Dana and I recently took a trip to Ireland, and I decided to grab a new pair of binoculars to take along. A few months ago I saw a post that recommended binoculars as a gift and so I decided to gift myself a new pair.
I ended up getting these Occer 12×25 Compact Binoculars from Amazon because I needed them quickly before we left for our trip and didn’t want to research dozens of options. (And yes, there are tons of options at various price points.)
These are my old binoculars. I got them nearly 40 years ago as a kid. They still (mostly) work, though there are some broken bits, and the main thing not to like about them is that they are heavy! These weigh over 20 ounces while the new Occer binocs are under 10 ounces. Granted, the old ones are metal (and plastic) while the new ones are probably all plastic. Hanging 10 ounces around your neck isn’t too bad, but doubling that isn’t pleasant.
Here’s the size comparison… The Occer might fight in a large pocket but the old Tasco definitely will not.
And at some point binoculars switched from the end where you put your eyes being large instead of small. Dana actually tried looking through the wrong end when I first handed them to her!
These feel sturdy enough than I’m not too concerned with them bouncing around in my bag while hiking or biking. I haven’t dropped them yet, but since they’re pretty lightweight I’m not too worried.
I can totally see giving a pair of binoculars as a gift as well, since it’s one of those things I assume a lot of people don’t already own. I think Dana actually has a pair that used to belong to my dad, that she uses to look at the birds in our yard.
It came with this little connected eyepiece cover, and I didn’t even bring that on the trip because I wasn’t really worried about protecting the lenses from dust or scratches, but they’re nice to have. You also get a little lens cleaning cloth.
My one complaint is the strap. Even though the binocs are lightweight and small, the strap isn’t very comfortable on the back of your neck. I may try to rectify that situation by sewing up a small fabric strap cover.
I did manage to get a photo through the binoculars using my phone while on a boat in the ocean. I took about eight shots and this was the best.
After I posted this a friend asked if I used a monocular. I hadn’t! And sort of forgot those were an options. (Lots of cheap monoculars as well!) I had thought about making a little phone mount thing to take phones photos through the binocs and it looks like some of the monoculars come with something, so I’ll investigate that a bit as well.
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