TEN COMMON MISTAKES OPTICS BUYERS MAKE

1. THEY WEREN’T SURE WHAT WANTED SO ASSUMED THEY NEEDED IT ALL.
   Ever wonder why there are so many different binoculars? The reason is because they are designed to do different things--general birding, hawk watching, pelagic birding, woodland birding, backyard birding.... If you know you are going to spend most of your time in the backyard, then an inexpensive 6x or 7x binocular is fine. If you are a beginning field birder, then you need a light, portable, responsive, user-friendly instrument that will help you get on birds quickly and easily. If you are going to take a trip to Ecuador or enjoy kayaking, rugged waterproof binoculars are a must.
   
   Sure, some binoculars excel in all birding applications (and their price tag attests to it). But if you narrow your focus and define your needs, you can save money and still have a binocular that is ideally suited for you.
   
   
2. THEY LISTENED TO A FRIEND.
   You have a friend who is an experienced birder. They use binocular X and on the strength of their endorsement you conclude you need X too. WRONG. Just because a binocular works for one person, doesn’t mean it works for another. Everyone is different. Not every binocular works for everyone. It’s got little or nothing to do with price, performance, or quality. It has everything to do with your eyes, your hands, the shape of your face, and the small but often determining physical traits that are part of your character (arthritis in your hands, a testy cervical vertebrate, bi-focal or tri-focal lenses...). More than half the people who come into our stores to buy a certain binocular end up buying another.
   
   
3. THEY EQUATED $$$ WITH PERFORMANCE.
   It’s one of the oldest and most common mistakes consumers make. They need a product. They don’t understand anything about it. They assume that if they just buy the most expensive thing they can find it will compensate for their conceptual shortfalls.
   
   And that’s how people spend hundreds and thousands of dollars buying binoculars or spotting scopes that either don’t work for birding or, even worse, don’t work for them. There is only one way to buy an instrument. You try them first. In fact...
   
   
4. THEY DIDN’T TEST DRIVE SEVERAL MODELS.
   Go on. Play the field. Try several instruments in your price range then try one or two expensive instruments. Get to know what it is that puts the great in great binoculars (then try and find these qualities emulated in binoculars in your price range). And if you fall in love with a glass that is over your budget? Wait and save. Buying half-step instruments that you will soon replace is money wasted.
   
   
5. THEY DIDN’T EXAMINE THE INSTRUMENT THEY BOUGHT (AND NEITHER DID THE SELLER).
   No two binoculars are alike--not even two instruments of the same make and model. There is variability in the quality and performance of all instruments, even instruments costing over $1,000. Many low priced binoculars (under $300) are out of alignment right out of the box. Some have a focus that is too stiff or dust (or grease spots or a finger print) in the barrel, marring the image. And it is not uncommon for one barrel of a binocular to offer a different magnification (or be brighter, or sharper) than the barrel next to it.
   
   When barrels are not well paired, eyes strain to make up the difference. Then they tire. Then people wonder why you don’t want to continue birding.
   
   Or put another way, did you ever own a binocular that wasn’t quite right no matter how you adjusted it? Well, chances are, now you know why.
   
   
6. THEY PUT THEIR FAITH IN FORMULAS, NOT THEIR EYES.
   Some people love to research a purchase, learn everything they can about a new car, washing machine or hair dryer, before they buy. There is nothing wrong with being an educated consumer and it’s a great opportunity to learn. But for optics, all the formulas, all the cognitive awareness concerning things like “...light gathering index, phase coating, APO lenses, twilight factor, exit pupil size, parallax, eye point...” are no substitute for one simple, determining exercise.
   
   You bring the binocular up to your eyes. You see things quickly and easily.
   That’s all. If you and the instrument in your hands are made to fit, it’s that easy.
   If it’s not that easy? Ask your CMBO store naturalist for help. Still struggling? Time to reach for another glass. One that works for you.
   
   
7. THE THINGS THEY DIDN’T TELL THEM.
   There are reasons why some binoculars sell better than others (and they don’t all have to do with the quality of the product). Different optics companies have different pricing policies. Sellers make more profit selling one line than another. The result? Salespeople push the glass that garners the most profit. With profit margins ranging from 17% to 40% it’s not uncommon for a lower priced instrument to bring a higher profit margin than a higher priced one.
   
   That’s why it pays to buy your binocular from a place that puts your needs, not the seller’s/store’s profit, first.
   
   
8. THEY FELL FOR A GIMMICK.
   If you look at the instruments sold at CMBO you will find only serious, field-worthy instruments. You will not find a zoom binocular. You will not find instruments with amber or ruby coated lenses. You will not find binoculars that take pictures. In a word, you will not find binoculars that woo customers with a gimmick instead of quality or performance.
   
   Gimmicks you can get anywhere. Here, we sell serious, field-tested, birding binoculars.
   
   
9. THEY THOUGHT IT WAS ALL ABOUT POWER.
   Power, or magnification, is the easiest concept to grasp and also the least consequential when it comes to getting a good, sharp, image. Higher magnification certainly makes things look closer or bigger but it does appreciably affect image quality (i.e. the details you see). What you gain in magnification you loose to vibration-induced hand shake. You should realize that every time you increase magnification you diminish the field of view, depth of field, and image brightness--all things that make lower power binoculars more user-friendly. For older birders in particular, brightness is far more important than magnification.
   
   Higher magnification is useful when instruments can be stabilized. That is why spotting scopes are useful for long-distance viewing and why it is as important to have a quality tripod as well as a quality spotting scope.
   
   
10. THEY THOUGHT IT WAS CHEAPER TO BUY ELSEWHERE.
    No, it’s not. The member pricing at CMBO is the lowest allowed by the manufacturers. Small variations are to be expected because manufacturers raise (and sometime lower) prices and existing stock may not reflect current wholesale prices. But greater savings on-line you will not find. If you do, chances are the items are not comparable (i.e. represent an earlier model or come without a warranty the North American company will honor).
    
    With so many makes and models and versions of product on-line, it’s easy for buyers to make the wrong selection. When you see someone walking around with ill-fitting or ill-suited binocular, dollars to donuts it is someone who bought on-line somewhere else.