Good Compact Binoculars....

[MedSailor]

I've decided that I want some compact binoculars. I already have a ships set of waterproof 7x50s of reasonable quality and they are constantly at hand. With a small hand-held pair, clipped to the belt or life-jacket harness, and being small and light enough enough not to get in the way, I figure they actually CAN always be at hand. Since they're small , and have small objective lenses, they'd be for daytime use only.

I would also use these for some off boat stuff, mainly day-hiking.

Anyone have reccomendations for a good, small light, pair? They must be waterproof, and ideally I'd like to spend $100 or less. Obviously optics quality is the most important feature, but that's so hard to compare....

I have been thinking of these: Leupold Mesa Binoculars. (Binoculars.com: Shop Bushnell, Nikon and Steiner Binoculars) (can't seem to get the url to embed)


MedSailor

[Jaywalker]

About the best deal - quality view v. cost - I've seen are the Leupold Wind River 6x30 porro prisms. At least one quite well known hunting guide in wet Alaska has given up his factory-supplied Zeiss and Swarovski binocs in favor of these nice glasses. Birders thnk highly of them, too. They're light, have pretty good quality, and nothing close to that quality comes close to them for the price. (NB: the 8x don't draw quite as favorable reviews.)

Edit: No porro prism will be as water resistant as a good pair of roof prism glasses, just by nature of the design. Roof prisms (the ones that look like an "H"), cost twice as much for the same quality of view, however, so you have to choose what's more important to you. I rinse the lenses of my Nikon Superior E porro prism glasses under tap water to clean them, so, while not really "water proof," they're close enough for my purposes.

[svsirius]

I would also look at the Steiner 8x30s. We have the Navigators and really like them for light weight more casual binocs.