Best Compact Pocket Binoculars

July 20, 2010 | Posted by Best Binocular Reviews

When I am walking in the bush, I always like to have a pair of binoculars with me, but I also sometimes want to have my camera with me as well. Obviously on these walks a compact binocular makes sense, but there is more to it than just a small binocular as being able to pop the binocular into my shirt or jacket pocket, rather than have it dangling round my neck where it can get in the way when I am trying to photograph something is important.

So if like me you want a small compact binocular that easily fits into your pocket, you could just go for the binocular with the smallest advertised dimensions. This would make sense, but when it comes to size, not all compact binoculars are created equal:

Porro vs Roof Prism Compact Binoculars

Many compact binoculars, especially the cheaper ones are built using porro prisms,
where the objective lenses and the eyepieces are not in line with each other. At the cheaper end of the market, porro prisms tend to be optically superior to the roof prism design as they are easier and therefore cheaper to make and get right.

The main problem with compact porro prism binoculars regarding their size is, especially if like me, you want to keep them in your pocket rather than have your binoculars hanging from your neck is that even though their width and length dimensions may be smaller than a roof prism compact, they often have a very rounded shape that can make them awkward to fit into your pocket. Obviously this depends on your pocket and if you have a large jacket this will be no problem.

The advantage of the porro over the roof design is that they are cheaper and easier to manufacture and so if you are looking to buy a cheap pair of compacts, I would probably opt for the porro design.

Ok, so for small binoculars that are easy to fit into your pocket, you go for a roof prism, easy! Hold your horses.. not all compact roof prism binoculars are created equal either!

Single vs Double/Duel Hinge Compact Binoculars

If you take a look at the main picture of this article right at the top, on the left is duel hinge Compact, the Steiner Wildlife 10×26 and on the right is the single hinge Barr & Stroud 10×25 Sahara, both are great little compacts, both have roof prisms and a 10x magnification and even though the Steiner has slightly larger objective lenses, you can see that once they are folded to their smallest possible size, the Steiner is much more compact.

So for the Best Compact Pocket Binoculars, choose a double hinge roof prism design and below are a few that I highly recommend:

Eschenbach 10×28 Farlux B Silver Binoculars
High quality compact binoculars from Eschenbach that feature phase coated Bak-4 prisms, fully multi-coated lenses and a tough waterproof exterior.

Leica 10×25 Trinovid Binoculars
Leica compact binoculars with a powerful magnification and optical performance make the 10×25 Trinovid binoculars perfect for carrying anywhere.

Steiner 10.5×28 Wildlife Pro Binoculars
Steiner Wildlife 10.5 x 28 Binoculars are the powerful outdoor all-rounders.

Categories: Buyers Guides, Compact Binoculars | Tags: Compact Binoculars, Duel Hinge, Pocket Binoculars | No Comments »