The holiday season is upon us and many customers are
shopping for binoculars as a gift for someone special. How do you pick the right binocular out of literally a thousand plus binoculars on our OpticsPlanet website? What do all the numbers mean? You can get a good start by reading any one of a half dozen of my articles on binoculars, but the most basic is
How to Understand Binoculars. Okay, I know, who has time to read? You have so much shopping to do, right? Is there just a basic binocular that will work for just about anything. Yes, there certainly is and it is an 8x42 (or 8x40) waterproof binocular. You can use a waterproof 8x42 binocular for nearly any binocular job - birding, hunting, sports, wildlife watching and even some marine and astronomy use. Then it just becomes a matter of price and, as with anything else, the more you pay for an 8x42 binocular, the better the 8x42 binocular in terms of performance and quality. The good news is that there are good choices in every price range. Under 4100, start with the
Bushnell Legacy 8x40. Under $150, try the
Nikon 8x40 Action Extreme. Under $200, try the
Bushnell Excursion 8x42 EX. In other words, shopping for a binocular does not have to be a big project.