I would like to buy my first pair of binoculars for use while walking/backpacking. I would like them to be as light as possible but I would also like them to be as powerful as possible and not too expensive ie under £50 ideally or am I asking for too much and would need to pay alot more?
Any recommendations and comments would be appreciated.

Tony

ive gota pair of 10x25 ones that weigh about 200g, got them from cunninghams in ambleside, they were less than a tenner and are pretty decent so i imagine with a budget of £50 you should get a pretty good pair.

might be worht having a look in cunninghams if you are down that way as they had plenty of different ones.

Cheers, I am closer to cunninghams in BYC so may try there later in the week. From searching around I have noticed a Silva pair for about £23 (8x21) which are very light. Can anyone recommend these?

What about a monocular half the weight??? quick google £9.99 118g 12x25 or 8x21 78g £7.99 www.opticalvision.co.uk.

You can buy zoom monoculars from OBM online. One model is about 7-14x25, looks the business.

www.obm.co.uk (click on 'Products' button on left hand side)

More wobbly to look through than bins but cheaper, lighter, pocketable.

cool i think i may take a look at a monocular always fancied one of those

I think my "Waltham" 10x25 binos came from Morrison's filling station for a few quid. Or maybe eBay. Cheap and basic, live in my rucksack lid.

Probably not what you're looking for, Tonyk, but do the job for me. If they break, cheap enough to replace.

Take care with magnification (the first figure). A 10X really needs an object lens diametre of 50mm.(the second figure) to give decent light transmission, and an 8X, 40mm. Multiply the magnification by 5 to achieve the optimum object lens diametre. This means buying a full size bino. which may not be what you have in mind. Compact binos. 8x21 and 10x25 are a reasonable compromise, but higher magnifications and small object lenses will produce a much dimmer image, be much harder to hold still and more difficult to pick up a moving subject eg: a bird in flight. Go to a dealer and try a few different models - outside. Look at a bright object (NOT the sun), say the top of a light coloured car. There should be no colour fringing or at least very little. Look into the shadows. You should be able to see detail. Buy the one which suits your eyes best. Really good lenses cost a lot of money which is why Leitz binoculars are so expensive.
PS. Although I have Audobon 8.5x44 and a slightly more compact decent 8x30 binos. the one I use for walking is a rubber armoured compact 8x21 which cost £6.95 and is quite remarkable for it's price.

I tried out over 8 pairs before I was happy and the Silva 8x21's I have decided on are spot on! Check them out, and often at Christmas you can find the gift pack of the binoculars with the Ranger 3 compass really cheap, escpecially just after xmas!

There amazingly robust and light and very good vision with proper coated lenses.

I'm not a fan of cheap binoculars, but then I use them a lot. Having said that any binoculars are better than no binoculars. Personally if I had just £50 to spend on a pair of compacts I'd be tempted by the 8x25 Nikon Travelite V that www.warehouseexpress.com have on offer at the moment £49 rather than £99.

Monoculars suit some people, but I just can't get on with them - do try before you buy.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. Plenty to think about there.

Tony

i've tried and don't like a monocular. i don't like looking at something with one eye (unless it's pirate time at the panto and i don't wear a buff).
the silva 8x21 are good. small and light with just enough magnification to avoid the wobbles - i find 10x wobble too much for me.

but

for £50 i would seriously consider the nikon travelite richard mentions.

Eventually bought the Nikons from www.warehouseexpress.com at £49 and used them for the first time yesterday. They were great, I sat at the top of a small hill in the Carneddau and watched 2 horses, mother and foal, doing horsey things a long way away. They looked like sheep to the naked eye. I checked out possible routes ahead and possible routes for future walks. These have added a new diminesion to walking and will go with me on every trip so thanks for all your advice.

Tony

Glad you're enjoying them - decent binoculars are like a decent camera you can use poor ones but once you've used better...

Richard