Jonzania

Hello. I am headed to Kenya/Tanzania to study abroad for 4 months, and the program director said that binoculars are highly recommended. Unfortunately for me, i know nothing about binoculars. Also, we can only pack what what we can carry all at once. To make matters worse, I'm a financially impaired college student. Therefore, i was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for compact binoculars, that are less than $60. Any suggestions of binoculars that worked well, or even companies that are reliable, would be a huge help. Thanks for your time!

p.s. they would most likely be used on a safari/hiking

samcat

I believe you will enjoy having binoculars.
Search "binoculars" on this forum.
If you don't have any, perhaps you can borrow some. If you know birders, they usually have a spare pair that could be loaned -- even for four months. There are lots of posts on here.

Cateyes555

I have an old very small pair of Bushnell binocs that are 8 x21 mm. The case is about the size of a compact camera, so would fit your needs there. I guess they would be better than having no binocs at all, and they were pretty cheap. But binocs, like cameras, are something that you can definitely equate cost with quality, so you cannot expect much if your price is limited to $60.

TigerPhotog

Unlike cameras, a good pair of binocs will last a lifetime.

Try upping that budget to $130 and get the nikon 10x50 Action EX ATB...fogproof,shockproof,waterproof, bulletproof(not)
Superb optical quality for the price..and they will last a long time.

fbirder

While 10x50 bins would be pretty good, at just over 1 kg they may be a bit weighty. Any 10x binoculars are either going to be too heavy or too dim for Jonzania's planned usage. For a combination of weight, usability and cost I'd be looking at something like the Bushnell H2O 8x25 bins. Here, in the UK, they're around £40 - so they should be $50 in the US.

TC

Try the Bargain Cave at Cabela's if you have one nearby. They have amazing prices on very good binoculars and you can try them out to see which one is best for you. Here is one example, but the stores have many, many to pick from.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...233&hasJS=true