everything a 10x will do and, if carrying a lot of gear and using a binocular with one hand, an 8x is much easier to steady and it also provides a wider field of view. Hate to say it, but the steadiness thing becomes more important as we age. Sure has for me, anyway. Getting harder all the time for me to steady some of my 10x binoculars, even with two hands.

One of the things I've always admired about Steiner binoculars is their durability. Steiner is one of the leaders in supplying military binoculars around the world and they know how to make a tough binocular. Even the Steiner birding binoculars have an extra heavy armor coating and, yet, they are still reasonable in weight. Don't let the word birding fool you, either. Steiner roof prism binoculars also make great hunting binoculars and have received a number of awards from outdoor magazines.

Will you identify more birds with a $1500 binocular than a $300 binocular? Fair question and the answer is, probably not. These days, you can get a lot of binocular for $300. Will you enjoy birding more with a $1500 binocular. Oh yeah, I guarantee it. Nothing quite as thrilling as seeing a beautiful bird in a premium grade binocular and, the way I see it, the more you enjoy birding, the more likely you are to keep doing it. You don't have to become an optics addict, like me, but I never heard of anyone complaining about buying too good a birding binocular.

Picked up an old friend of mine - used bicycle that is - off of Craigslist. It's '95 steel Kona mountain bike which I actually owned back in '95, but later sold in a pinch. To this day, that oldie but goodie remains my favorite ride of all time in terms of comfort and feel. Absolutely thrilled to get one in near mint condition. I will be using this bike with wide smooth tread tires during bad weather in the warmer months and studded snows this winter, but I also love the low gearing for slowly moving along Forest Preserves trails for birding. That and the upright position makes a mountain bike a better choice for birding than my beloved cyclocross bikes. See you on the trail. Bring a binocular, your bird guide and let's ride.

One of the stunts - and it is a stunt - that I pull with a tripod mounted astronomy binocular, now and then, is to place a low power monocular over the eyepiece to boost magnification. It's a long, long way from turning a binocular into a telescope and optics are less than ideal, even when using high grade binoculars and monoculars. About the only time I rate this as useful, rather than silly, is to check for detail in some open clusters or do a check on the position of double stars. Silly is what I did the other night to try to see the Ring Nebula with my 10x Nikon Astroluxe 10x70 and my Nikon 5x monocular. Did it work? Actually, yes, I did detect the nebula, but the view was hardly worth the effort and it was an effort. I think I will leave telescope work to telescopes.

If you are a warbler fan, as I am, right now is the time to brush up on fall warblers. Get that field guide out and start reviewing. Hey, spring warblers are fun and easy - anyone with a binocular can identify a spring warbler - it's the fall warblers that are a challenge for a die-hard birder. The late summer and early fall woods are also one of my favorite times to be out with a binocular. The atmosphere is so different than in spring. Despite the green foliage, I can sense the coming of winter, another great season for birding. See you out in the woods. Don't forget your binocular.

Most of the things up in the night sky that have names - constellations, for example - bear little resemblance to their namesake. There are a few notable exceptions, however. One of my favorite binocular objects that really does look like its name is called the Coathanger. It's an open star cluster in the obscure constellation Vulpecula (the Fox) and it looks exactly like a common coathanger. Of course, the name "Coathanger" is not its real name. Officially, it is known as Collinder 399 or sometimes Borccchi's cluster for an astronomer who mapped it for the purpose of calibrating photometers, but most binocular astronomers just call it the Coathanger. Don't look for the coathanger with a telescope, though. You will need the wider field of view of an ordinary binocular to see it as a coathanger.

Asking me to pick my favorite open cluster for an astronomy binocular is like asking me to pick my favorite chocolate! What few brain cells I have left would fry in the attempt. Not going to happen. What I am willing to do, however, is pick my favorite open star clusters for binocular by season. With that in mind, my favorite summer open star cluster for a binocular (drum roll, please) is M7 in Sagittarius. To me, it is the epitome of summer binocular astronomy. Only way it could be better is if it was higher in the sky for our northern latitudes. Even close to the horizon, even under my light polluted sky, though, this open cluster is a grand sight and, like many of the great binocular open clusters, it is a better sight in a binocular than it is a telescope.

One of the headaches we astronomy binocular users suffer is using a binocular on a standard photo tripod. Usually means you have to scrunch down under the binocular when looking at objects high overhead - definitely not comfortable or convenient.

Here's one of Joanie's tips. Set the binocular on your tripod, sit in a chair, then place the tripod so that one leg is pointing straight out in front of you and the other two are straddling your legs as you sit in the chair. Raise the center column on the tripod as needed, then grab the tripod center column and tilt the tripod back on the two legs that straddle your chair. You can get your giant binocular nearly straight overhead with little discomfort using this technique. Won't be quite as stable as using all three tripod legs, but for most objects, more than stable enough.

I did it again - I fell asleep in bed reading a book and then awoke around midnight to discover the sky was clear and full of stars. What a great night with the astronomy binocular! To all my friends out west who pity me for lack of a good sky, just want you to know that I am still able to some binocular astronomy, here in the light polluted city. Just a matter of selecting objects that are available, even under conditions of heavy light pollution. Open star clusters and double stars have been my mainstay deep-sky objects for binoculars, here in the Chicago suburbs. Had fun last night with both. Hope you all got out and did some astronomy, too.

Always amazes me just how picky we optics addicts can be when it comes to certain features on a binocular. Take edge sharpness, for instance. Does anyone really need a binocular that is sharp nearly to the edge of the field of view, compared to the usual 70 or 80% of the FOV? No, probably not, but "need" is a funny word. I just plain enjoy a binocular that has great edge sharpness more than a binocular with just average edge sharpness. I won't identify more birds because of it or really miss anything important, but, then again, I am more likely to use a binocular for birding that I enjoy more and that can translate to more birds seen. Of course, that kind of a binocular can make a very real dent in my checkbook, too.