HELP>.what does 20X50 mean on a set of binoculars?

[Jerry Houston]

As someone who's used rifle scopes for about 40 years, and used to sell
them, it bothers me the way their descriptions have become mis-stated in
recent years. What's worse, even some manufacturers do it, not just
unfamiliar users!

The traditional designations were always power x diameter (of the objective
lens). Thus a 4x40 is a 4 power scope with a 40mm objective. A 4 x 32 is a
4 power scope with a 32mm objective, and so on. (The "x" is pronounced
"by".)

With variable power scopes, these figures were naturally expressed the same
way, such as 2-4 x 40, for a 2 to 4 power zoom with a 40mm objective. Then,
at some point, some fool started talking about 3 x 9 scopes, or 4 x 12
scopes to indicate a zoom range.

Let me tell you, a real 3 x 9 scope would be an awfully skinny little thing!

"wray" <wkep...@YAHOO.COM> wrote in message
news:104vc8q...@corp.supernews.com...
> don't buy from the well known store. they don't know s...
> 20 is the power and 50 is the diameter in mm.
>
>
> Jerry wrote:
> > I know everyone is saying 20 is the Magnification and the 50 being the
mm of
> > lense.
> > However I have been told that 20 the the power and the 50 is the field
of
> > view.

[Checkcord]

if you have binocs marked 20x50..

20 is the mag power and 50 mm is the size of the objective (front) lense of
your binocs, in most cases. This would certainly be true for most binocs you
would normally seen in the US.

"field of view" ??.. no, that is not correct.
Field of view is generally stated in "feet at 100 yds" or some similar
measurement.