Binoculars: £19.99: Are these too good to be true?

With binoculars, like anything in life, you would expect there to be usually a reasonable correlation between price and quality. Note: I didn't say "you get what you pay for", I find that a most unreliable maxim.

But these look exceptional value at £19.99

"Waterproof, nitrogen filled".  Anyone know anything about them? I'm sure they are not as good as some of the £100+ stuff but £19.99 inc del...?  Okay, they're probably a bit on the heavy and bulky side to take walking, but for a pair of car binoculars or back-doorsteppers?

Look OK, but a bit heavy and bulky for walking perhaps.  At this price, I'd say worth trying, for general use at least.

I used some 8 x 21s I got for a fiver, for several years - better than others costing more.  But they must have got damaged somehow, as the alignment between each side went, so they are not so nice to use.  But they did for a while.  But you might find there's some drawback to your 10 x 42s such as this, but £20 is not too much to lose, if something is not quite right.  I keep a cheap pair in the car, in case I forget my more expensive ones when working.

Well, it says:

"…plus remember if you buy these binoculars from 7dayshop.com and you are not 101% delighted with your purchase, then please return them to us within 60 days in original condition for a full refund of the purchase price - we promise no quibbles at all !!!"

So it might be worth a punt.  Have you done the google search for reviews that they suggest?

10x42 probably fairly large.

Yeah, but Eric, the guy probably doesn't want to spend $300 when he can spend £20 on something that will at least make things look bigger!

I mean... a Rolls Royce costs more than a Mini... but do you really need to spend a huge amount of money just for quality, when it still does itsjob?

Quite

As Paddy says, no-one would expect these to be as good as $300/£200 binoculars.  And  that's not the point.  The question is, are they good value given the price?  Okay, a keen birdwatcher can and will make regular use of better quality, and will be prepared to pay (a lot more) for it. But  someone who has only a passing interest in birds (eg me) can't justify £200 on a whim just to look out from the back door at the hedgerow at the bottom of the garden. Or to take them in the car once or twice a year to a local reservoir/ nature reserve.

Thanks for the info Eric - though I won't be rushing out on Saturday to spend $300/£200!    I have experience of poor alignment.  I bought some cheap and cheerful (well, maybe nasty is a better word than cheerful) 10x25s from Ebay for £4.  They are pretty horrid.   The alignment is well out - you almost get double vision when you look through them.  And the glass seems dirty inside, and it's like looking down a tunnel - the "Field of View" is very poor, they quote 96m at 1000m. I can hardly complain though for only £4.  I paid rubbish money and I got a rubbish product.

But I've had a look on some other sites (eg birdforum.net) and the 7dayshop 10x42s seem well thought of - for the price. So I for one will give them a go.  After all, if they're really rubbish there's always the no-questions refund mentioned by CP.

I'll report back

I have a pair of cheapie Chinese binos, 8x25s, and they do for me (paid about £30 around a decade ago).  A pal has some £600 Leicas, and they do for him.  We compared the two side by side, and came to the conclusion that the Leicas were much better, especially in terms of colour differentiation.  Pal is a keen twitcher, I just want to make things bigger every then and now, and we also agreed that for what he wants the Leicas are very good value and for what I want they'd be an insane over-spend and mine represented amazingly good value.

I did toy with bigger and higher magnification, but 8 is enough and they're less prone to jitter and the smaller lenses are okay for the trivial uses I have while keeping weight and bulk down.  Another option on the weight and bulk front is a monocular.  I have a Heron one I was given as a present and it does the job of making far away stuff closer quite nicely, if not quite as well as the binos.

Pete.

I bought some 10x42s for £9.99 a few years ago from 7dayshop.com a few years ago - they've been fine for what they are used for - a pair to keep in the conservatory for looking at wildlife outside and across the valley occasionally! As I said before, you get what you pay for, at £9.99 they are just fine!

As Paddy mentioned, I nearly always buy more from the site that intended - a visit to the site for some photo mount resulted in binos and a full size tripod!

Peter's pretty well summed it up.

I have a pair of compact Silva bins that cost all of £25 and they are fine for what I want them for - scouting the route ahead and looking at the odd bit of wildlife.  They are waterproof, light and compact.  Even though I'm a total kit tart, I can't justify spending £300 on a pair of binos as I only want something to make things look a bit bigger (story of my life...)  

Colm ab Ifan. wrote (see)

I've got a nice range of codpieces for sale...good condition, slightly soiled.

Youwould have quite a few soiled codpieces for sale wouldn’t you. Could I ask when was the last time you did a rock climb and what grade was it? Let me guess you don’t rock climb! Scramble then what grade? Oh you do really do that sort of thing! Hill walking then how many 3000ft hills have you climbed?  Ok my grammar is crap but I can lead E2 6A, winter grade IV, climbed 462 3000fters and 578 other hills (who cares if you don’t believe me)  

Take it outside, can't you?

And bragging isn't impressive. Nor is counting for that matter! Do my 459 3100fters trump your 462 3000fters?     Really, who cares?  You'll be telling us how big your dick is next!

AndrewJD wrote (see)

...But I've had a look on some other sites (eg birdforum.net) and the 7dayshop 10x42s seem well thought of - for the price. So I for one will give them a go.  After all, if they're really rubbish there's always the no-questions refund mentioned by CP.

I'll report back

Took me a long time but here's the report.

They are amazingly good for the money (£20)

I have had something of a binocular binge, and ended up with about 8 pairs(!)

The 7dayshop bins are however, not as good as my favourite bins, Pentax Papilio 6.5x21 (they also do an 8.5X21). 

(Had to split this as it was apparently too long for a single post)

Nor are the 7dayshop bins quite as good as my 10x42 Audubon Vectors.  £200 new, I got mine 2H from Ebay for £50. Better DofF than the 7dayshop bins, better coatings, less internal stray light.  Remember the price though.

To summarise, for the money, I reckon the 7dayshop 10x42s are unbeatable.  A bit too big and heavy for walkers though.  7dayshop also do a 10x25 thing for a fiver,

Here's another good place to buy discount bins

Basically....it boils down to, you pays your money and takes your choice..?

Personally, I have collected a series of cheapo bins over the years (been given them, won them, inherited them...even, once, paying for them)  and, for my use (a DoE Expedition supervisor, cheap is fine as all I want to do is make things bigger...and not be upset if they slide around the inside of a minibus, get dropped, stood on and otherwise abused.