A question that I often get asked is what are the best binoculars if you wear glasses?
So in this article, I am going to answer that for you. Firstly by explaining what features you need to look out for when choosing your instrument and then secondly by giving you some of the best examples:
I am lucky in the fact that I don't need to wear eyeglasses, but for the many people who do or for those of you who often wear sunglasses, looking through binoculars often can become really annoying and a long eye relief is probably a more important feature than magnification to an eyeglass wearer.
The problem is what to do with your glasses when you want to use binoculars or a spotting scope. Many people remove them, put them down or wear them around the neck with a safety cord. This sounds simple enough, but doing it all the time can get really annoying and then there is always the risk of forgetting where you put your glasses and even loosing them.
Especially important for bird watchers and those on safari where speed is important, the extra few seconds it takes to fumble with glasses can result in a missed rare sighting of a leopard as it slinks off into the bush or lost birding opportunity where the the extra movement may be just the thing that prompts it to flee.
Eye defects like nearsightedness and farsightedness can be corrected by focusing the binoculars, but not astigmatism. With this condition you will need to wear your prescription glasses when you use the binoculars, or you will sacrifice valuable image sharpness.
Some people who can wear contact lenses need not worry too much, but they also have their faults. They often require constant blinking to keep them moist, not ideal as most people tend to stare though binoculars, this can lead to hazy vision as the contact begins to dry out.
The Solution: Long Eye ReliefThe best solution for most people who need eyeglasses is to use the binoculars with glasses. This works fine as long as your binoculars or spotting scope has a long eye relief.
The eye relief of a pair of binoculars, scopes or most other optical devices is how far back from the eyepiece your eye can be and still see the whole field of view. This is so important to eyeglass wearers, because your glasses hold the eyes back from the eyepieces. If the distance to your eyes is greater than the binoculars eye relief, you will see only the center section of the image.
A long eye relief will allow you to wear your eyeglasses and see the entire field of view. Binoculars with short eye relief will give you a much reduced field of view sometimes less than half of the available field when you use your eyeglasses.
Long eye relief binoculars are more forgiving. You can hold your eyes well back from the eyepiece and still see a full field of view. If you wear glasses, you will notice this difference right away if you were to compare the two.
The width of the view you can see through the binoculars is called the field of view, a wide field of view field of view on a pair of binoculars has many advantages, not only is it easier to locate the object you want to focus on, which is especially important with fast moving birds and other objects, but it also improves comfort because your eyes will be more relaxed. It is kind of like having the curtains on a window fully opened as apposed to half shut.
In most cases an eye relief of 14 to 15mm is needed for the average eyeglass wearer to be comfortable. Ideally though you should look for binoculars and spotting scopes that have 16, 17 or even 18mm. Some very long eye-relief binoculars come with 20mm or more, which gives you plenty of room to maneuver.
Please note that it is important that you check the figures before you buy as some manufacturers state that they have long eye relief when in fact they only have around 13mm!
Below are links to the reviews of perfect binoculars for glasses as they all have 18mm of eye-relief or more:
Compare the main features of these Long Eye Relief binoculars below Side-By-Side
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Magnesium Chassis, Metal Components, Field Flattening Lenses, Extra Low Dispersion Glass, Phase Corrected, Dielectric Coated Prisms... With most of the features and components that you would expect from a high-end binocular, these Vixen Osprey binoculars are priced at a level that places them amongst many of the top mid-level binoculars which is impressive. Price: (4/6) Mid-High Value Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Excellent value for money 8x42 binoculars that are both reliable and lightweight.
Highlights include a surprisingly good image quality and brightness, Multi-Coated Optical system with BAK-4 Roof Prisms, and a wide field of view making them a good option for the birder, outdoors, or nature enthusiast shopping on a budget. Price: (2/6) Low Cost Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Fujinon HC 8x42 binocular is outstanding and dare I say it, beautiful pair of optics that certainly stands out from the crowd. I especially like the very wide field of view, which when combined with the excellent quality optics and resulting superb image quality means that you are presented with a view that is just about as good as it gets in both good and low light conditions. Price: (5/6) High Value Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Excellent quality and bright image, combined with an extremely wide view and small, lightweight body, these 8x32 Opticron Explorer WA ED-R binoculars are an ideal option for a wide range of uses where you want something a bit smaller than an 8x42, but better low light performance than a full compact binocular. Other highlights include ED glass lenses, dielectric coated, and phase-corrected BaK-4 roof prisms, fully multi-coated optics, and a tough waterproof chassis. Price: (3/6) Mid Priced Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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A compact binocular that the Transformers would be proud of! The Pentax VD 4x20 can be split in half and thus converted into two 4x monoculars, which in turn can be placed end-on-end, transforming it once again into a mini-sized, but powerful 16x Spotting Scope! Price: (3/6) Mid Priced Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Comfortable, easy to carry about and with a bright, good quality image, I love using these Opticron Savanna WP 6x30 binoculars, which I think this will also be the case for many people looking for an inexpensive, easy to use binocular as I feel they offer a good compromise between size, weight and image quality, and brightness. Highlights include an excellent price to performance ratio, a wide field of view, steady 6x magnified image and a huge amount of eye-relief. Price: (2/6) Low Cost Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Super high powered binoculars with an equally high level of renowned Japanese optics, coatings, components and a build quality to match. The 18x56 Maven B5 binocular is designed to deliver high quality, highly detailed views a long distances and all at a price well under that of most other "alpha" level instruments. Price: (6/6) Expensive Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Ideal long-range terrestrial and astronomy binoculars, these 15x70 Bresser Spezial Astro SF binoculars combine a fully multi-coated optical system with quality BaK-4 Porro prisms and a tough water and fog proof aluminum housing that, in turn, deliver a quality of view and user experience that is well above average. Far from just being good for stargazing, viewing planets, the moon and general astronomy at night-time, I would also highly recommend these to anyone wanting a higher power binocular to mount onto a tripod and look out over the ocean, a lake or onto the mountains during the day. Price: (3/6) Mid Priced Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Designed to withstand the rigors of the professional marine and fishing industries, these 7x50 Fujinon Polaris binoculars also make excellent wide-field astronomy binoculars. Highlights include a fully nitrogen purged and water proof all-metal chassis with a rubber coated exterior, a built-in compass and range-finding reticle, extremely wide field of view, field flattener lenses and Fujinon's EBC multi-coatings on every optical surface for a light transmission of more than 95% Price: (5/6) High Value Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Very high level 8x42 binoculars at a mid-level price range, these Hawke Frontier HD X binoculars feature an extremely wide field of view, a magnesium alloy body, metal focus wheel and eye-piece housings as well as a fully multi-coated optical system with BaK-4, phase corrected, dielectric coated roof prisms. Indeed, the only difference between these and the more expensive Frontier ED X binoculars is the lack of ED lens elements. The difference this makes is... Price: (3/6) Mid Priced Binoculars | |||||||||||||||
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Compare the main features of these Long Eye Relief binoculars Side-By-Side
View >> All Long Eye Relief Binoculars reviewed on Best Binocular Reviews.
Price & Where to Buy
Price & Where to Buy
