Two Cheap 10x Binoculars for Wildlife

I recently received the following question regarding which pair of binoculars would be best to take to the Glacier National Park and thought my answer may be of use to others:

Question

I am going to Glacier National Park this summer with my inlaws, and I would like to get a decent pair of binoculars (<$100). I have found two options and have no idea which is better? Can you help? Which one would be better in a National Park? Option 1: Bushnell Falcon Wide Angle 10x50 Binoculars

Option 2: Bass Pro has the Redhead Pursuit Binoculars 10x42

My Answer

I have not reviewed either binoculars that you mentioned, so I cannot comment on each individually, but I can just give you some thoughts on their general characteristics.

Firstly what I would say is that you are comparing a pair of binoculars for sale at $34 (The Bushnell Falcon Wide Angle 10x50 Binoculars), with one that is worth $100 (Redhead 10x42 Pursuit Binoculars) – and comparing a roof prism design with a porro prism.

So apart from the magnification, they are very different binoculars.

The Bushnell Falcon Wide Angle Binoculars are of a porro prism design, which in general have a wider and greater depth of view than roof prisms, the advert says that their field of view is 300.0, but does not give any more details and so I am guessing it is 300ft at 1000 yards. Which to be honest is not very wide at all, there are many 10x roof prism binoculars with a wider field of view.

The 50mm diameter objective lenses on the Bushnell binoculars should in theory let in more light than the 42mm ones on the Redhead Pursuit Binoculars and as such the image should be brighter. I would be cautious assuming this though as it also depends on the quality of the prisims and lenses and their coatings.

The Bushnell Falcon Wide Angle 10x50 binoculars will be bigger and probably heavier than the 10x42’s because of the larger objective lens and because they are of the more bulky porro prism design.

Whilst I have never used or seen a pair of Redhead Pursuit Binoculars before, so can’t vouch for their quality, I do like the fact that they use BaK4 high-index prisms – which is what you want in a good pair of binoculars. They are also have “fully multi-coated lenses” as apposed to the Bushnell’s that only have “fully coated lenses”.

The fact that the Redhead Binoculars are also fully sealed and nitrogen-filled that makes them 100% waterproof as well as fog proof is good, in two ways, the obvious advantage of them not fogging up or letting moisture in, but also this is expensive to do and does show that these are probably better quality than the Bushnell Falcon Wide Angle Binoculars

So on the whole, I would say that the Redhead Pursuit Binoculars are probably better quality and will as such perform better. (This is also reflected in their more expensive price).

Alternatives

Another pair of binoculars I would consider would be the better quality Bushnell 10x42 Nature View binoculars, that are available in both porro and roof prism designs and still at around $100.

Where to Buy Bushnell 10x42 Nature View Binoculars

You can also read my full review of the Roof Prism 10x42 Bushnell Nature Views here: Bushnell 10x42 NatureView Binoculars

I hope this helps and please let me know which you decide to get and how you find them when you get them as I would love to get your views.