One model, judged by its numbers
Bresser Hunter 10×50
Two small refractors you can hold. The most-recommended and least-bought first instrument in astronomy, and the one most likely to still be in use in ten years.
Family · 10×50 binoculars
What it shows, really
These circles are simulations, computed from the aperture, the magnification and the sky — indicative, not exact. A real night also depends on the turbulence, your eyes and your experience. Closer to the truth than the photo on the box; still not a promise.
Through the binoculars as they are — a fixed 10×, under a suburban sky. Every circle is the true field.
The numbers
| Aperture | 50 mm |
|---|---|
| Focal ratio | 200 mm · f/4.0 |
| Mount | — |
| Typical weight | 0.78 kg |
| Useful magnification | 8× to 100× at 50 mm |
| Resolution (Dawes) | 2.3″ — the tightest double star this aperture can split |
| Faintest star, suburban sky | around magnitude 9.8 |
| Observed price | €50 seen 2026-08-23 |
Made for
Learn my way around the sky · 5 out of 5
Nothing else teaches the sky this fast. Wide field, right way up, and the view matches what a star chart shows.
Taking it with me · 5 out of 5
Fits in a coat pocket's worth of bag.
Sharing it with children · 4 out of 5
A child can hold them, and there is nothing to break or misalign.
Not made for
The Moon and the planets · 1 out of 5
The Moon is genuinely lovely at 10×. The planets are points of light.
The family it belongs to: 10×50 binoculars
What it does well
- Ready in the time it takes to open the case
- Both eyes, which makes faint things easier to see than the same aperture through one
- Five to seven degrees of sky at once — no telescope shows the Pleiades whole
- Useful for birds, and therefore used in daylight too
What it costs you
- The planets stay dots. Jupiter's moons show; its belts do not
- Hand shake costs about a magnitude of faint detail — a tripod adapter fixes it
- No magnification to grow into
Worth knowing about this model
The cheapest 10×50 worth owning. Softer at the edge of the field than the Celestron, lighter in the hand, and half the price of a bad telescope.
Prices are observed on the date shown, never live. Links marked paid link earn us a commission and cost you nothing extra.
Where to buy
- Astroshoppaid link€50 seen 2026-08-23ships DE, FR, EU
- Amazon.frships FR
- First Light Opticsships GB
- Optique Unterlindenships FR
- Pierro Astroships FR
- Teleskop-Expressships DE, EU
1 of these 6 links earn us a commission, marked above. Sorted by price, never by what pays. How this site is funded.