Why do roof prism bino’s Hurt my eyes?

[megastink]

This may sound strange, but her goes...

I'm shopping for new binoculars. Five years ago, I have my father my Cabelas branded binos, which I really liked and can't remember anything about. I haven't hunted since, but this year I'm going back to the woods.

I've tried roof prism cabelas branded, Vortex Diamondbacks, Nikon Prostaff 3's, Leupold somethings... all in 10x42, as that's the size I want and in my price range of $200ish.

With every single pair of roof prisms I've tried, after focusing them, my eyes strain trying to identify fine details, like reading a sign across a retail store.

However, the Nikon Aculon's dont give my this pain. I don't strain to read or see anything. I won't see that the image is better or clearer, I'm saying these are more comfortable to look through, if that makes sense.

Am I a unicorn, or is there an explanation for this?

 

[gr8fuldoug]

Basically speaking, in lower cost binoculars, porro prism binoculars, at the same price point as a roof prism, will be optically superior.

 

[megastink]

Basically speaking, in lower cost binoculars, porro prism binoculars, at the same price point as a roof prism, will be optically superior.

I just find it strange that my eyes felt tired looking through one type but not the other. Both images seemed clear.

 

[dmj]

You probably won't get better advise or information than gr8fuldoug gives you. My bino story is about my brother. He was using a pair of Nikon $300 to $400 binoculars and with extended glassing sections he would have a head ache. Finally got him talked into a decent pair of Zeiss. End of headaches. Good luck with your search.

 

[Naymola]

Cheap binoculars will give eyestrain and headaches. Spend the bucks, buy some good ones. In the past, I'd mail order two or three likely binoculars and look through them for a couple days to make a decision on which set suited me best. Sent the others back for a refund. If you time your billing cycle right with your credit card, you can order, and return unwanted items before the "balance due" posts.

 

[josef]

Make sure you're adjusting diopter properly. Doug is correct though. The more expensive the bino the better the channel alignment will be (dip, divergence and convergence). Porros have better optical quality but the trade off is they are less compact.

 

[LeddSlinger]

This may sound strange, but her goes...

I'm shopping for new binoculars. Five years ago, I have my father my Cabelas branded binos, which I really liked and can't remember anything about. I haven't hunted since, but this year I'm going back to the woods.

I've tried roof prism cabelas branded, Vortex Diamondbacks, Nikon Prostaff 3's, Leupold somethings... all in 10x42, as that's the size I want and in my price range of $200ish.

With every single pair of roof prisms I've tried, after focusing them, my eyes strain trying to identify fine details, like reading a sign across a retail store.

However, the Nikon Aculon's dont give my this pain. I don't strain to read or see anything. I won't see that the image is better or clearer, I'm saying these are more comfortable to look through, if that makes sense.

Am I a unicorn, or is there an explanation for this?

It's because you are looking through cheap Chinese glass that probably has misaligned lenses and subpar coatings as well. You'll never get away from eyestrain in that price range.

Unless you are willing to spend a minimum of around $1000-$1200 where the glass starts getting really good, eyestrain is going to be hard to avoid, especially during long glassing sessions in the field

For the $1K price area, I would recommend Nikon HG 10x42 or Meopta Meostar B1 HD 10x42. Both are excellent binoculars and sit at the top of the mountain in that price range. Other options that are also nice are Zeiss Conquest HD, Leica Trinovid HD, and Vortex Razor HD.

If you wanna go all out, try a set of Leica Noctivid binoculars.