ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
What are you saving your money for? What are your priorities?Yes she is a reasonably serious amateur and in fact we just did our 29th Audubon Christmas bird count this past weekend.
We are both so frugal that I could never imagine spending $3k on binos but I will definitely consider it and slowly work on her.
The Swarovski 8x32 EL bins are “only” $2000 at bhphotovideo.com, a reliable seller.
BTW - I much prefer 8 power for birding - wider field of view, brighter, and most importantly, handshake is not nearly as noticeable.
+1. And this is coming from someone who doesn't do birding, and knows next to nothing about binoculars.
I understand the mental block of spending $$$ for something. But if she enjoys this hobby, and spends many, many hours doing it, then won't she get more pleasure from it with a great set of binoculars?
We often see that cartoon of the businessman passing the grave yard captioned "Time > Money". But if you spend some money (that you have!) to improve your time, that can be the greatest of all.
Well, that's how I justify my recent multi-thousand $ drops on my hobbies. Assuming you can afford it, and it's just a mental block, I say go for it. Life is short. Enjoy.
-ERD50