There are so many binoculars and knowing how to choose them can be fairly daunting unless you know a little about the field of optics. The aim of this site is to remove some of the confusion and show you how to choose binoculars that are the right ones for you.

The best binocular choice for you is the one that is going to do what you need it to do whether you’re a bird watching enthusiast, a hunter, a boating enthusiast, an astronomer or whatever. So the primary consideration is to choose binoculars that are going to be right for the purpose they’ll most be used for.

There are many binocular types and a huge amount of trade off in the various factors that might apply to you. There are optical and physical considerations to be weighed up as well as the all important budget considerations.

The optical considerations include light gathering ability, magnification, quality of image, coatings on the lenses and prisms, focus type and a bunch more. The physical consideration might include waterproofing, body style, armour, weight, size, durability and more. There is no such thing as a binocular that does everything well though that is not to say that general purpose binoculars are no good! Confused? I was when I first got into this.

We’ll help by making some specific recommendations and show you numerous deals we selected from Amazon. Use the menu at the top of the page or on the right to narrow down the choices by how you are going to use your binoculars and to learn more.You’ll learn about the different focus systems, types of glass used, which body styles are particularly suited for what purpose and more.

For now, just try to remember that the numbers you see quoted on all binoculars such as “8x 40″ refer to the magnification (power) and the size of the objective (front) lens in millimeters. So the one I just mentioned makes things appear 8 times closer than they really are and it has 40mm objective lenses. The size of the objective is very important when it comes to capturing light and thus getting a good image. It also governs how wide the field of view is going to be for a given magnification.

A caution on the magnification factor, we do not recommend you choose binoculars based on how powerful they are. In fact, please understand that the higher the power the poorer the overall experience tends to be! This is for a couple of reasons such as your natural hand shake as you hold them to your eyes making it difficult to use higher powered binoculars. The larger amount of glass involved also contributes to the image quality drop.

For now we’d recommend reading a bit more in the various pages listed here before looking at particular models. Remember like most things in life you tend to get what you pay for so another guide to the approach might be to buy the best you can afford for your particular use. You’ll forever regret buying a cap and nasty binocular but you’ll forever enjoy a good one.