Birdwatching Binoculars
Bushnell has a wide variety of birdwatching binoculars available that offer a lightweight, balanced and ergonomic design, with multi-coated lenses to bring in lots of light. All of our best birdwatching binoculars use a high-quality phase coating to give you the brightest and clearest image possible.
Whether you plan longer backpacking trips or to sit and watch birds in a nearby park, we offer plenty of choices to suit your needs.
The most common binocular configuration used for bird watching is 8x42 . These make the best lightweight binoculars for bird watching without sacrificing image quality.
8x magnification is the most popular choice for birding because it allows for good vision without compromising on size and cost. Increasing the magnification any further will make very little difference in your ability to see and identify a bird.
When it comes to the objective (front) lens diameter, 42 mm is a good choice because it lets in a lot of light, allowing for clear and colorful images. Again, going any larger will just become more expensive and make your binoculars too heavy for backpacking and birding. The quality of the lens is more important than the size when it comes to clarity.
For those who want brighter and more magnified images, models like the Powerview 2 10x50 Binoculars can be mounted on a tripod if you are planning to stay in one place for a longer period.
PC3 is Bushnell’s very own phase coating formula, which is applied to roof prisms. This coating improves resolution by bringing light waves back into sync after the image is separated and rejoined in the optical system.
Dielectric coatings are a type of phase coating that increase reflectivity to over 90%. The materials in the coating create light interference, ensuring reflectivity across the entire color spectrum. This produces a richer and more reproducible color image.
The advantage of these coatings is that they create clearer and more vibrant images, making bird identification that much easier.