Wednesday, December 5, 2018

What’s in a Name?

We feature a lot of optics models made and marketed by an ever-growing wealth of optics companies. For birders, the variety can be daunting. For the most part, there are so many options for birders and other outdoors-oriented people that today we are certainly product rich. Which means we should be able to find the ultimate optics when we’re looking for a new product or an upgrade or update for our current optics. Lucky us! But with so many options, where do we start? And how do we narrow our choices down quicker?

We at The Birding Wire always intend to steer you in the right direction when we emphasize companies and products, but ultimately, it’s up to you to do some research and get your hands on some of the fine products that are available for all of us. We also want to be sure that you understand what products are available and where to find them.

Here we provide an expansive list of companies that you may be interested in, and we hope you have a chance to check out the products offered by companies that interest you.

Barska – https://www.barska.com/optics/binoculars.html

Bushnell – https://www.bushnell.com/Products/Binoculars?page=1

Canon – https://www.usa.canon.com/internet/portal/us/home/products/list/binoculars/is-binoculars

Carson – https://carson.com/product-categories/3d-series/

Celestron – https://www.celestron.com/collections/binoculars

Eschenbach – https://www.eschenbach.com/products/binoculars.asp

Kowa – https://www.kowaproducts.com/spotting-scopes/

Leica – http://us.leica-camera.com/Sport-Optics-Old-2/Leica-Birding

Leopold – https://www.leupold.com/binoculars/roof-prism-binoculars

Minox – https://www.minox-usa.com/binoculars

Opticron – https://www.opticronusa.com/Pages/binoculars_menu.html

Pentax – https://pentax.com.au/categories/sport-optics/series

Simmons – http://www.simmonsoptics.com/binoculars/venture-bino.aspx

Steiner – https://www.steiner-optics.com/binoculars/nature-travel

Swarovski – https://www.swarovskioptik.com/birding/binoculars-c2101

Swift - http://www.swift-sportoptics.com/binoculars.html

Tasco – http://www.tasco.com/products/index.aspx?ClassID=14

Vanguard – https://www.vanguardworld.us/nature_us/products/binoculars.html?p=2

Vortex – http://www.vortexoptics.com/category/binoculars

Zeiss – https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_de/nature/binoculars.html

As you can see, and hopefully appreciate better, there are a lot of options out there. So how do we cut through the diversity and get the bottom line on optics products. You can, and should, work your way through the websites listed above, perhaps starting with companies whose names you recognize. A short-cut would be to start with the binocular and spotting scope reviews offered by Optics4Birders, who offer a great place for one-stop reviews and shopping at https://www.optics4birding.com/reviews.aspx#scopes1. You can also check out other reviews you may find, but realistically it’s not as hard as it may look. Devote an hour per evening to do a little research and searching, or stop at a local optics dealer to get your hands on some models and get a feel for some options. Good Luck!