Children's binoculars (1 Viewer)

[PJSharp]

All,

My 2 1/2 year old wants a pair of binoculars like daddy's. As much as I want to encourage him, I am not buying him a pair of Leica's. So any recommendations please on a cheapish, robust (toddler proof) pair of binoculars, suitable for looking at birds in the back garden (short focusing)?

Kind regards, Paul

 

[Deb Burhinus]

Hi Paul

I bought a pair of Puffins for my niece (when she was 5 so older than your kid), the RSPB range do a selection
https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/childrens-binoculars/ otherwise I have passed on an old pair of Hawkes pocket binoculars to my friends son (age 7 so again older). I’ve also worked with groups of kids (age 5-11) on nature walks and based on my experience, for this age group, I’d recommend binoculars with a wide field eyepiece and large depth of field (perhaps 6 x 30 or 6 x 20) which would make it easier to locate subject and to track it

- However, for a child age 2-3 years, I would go for a compact autofocus -

I have found kids are actually pretty adept at using binoculars ie finding things in them, if you give clear field references to the location of the subject you want them to see - but I find it hard to judge whether they are focussing properly and have found sometimes the ‘focus’ part of ‘point and focus’ is a slightly harder concept for them to learn. For a very young child therefore, because of the issue around focussing, and because of short attention span, dropping stuff etc, I would probably go for a cheap pair of autofocus perhaps like Mahauk Compacts https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mahauk-Compact-Binoculars-Children-Lightweight/dp/B0787LHVM7. If you want a shorter focussing range, an auto focus might not be suitable as they don’t work at close range so if it is just for the garden, there are plenty of relatively cheap binos out there for kids - such as on the RSPB link or on Amazon such as these https://www.amazon.co.uk/National-G...60&hvtargid=pla-562043876093&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

( I wouldn’t be worried too about image quality at that age tbh and would probably go with cheap and cheerful since they will probably end up being left out in the garden at some stage )

 

[njlarsen]

No recommendation but at that age I guess you also need to think low weight. I notice that the Nat-Geo pair that Deb linked to are 190 g which seems better than some other I looked at.

Niels

 

[pianoman]

Unfortunately "cheap" and "robust" don't usually go hand in hand

But I'm thinking maybe a pair of opera glasses...the low magnification might be an advantage because it is easier to find something with such a wide field of view

 

[leonardo_simon]

Decathlon ones might be worth getting. Look nice. I have tested them in the shop and they are good value for £14.99 Optics don't really mattter as children not really able to look through them properly until they are a few years older

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/kids-...oculars-mh-b100-x6-magnification/_/R-p-187432

RSPB do some (Puffin Jr) -- they were really flimsy and broke almost immediately

what ever you get they will be destroyed

 

[PJSharp]

Thank you all for your responses and suggestions. Deb, I really appreciate your thoughts, I will probably go with the National Geographic 6 x 21 pair, the price, weight etc seem sensible. I like the idea of autofocus, but my son will mostly use them for birds at our garden feeders and birdbath - all within 5 meters, so too close.

Kind regards, Paul