It’s easy to rush things when you get bitten by the bird-watching bug.

Eager to get out there and see some birds, you fill your Amazon cart with field guides, some new hiking boots, and a shiny new pair of binoculars.

Next thing you know, you’re crouched below a bald cypress tree at your local park, determined to spot an ivory-billed woodpecker in the canopy.

But rushing things rarely yields the best results (and there probably aren’t any ivory-billed woodpeckers left, anyway).

First, you notice that you actually purchased a field guide for bird watching in the United Arab Emirates rather than the United States (at least now you can stop looking for crab-plovers).

Then, you discover that – despite purchasing some of the best-rated hiking boots on Amazon – your feet feel as though you’ve been walking across hot coals all morning.

And then there are the binoculars you bought.

Instead of letting you glimpse the beauty of nature from afar, they frustrate you so much you consider tossing them in the trashcan at the trailhead.

Don’t worry – you aren’t the first bird watcher to buy a bad pair of binoculars, and you certainly won’t be the last. The most important thing is that you learn from your mistakes and pick the best pair for birding next time.

We’ll help you do exactly that below, as we share seven of the most common mistakes beginning birders make when buying binoculars.

7 Binocular-Buying Mistakes Bird-Watching Beginners Often Make

It’s easy to make mistakes when buying birding binoculars – especially if you’ve never bought optics before. There are all kinds of things to learn, strange numbers to decipher, and hype to sift through.

But you don’t have to learn everything at the outset. In fact, you shouldn’t even try to learn it all.

Just focus on not making the following mistakes, and you’ll spend more time watching birds and less time wrestling with your binoculars.

1.  Picking binoculars that aren’t weatherproof.

A lot of first-time birders think they can save some money by purchasing binoculars that aren’t fully weatherproof.

They don’t anticipate hiking around during downpours while looking for birds, so paying for weather resistant binoculars seems like an unnecessary extravagance. Later, these same birders are shocked to discover that their binoculars have become hopelessly fogged and are now essentially worthless.

The problem occurs when tiny (or not-so-tiny) amounts of moisture penetrate the housing.

Once inside, the water can cause fogging issues – it can even damage the internal components of your binoculars or allow mold to develop.

And you don’t have to drop your binoculars in a lake for this to happen, either. Simply being in a humid environment is enough to allow water to seep through the seams of non-waterproof binoculars.

For that matter, moving from cool areas to warm areas can cause some binoculars to fog, thanks to the moisture present in the air inside the housing.

So, you’ll want to stick to binoculars that are weatherproof and feature O-rings to keep out liquid water. Even better, opt for truly waterproof binoculars that are rated IPX7, meaning they can be submerged in 1 meter of water for 30 minutes without becoming damaged.

Additionally, try to select a set that has also been nitrogen- or argon-purged.

This simply means the atmospheric air between the lenses has been replaced with nitrogen or argon. Neither of these gases are condensable (in normal circumstances), which means your binoculars won’t fog up when you move through locations with different temperatures.

2. Focusing entirely on price.

Beginning birders often fall into one of two camps: They either select the absolute cheapest set of binoculars they can find, or they opt for super-premium optics with advanced capabilities they won’t even appreciate (much less need) yet.

But neither of these approaches is likely to turn out the way you’d like.

In fact, the best bird-watching binoculars for beginners usually fall somewhere between these two extremes.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with looking for a value-priced set of specs – especially when you’re just getting started in the hobby. We all have budgetary constraints, and money is certainly a finite resource.

However, if you shop for cheap binoculars, that’s exactly what you get – cheap binoculars. You’ll likely have to replace them after one or two excursions, which means you’ll spend more or binoculars in the long run than if you’d just purchased a better set from the start.

Conversely, it simply isn’t necessary for beginning birders to shop for professional-caliber gear.

You’re going to have enough trouble learning how to juggle binoculars and a field guide while avoiding poison ivy. You simply won’t need the kind of gear necessary for spotting a Kirtland’s warbler in the next zip code.

Besides, you have other stuff to purchase (like a more comfortable set of hiking boots).

All of this means that it’s usually wisest to opt for a pair of binoculars that are at the high end of the “entry-level” price range.

3. Underestimating the importance of being able to smoothly adjust the focus.

Many beginning birders fail to understand how tough it can be to follow small birds when they’re darting around the understory. This is especially true of birds who’re rapidly changing their distance from you.

In these cases, you’ll often find it necessary to fine tune the binoculars’ focus to keep the image of the little bird sharp — something that’s incredibly important when trying to identify birds.

Smoothly adjusting the focus of a pair of binoculars is a skill in and of itself that takes many birders a while to learn, but it is even harder when the focus wheel doesn’t move smoothly.

Fortunately, by following the previous bit of advice and avoiding bargain-basement binoculars, you can often sidestep this entire issue. Suffice to say, the best binoculars for birding have high-quality focus wheels.

4. Getting carried away with magnification power.

It’s a completely understandable mistake: You buy binoculars to magnify small, distant things, so surely more magnification is better, right?

While that logic is theoretically sound, it falls apart in practice.

To explain, let’s review the specifications of bird-watching binoculars to ensure you understand what the numbers mean.

If you see a pair of binoculars labelled as 8×42, it means that the binoculars magnify things eight times, and that the objective lens measures 42 millimeters.

For now, let’s focus on the first number; we’ll cover the last one a little later.

It stands to reason that if 8x binoculars work well for seeing a bird on a tree 50 yards away, 20x or 40x binoculars must be even better!

But magnification power comes with an important downside – the more magnification your binoculars provide, the harder it is to keep that hyper little bird in view. When you “zoom in” too far, it only takes a tiny little hop for the bird to jump out of view.

So, you’ll often find that a lower magnification level will still allow you to see detail reasonably well, while not having to struggle to follow birds as they move around.

Generally speaking, most birders will find that the best binoculars provide 7x or 8x magnification, though many binoculars with 10x magnification also work well.

5. Ignoring weight.

Weight is a serious consideration for almost every outdoor activity.

Backpackers are notorious for doing everything possible to shave unnecessary ounces from their packs, and kayakers (especially solo kayakers, who have to haul their yak around by themselves) typically consider weight one of the most important criteria to consider when comparing different models.

But weight is also important when birding, particularly when it comes to the binoculars you choose.

A heavy pair of bird-watching binoculars won’t only be a chore to lug through the forest, but they’ll also be harder to hold still — even if you normally have steady hands.

As it turns out, the weight of a pair of binoculars is primarily influenced by two key characteristics:

• Objective lens size: The objective lenses of a binocular (the larger ones that sit farther from your eyes) can vary in size quite a bit. Their size is indicated by the second number in the binoculars’ specifications. For example, each objective lens in an 8×40 set of binoculars will measure 40 millimeters in diameter. The larger the diameter, the greater the light gathering ability (which can be a benefit in low light conditions). But on the flip side, the larger the objective lens, the heavier the binoculars will be.
• Prism style: Modern binoculars use one of two types of prisms: roof prisms or porro prisms. Roof prism binoculars are more streamlined, as the prisms can be placed in a direct line between the objective lens and the ocular lens. By contrast, porro prism binoculars are bulkier and feature offset barrels. All of this means that porro prism binoculars are typically heavier than an equivalent set of roof prism binoculars.

Taking these factors into account, the best bird watching binoculars for beginners will generally have roof prisms and objective lenses measuring between about 30 and 50 millimeters in diameter.

Larger objective lenses would be better in the low light conditions common during early morning and late afternoon. But by staying in the 30 to 50 millimeter range, you can end up with a great pair of bird-watching binoculars that only weigh a few ounces.

6. Forgetting that you wear glasses.

Many first-time birders fail to consider an important binocular specification – eye relief. Eye relief is the distance between the ocular lens (the lenses closest to your eyes) and the binoculars’ point of focus.

Hold the binoculars too close to your eyes, and you’ll likely see a dark crescent shape dancing around the periphery of the image; hold the binoculars too far from your eyes, and you’ll see a dark border around the outside of the entire image.

So, if your binoculars have an eye relief of 12 millimeters, you’ll want to hold the binoculars 12 millimeters away from your eyes to enjoy the best possible view.

This usually isn’t hard to achieve – most beginners will intuitively learn to adjust the distance between their eyes and their binoculars without even knowing what eye relief is.

But it can cause problems for people who wear glasses, as your glasses will likely sit more than 12 millimeters away from your eyes. You simply won’t be able to get the binoculars close enough to your eyes – your glasses will be in the way.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix: Stick with binoculars that provide at least 16 millimeters of eye relief (17 millimeters may even be preferable if you wear very thick glasses).

This will give you a little more wiggle room to get your eyes in the sweet spot so that you can see the entire field of view.

7. Underestimating the importance of lens coating.

Lens coating sounds like the kind of high-end feature that is only of interest to advanced birders. But rest assured, it is definitely something you’ll want to consider when buying your first set of bird-watching binoculars.  

Lens coatings are thin layers of special film that are applied to the surfaces of binocular lenses and prisms. They’re applied to help reduce the amount of light that bounces away, thereby helping to encourage more light to pass through the components.

High-quality lens coatings help provide brighter, clearer images, while low-quality lens coatings will yield dimmer, blurrier images that can also be more distorted than you’d ideally want. Low-quality coatings will also cause more eye fatigue when spending all day in the field.

Now, most binoculars feature some lens coating – but it’s the extent of the coating that matters.

For example, many low-priced binoculars only feature single-coated lenses. These only have a single layer of film, and it’s only applied to a single surface.

Instead, look for fully, multi-coated lenses. These will feature multiple film coatings on all glass surfaces, thereby yielding the best image quality.

A Quick Review: Things to Think About When Buying Birding Binoculars for Beginners

We’ve thrown a lot at you, so let’s review everything in bite-size form. Try to keep the following things in mind to end up with a good binocular set for bird watching.

1. Always opt for water-resistant binoculars. Ideally, you’ll pick ones that are IPX7-rated.
2. Stick to the middle-of-the road price levels at the outset; avoid low-priced junk and high-end, professional-caliber gear.
3. Ensure that the wheel used to adjust the focus operates smoothly, as many binoculars have “jumpy” focusing wheels.
4. Don’t limit your search to binoculars with higher magnification levels; sometimes, less is more when watching birds.
5. Pick binoculars with a reasonable objective diameter, but understand that they may not work fantastically in poor light.
6. Opt for binoculars with sufficient eye relief to ensure your glasses won’t get in the way of the ocular lenses.
7. Don’t underestimate the importance of high-quality lens coatings; they’ll help you see the birds better and experience less fatigue.

Hopefully, you’ve stumbled across this article before buying your first set of bird-watching binoculars – disappointing optics can make for a frustrating experience and dampen your enthusiasm.

But don’t be discouraged if you already bought a set that didn’t work as well as you hoped. Just try to make do as best you can until you can afford to upgrade your initial purchase.

Once you’re ready to do so, try to keep the tips provided above in mind. This will help you get your hands on a good pair of binoculars that’ll make you excited to lace up your boots and hit the trail.

Now, get out there, enjoy the natural world and take the time to observe birds!