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I have never used, heck or even held, stabilized binocs but I do own a number of stabilized Canon lenses for my camera. First the early stabilized lens, such as the 70 - 300 mm could not be mounted to a tripod and used with stabilization on; you had to turn it off - as it recommended in the manual. Nor could the stabilization work while panning, again as instructed in the manual. It is only recently that Canon has introduced lens that can stabilized while panning and on tripods. I don't know if this technology has made it into the Canon binoculars.
Would I purchase stabilized binocs? Well, no. Do I want stabilized binocs? Well, yes. So why the hesitancy on my part? I just don't feel that the technology has gone far enough. In camera lingo, you can count on only 3 stops down (sometimes 4 stops) with stabilized technology. I am convinced in the next couple of years that will improve dramatically. I am sure the price will come down, when has electronic prices not come down, and the technology will improve before I shell out money for the binocs.
There is a learning curve to using binocs. I know this from the experiences at CFL football games. At the beginning of the season, I'm not very good with my Nikon 7 by 35's following the game; by the end of the season I'm pretty good. On my boat, if I haven't used my Bushnell 7 by 50's for a while, the experience is the same; there is some practise in holding the glasses steady.
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