[silent knight]

Merry X-Mas, Happy Chanuka (sorry if i spelled it wrong) and everything else.

Got a pair of 10X50 Bushnell (Pacifica) binoculars for X-Mas, does anyone know if this is a good brand? I wanted something with more power but for some reason i tried looking through the 20X50 and i was having a hard time getting a good visual. Does anyone else here have binoculars, if so what kind?

[SniperStraz]

...is a great brand. I've got a couple of smaller ones and I love 'em. Happy Holidays.

[clt46910]

Anytime you get above 10 or 12 power, most people will notice that they are not as clear when free handed. Our bodies will move enough to make them look fuzzy. I like to stay with 8 or 10 as my max for free handing binoculars.

I have several pairs of binoculars...keep them everywhere...almost as many as knives and guns around the house...LOL Many different brands and types for many different uses. There are many kinds and you need to think about what would be best for your normal use.

Your 10x50 will be ok for most you want to do during daylight conditions. Sometimes in the very early or late parts of the day you may have problems with light gathering. But then again, there is always room for more then one pair.

[Zeke/PA]

I have a pair of Bushnell 7x50's that I purchased 45 years ago that I use often. Great glasses!
Zeke

[ReadyontheRight]

As mentioned above, binocs above 10 power tend to deliver diminishing returns because all your movement is maximized.

Good, solid pair of binocs. Especially great and memorable as a very thoughtful gift. I have a very similar pair for which I bought a nicer, padded neckstrap. They are my go-to woods hunting and boating optics. Enjoy!

[Sunray]

Bushnell's QC isn't what it used to be, but they're not junk either. As to the magnification, it depends on what you're using them for. It's the same as with scope sights, the higher the magnification, the lower the field of view. That'd be the size of area you can see. 10X will do nicely for spotting ground hogs etc. without being excessively heavy to lug around.

[.38 Special]

One of the most important bits when discussing optics is exit pupil, which is the diameter of the cone of light hitting your eye. It is easily calculated by dividing the diameter of the objective with the magnification. For example, your 10x50s have an exit pupil of 5mm (50 divided by 10 equals five.)

A young, healthy human eye is capable of accepting perhaps a 7mm exit pupil. Anything below around 3mm is going to start looking dim, fuzzy, and/or hazy -- and that's assuming pretty good optics. An inexpensive binocular may appear dim even with a 5 or 6mm exit pupil. Incidentally, larger exit pupils are also more "user friendly", as they make head/eye alignment less critical. You know how, when you move your eye around behind a rifle scope, you see black moving around inside? That's called "vignetting" and with a small exit pupil it can be pretty annoying. (Look through a $99 WalMart "600x" telescope some time for an interesting lesson.) A larger exit pupil, OTOH, presents an image that practically leaps directly to your eye.

At any rate, that's one of the big reasons why a 20x50 is going to give a pretty crummy image regardless of make: a 2.5mm exit pupil is pretty inadequate. Twenty power requires an 80 or 90mm objective to look decent, and even then there aren't any promises. My $200 20x90 produces a larger image than my $500 7x42, but I "see" as much with the smaller binocular because the image quality is so much better. As far as I am concerned, smaller is better when it comes to binoculars, at least until you approach four figure country. For two or three hundred dollars, I'd much rather have 7x than 12x or whatever. Lots of magnification requires expensive glass...