Buyer's guide for children's binoculars
Choosing binoculars for children
Our buyer's guide for binoculars for children will help you to choose the best binoculars for your kids, ensuring hours of fun exploring the world around them and allowing you to introduce them to your outdoor hobbies at a young age. We also wrote about choosing optics for kids in our specific Christmas Gift Guide - The best binoculars for children.
Before you buy binoculars for your children there are a few important factors to consider to make sure you choose the best ones for them. Use the information below to guide you through the process and feel free to contact us if you have any additional questions.
If you’re not too clued up with the basics of binoculars and how to understand their specifications, why not read our generic binoculars buyer's guide to get a clearer understanding. We’ve also suggested a few recommended binoculars for children from our collection to help you.
What to look for in kids binoculars
Magnification
When buying binoculars for children be sure to choose those with a low magnification. High magnification binoculars are prone to image shakiness even with the smallest of movement, making it very hard for kids to keep the binoculars on target. Binoculars with a magnification of 8x or below are recommended for children to get the best experience and get a good view of the world around them.
Objective lens diameter, size and weight
Typically, the larger the objective or front lens of binoculars, the brighter the image they produce. Although larger lenses may make it easier for children to see the images through their binoculars, larger lenses lead to heavier and larger binoculars that children may struggle to fit their hands around and hold steady for any period of time. With this in mind we’d recommend choosing a set of compact binoculars with lenses between 20-30mm in diameter as they’ll be lightweight and easy to use.
Durability
It’s pretty likely that your kids are going to drop their binoculars at least once, so look for binoculars that have a durable rubber coating to protect them from bumps and scrapes. You may also want to opt for a waterproof option to protect the binoculars.
