Your new pair of binoculars have just arrived. You are excited and can’t wait to check them out. You bring up the binoculars to have a look only to realize they do not work with your glasses. In most cases, you can take off your eyeglasses, and after making a few adjustments to the focus of the binoculars, you can see clearly.
However, you are forced to always take off your glasses before using the binoculars. This transition period, as you take off your eyeglasses, can be both irritatingly repetitive, and also the delay might cause you to miss some things.
Luckily there are some solutions and recommendations on binoculars for people with glasses. In this article, we’re going to guide you and hopefully save you from spending a lot of money on a pair of binoculars that might not work on you. Alternatively, if this is something you are currently experiencing, we could have several solutions you can try.
Why Don’t Most Binoculars Works With Glasses?
The main reason is that the focal length of your glasses and that of the binoculars will not match.
Factors To Consider : How To Use Binoculars With Glasses.
What is Eye Relief In Binoculars?
Eye relief is the recommended distance between the eye of the viewer and the lens of the binoculars. This distance is measured in millimeters and is very important as far as focusing is concerned. When your eye relief is too short, you will not see the whole image. If your eye relief is too long, the images will look smaller. When you look through the binoculars while wearing glasses, you increase the eye relief.
To compensate for the change in eye relief, the best binoculars for glasses wearers tend to have more than 16mm of eye relief. As a glass wearer, you should avoid those binoculars with an eye relief of 10mm to 12mm or less.
For specialized use such as hunting and shooting, you can find several options of rangefinder binoculars or night vision binoculars that have more than 16mm eye relief.
If the size of the binoculars is an issue for you, the best compact hunting binoculars for eyeglass wearers will also be the ones with a relief of more than 16mm.
The Type Of Lens In Your Glasses.
Knowing the exact type of lens in your eyeglasses is crucial in figuring out what kind of binoculars will work best for you.
When it comes to types of eyeglasses, keep this in mind, if you use glasses to help with far or nearsightedness, then you can comfortably use any binoculars without glasses. This is because by adjusting the focus of the binoculars, your vision will be corrected in the process.
However, for certain eye defects such as astigmatism, you will need higher relief binoculars of 16mm to 20mm for you to get crisp images.
Magnification
The best binoculars for eyeglass wearers tend to be in the 8 to 10X magnification power range. Most binoculars under 200$ have a magnification of under 10X. However, finding compatible binoculars among the high magnification range of 20X might prove to be a little challenging.
If you are on a tight budget, you can find several binoculars under 100$ with a magnification of around 8X and are eyeglass friendly.
Eyecups
Most binoculars will come with adjustable eyecups. These can either be retractable rubber cups or plastic cups that you can twist up and down. This adjustment enables the eyeglass wearer to be able to adjust the distance between the binoculars and the eye until they have a sharp image.
Diopter Adjustment
Sometimes the two eyes might have some slight differences. This can be especially noticeable if you wear eyeglasses. To compensate for this and get a clear, crisp image, use the diopter adjustment knob, which is usually at the center of the binocular lense. Fine-tune it until you have a clear, sharp view.
If your binocular allows for locking of the diopter knobs, lock them. This will help you avoid having to re-optimize your settings time and again.
Binocular Suitable Glasses
There are certain eyeglasses that are more suitable for use with binoculars. Glasses with flatter surfaces have been found to work better compared to other types of surfaces.
If you have bifocal lenses, then you’re most likely to experience challenges with most binoculars compared to standard line bifocals.
If you wear bifocals, it’s advisable to get yourself a pair of cheap standard line bifocals just for use with binoculars.
The good news is that most other types of eyeglass lenses will work with most binoculars even with the cheap binoculars under $50 as long as they are well adjusted.
Points to keep in mind
Armed with the right information, having your eyeglasses should not stop you from enjoying your binoculars. While using binoculars with eyeglasses, keep the following points in mind.
- Get a pair of binoculars with a relief of more than 16mm, you will get most of these types of binoculars for under $300.
- If you have astigmatism, a relief of 18mm to 20mm will work best.
- Use the binoculars eyecups to increase the relief distance and get a sharper image.
- When required, use the diopter knob to make minute adjustments for each eye until the image is clear.
- Whenever possible, use flat surface eyeglasses since they are much more easily compatible with most binoculars.
About The Author:
Lake Streeter, A Gun enthusiast, and loves to hunt in the middle of the wood. Always check the latest hunting gears out in the market and try to share his honest opinion with the audience in Hunting Nook.