Binoculars

Gday Kev
Go into trader and see if you can get some second hand binos that others have in the cupboard and are not using.
Murray

Hi Kev
Pentax has a reasonable range if binoculars, from the small compact type to the larger units and all at reasonable prices.

Cheers

Stephen

Depending on 'the age' of the kids. Probably just go to a toy shop or department store. Remember, if you buy expensive binoculars the kids won't know or appreciate it any more. Less pain for you too if they drop them a few times - and they probably will. Binoculars are very easily knocked out of alignment if dropped or mistreated.

Kev,

Dick Smith has item L8206. It's a 10X50 pair of binos.

Site Link

They are surprisingly good. $40.

I have had a pair for a few years and actually prefer them to my name brand pair.

Try them in the shop first but I think you'll be pleased.

cheers

PS: my only affiliation with that organisation is that I had a DSE Franchise for 10 years. Products vary in quality but these were good.

Catch of the Day regularly gets some reasonable cheap binos available.
Have a look at http://catchoftheday.com.au/
I think they are entry level Pentax, around 8x32 power and waterproof.
I did not buy a pair as the optics are not good enough for my use and I needed fully waterproof and fogproof.
I ended up buying a pair of Bushnell Trophy 8x42 from NVT at http://www.nvt.com.au/ for just over $200

Anaconda have cheap binoculars at 2 pairs for $20 at the moment. I'm sure the quality is not great but enough to keep the kids happy and wouldn't matter greatly if they didn't last too long.

If you have an Army Surplus store you it would be worth a look.

Cheers Neil

G/Day Kev

We have a couple of pair of Bushnel Perma Focus Binoculars, they self focus to suit your own Vision capabilities, they make things clear as day without adjustments, when I had my eyes checked some time back one eye was weaker than the other, these adjust to suit each eye, and they are just about unbreakable, they would be perfect for kids in regards to them trying to focus their own Binoculars, and they are a reasonable price.

Cheers

have to be clear on use first.

1st fig = mag X 2nd fig = aperture size

hi mag brings objects close but also makes it harder to bring them into view

hi aperture improves low light performance but also increases bulk & weight

Just wondering what the kids will do with them, we have had a few kids, four actually, and have really only used binoculars once in 25 years with them, and that was to look at the moon, and then they were stabilised binoculars at around $1000 a pop. They may be more trouble that theyre worth, although they do make great light intensifiers for heating things up

G'day, have seen these on ebay, they maybe what you are looking for, not too exxy either.

Focus Free Binos

Sir Kev ... G'day again ..

Check these out - I always wanted a pair with camera in them but the quality is not there for the kind of photos I need for Nature Competitions but for kids probably ideal ..

Camera Binos

Cheers

Steve

I dunno. Must be my age. To me binoculars are, and always have been, expensive precision instruments. Got a set of Leitz binoculars once and still have them 30 years later. Only binoculars I ever bought. Good as new. Why? Because children never got to use them unless directly supervised by me. And that was an extremely rare event. I also treat them with the respect they deserve.

My view was when you are old enough to earn money and buy your own you may appreciate them Obviously mileage varies and your kids must be very well behaved indeed to even consider getting them binoculars.

If you go ahead I would suggest no less quality than you would be happy to use yourself. Not cheap but not a fortune either. After all no point getting them unless they will do the job.

Good luck.

Flynnie

National Geographic stores have bino's, some very light ones too. There's a zillion out there that grans and gramps used to take to poney races when they were big, would fit in a handbag but quite reasonable.

Was in a nat geo shop last week killing time with my 5 and 2 yr old, they had no problem with the smaller models.

We bought 2 sets for our kids (to stop arguments) for our 6 month trip from Kathmandu for about $40 each. Quite small but good power at 7x and they came in a small soft case. Not the quality of my large Tasco but I didn't expect them to be. I still use one now to take with me on walks and I leave the Tasco at home!

Cheers,

Mark.