Mostly game viewing with some trail scouting. Lisa and I are heading to southern Africa, for our honeymoon. Primarily checking out Kruger National Park, Zambezi river and Victoria Falls, and possibly the Okavango Delta. I'm actually considering picking up a pair of binos. One compact and rugged enough to have with us on hikes, and possibly a larger pair to keep in the vehicle.
With optics, I hear it rings true, that you get what you pay for. However, ideally, I'd like to stay under $200 per bino, as there's always a fair chance of losing them on the river. I'd rather spend more on the compact pair, as it will get far more usage.
I have Pelican water proof cases for emergency gear and dry bags, so being water proof isn't absolutely essential. However, I'd really prefer them to be, or at least water resistant. I'd likely be willing to go over my budget, for exceptional low light viewing capabilities. Portability, remains important though. I imagine I should be considering having coated lenses for glare, no?
I honestly am not sure what magnifications, field of view, zoom/auto-focusing, or lens size I should be looking at.
So your 16x50 Bushmaster bino's don't fair well in low light? Is it something besides lens size that determines low light capabilities? I was under the impression that about 50 is what you needed for dust viewing, if not starting to consider night viewing, no?
Some I started looking at:
Steiner 8x30 Safari ProSteiner 10x26 Safari ProBushnell Excursion EX 10x42 or 8x42No Swarovski Optik suggestions please