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latest and greatest binoculars?

9K views 50 replies 27 participants last post by  christian.hess 
#1 ·
Hey guys....one of the things I enjoy the most is getting people started in sailing...and I have managed to hook line and sinker my best friend from back home who lives here in Georgia to get sailing...

he bought a macgregor 25d trailer sailor, made him a member of a local sailing club and I have been teaching him how to sail...he is hooked

so after buying the topsiders, all sorts of clothing and cliche sailor stuff his wife asked me to give advice on a nice set of binoculars for local day sailing and lake weekending adventures.

so I have my dads and grandads big ole glass binoculars that wheigh a ton but wouldnt trade for anything...but I know that the modern pocket sailor today has many options with smaller high quality binoculars.

sooooooooo(sorry that was too long)

what are you guys using for binoculars these days...???

I would say entry level to mid level...small mid range focus...portable, light and stowable, something that a newb and cruiser a like can enjoy using etc

whats the low down on binoculars?

links to great deals on amazon would be great as they have free shipping there

thanks to all

christian
 
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#3 · (Edited)
#46 ·
awesome Im a nikon guy...will check out! thanks much

Consumer's Guide to Boat Binoculars - BoatUS Magazine

so 7X50 is considered the industry standard range or zoom?
This is a quite good article.. A critical requirement for us is the Binoculars must work well at night.. We have been cruising at night for decades and use Binoculars to see all sorts of things at night.. Large objective lenses compared to the magnification are required. We use 7x50. I don't think I would go smaller for night vision.

Great thread..
Bryce
 
#4 ·
Bought a pair of Canon IS 10x30 a year or two back. They are, or at least I think they where the cheapest Image Stabilised available at the time and they where intended as a toe dipper before heading up market. Love them.
 
#5 ·
I have used these on a few boats.

Fujinon 7x50 WPC-XL Mariner Binocular with Compass 7107751 B&H

I think they were listed in some review I saw as well. They seemed to be pretty good. I would not go 10X unless they were stabilized like TDW's. I tend to like 50mm as everything else equal they will let in more light and will work better at dawn or dusk.

Most common I have seen have been various models of West Marine, but I am sure that is more availability than anything else. Though they seem to work at least as well as there price would indicate.
 
#7 ·
thanks a lot guys...which model steiner did you get gmfl? where they similar to the one I posted?

really I appreciate the help...Im kind of an oldschooler so its kind of fun to shop for a friend and see what people out there enjoy

everything I read so far has been to keep the range to 7x50 or there abouts...


question stabilised binoculars is that like stabilised camera lenses?

I HAVE some vr lenses on my nikon camera...same thing basically?

cheers
 
#19 ·
thanks a lot guys...which model steiner did you get gmfl? where they similar to the one I posted?

really I appreciate the help...Im kind of an oldschooler so its kind of fun to shop for a friend and see what people out there enjoy

everything I read so far has been to keep the range to 7x50 or there abouts...

question stabilised binoculars is that like stabilised camera lenses?

I HAVE some vr lenses on my nikon camera...same thing basically?

cheers
Yes like the camera lens but seem to be more effective. I have a Nikon 70 to 300 vr but I am not that impressed on a camera I would rather have a fast lens than VR
 
#13 · (Edited)
7x50 7 times magnification and 50 MM dia lenses (Light gathering power). That is what most birders use. 8x50 for lower light levels
more expensive 10x60 I would expect a commercial captain to chime in on these. Image stabalized is marvelous Having the image jump around is why I would not expect 10x60
on a small boat.
 
#14 ·
yup thats is the consensus so far I have read into these

come to think about it I have no idea what my hand me downs are zoom wise

however they are very good at focusing...they have the lever in the middle and the right eye has the lever ring on the outside for fine tuning...however they are heavy...huge...and well cumbersome....
 
#15 ·
If you are going to use your binoculars on a vessel, then there is absolutely nothing better than the Canon image stabilized binoculars. When I purchased mine, I made certain they could be returned because I believed they were a con; they are not!
It changes the whole experience of using binoculars. You can get a higher magnification and yet they are lighter, therefor easier to use.
I've used binoculars that cost over a thousand dollars with absolutely the best optics available, and they all pale beside the image stabilized binoculars. I have a set with the built in compass and never use them any more; they are pretty much redundant with gps.
Do yourself a real favor and spend the money on the image stabilized binos and they will be your favorite nav aid on the boat. Never mind that the bird watchers you know will love you to death, if you can bring yourself to share these little jewels.
 
#16 · (Edited)
#17 ·
#20 ·
I've had some real antiques aboard over the years. I think modern optics are amazing, but binocs are one of the tools aboard that have a real risk of going in the drink. Therefore, I just haven't gotten up the nerve to drop real coin on a pair.

Our current go-to pair are an old West Marine set. They work as well as any pair I've had over decades, keeping in mind I've never paid for crazy high quality.

I would say my two principal uses for binocs are to find a nav aid or to view a distant boat to determine its heading. They work fine for both. However, if I need to read a boat name, they fall short quickly. Nevertheless, I've found that any boat too far away for me to clearly read their name through these binocs, is probably too far for me to have to worry about right now anyway.

The third common use it to look at your boat in the anchorage. :)
 
#21 ·
thanks guys well see if we find a deal on image stabilised binocs however this isnt for use offshore or out to sea looking for reefs...

its more about checking out the scenery on a lake...no real waves to speak of and relaxed sailing...

thanks again guys

out of curiosity where to the image stabilised binocs start price wise?

cheers
 
#24 · (Edited)
I think it may be smart to avoid inexpensive stabilized binoculars. The image stabilization on a good pair is very impressive and noticeably better than what I have seen on camera lenses but they are not as concerned with absolute sharpness like you would need on a camera image. In store tests the expensive ones were significantly better than inexpensive ones. I preferred by a large margin the Fuji ones to Canon, and was not impressed at all by the Nikon ones I tested. The base models seemed so much less effective that I would rather have a good set of lower magnification non stabilized binoculars. So the least I would spend on IS binoculars would be in the $1000 range, but coming from a photo background I may be a bit more picky. I really liked a model similar to these (it was a while ago, so I am not sure of the model numbers)

Fujinon 14x40 TS1440 Techno-Stabi Image Stabilized 7511440 B&H

These were pretty good as well, and looked less "technical"

Canon 18x50 IS Image Stabilized Binocular 4624A002 B&H Photo

but all the $500 or so ones did not seem nearly as effective. Granted this was in store use, with me kind of bouncing up and down, not a field trial. I was limited in distance as well, as B&H is big but not that big! If you ever make it to NYC B&H is a worthy tourist destination. I love going in there and looking at all the toys I can't justify buying. I must admit I must have looked kind of silly jumping around with them there in store.
 
#22 ·
I have Bushnell binocs with a built-in compass. The compass comes in VERY handy when taking bearings of moving ships/boats to assess possible course intersections, especially at night.
 
#25 ·
I am very impressed with the West Marine Tahiti binocs. I believe they are re-badged fujinons, but I could be wrong. I also heard once that the main difference between $100 optics and $1000 optics is quality control. With that in mind you can get lucky and get a really good pair of cheap biocs, but you'd have to sort through several to find a good one.

I tried this theory at my local West Marine. After securing permission from a nervous store manager I took 4 pairs of identical tahiti binocs outside and tried all 4. I was amazed that there was a subtle, but present, image quality difference in all 4. I picked the best of the 4 and bought it and love it.

MedSailor
 
#26 ·
From memory our Canon's where around the USD500 mark. I have a couple of pairs of good quality non stabilised 17 x 50s but since we've had the Canon have used nothing else. Will eventually move up a few models but for now very satisfied with them.

If I wanted a simple, inexpensive pair for a daysailor/weekender I'd just get whatever someone like West Marine where selling. We've had a few pairs from our local West Marine style of outlook (Whitworths) and found them acceptable though they do seem to be susceptible to knocks and bumps. Even so, at the price, sub $100 they worked out OK if you don't mind replacing them every couple of years or so and don't leave them hanging where they can bash about.
 
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#29 · (Edited)
I suspect no name cheapies would in fact be better than Nikon or other name brand. Why you might well ask. My experience is that when a high quality manufacturer tries to go down market their cost structure and culture does not really make the adaptation feasible. I remember back in the day when I used to own a furniture factory which made very high quality gear. On those occasions when one of the larger outlets asked us to come up with something of a budget line it was nigh on impossible to have a workforce used to having the time to do it right turn around and churn out to a budget.

Of course Nikon could simply farm their cheapies out to a sub contractor.
 
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#30 ·
I'll start by saying that I own a pair of very expensive Fujinon 7 x 50 binoculars that I will definitely use once we head offshore. On the boat for weekending I keep a cheap pair of 7 x 50 which have not too bad optics, but the eyecup rubber is too hard and they are uncomfortable to use for anything other than short periods.

Now my left of field suggestion for budget priced binoculars is to consider the ex-military ones available on ebay in vast numbers. I purchased a pair of Steiner 8x30 binoculars a few years ago and they are more than satisfactory for casual use. They're rugged, small and light weight and have acceptable optics even though they must be 20 or 30 years old. I use mine a lot as I can throw them in a bag and otherwise treat them rough as guts and they just soak it up. I don't use them on the boat mainly because I have the el-cheapo 7x50 aboard and I use the Steiners for a lot of landbased activities, although I do take them along for use from the dinghy at times.

Sent from my GT-P1000 using Tapatalk 2
 
#31 · (Edited)
I bought one of these 18 years ago...

Fujinon 7x50 FMTRC-SX Polaris Binocular with Compass 7107516 B&H

Superb "bins" with a wee in-built compass that reads close enough to the ship's compass. Back then they were $600... not cheap, but great "bins" and they will last for ever if I treat them well. Best money I ever spent.

They are not bad for wide-angle astronomy when you have sailed to a dark sky sight. Nothing, but nothing compares to an offshore night sky with no light pollution. If only the boat did not rock, but then you can't have everything.
.
 
#33 ·
Some of the peramaters you mentioned were compact, light and storable. While 7x50 is the marine standard, it is also big heavy glass. Steiner makes the most compact 7x50 you can get and its still big and heavy. Another option is to look at 7x30. They are a great deal smaller and more compact. The bigger the objective lens the more expensive the binoculars, so you should be able to get a higher grade 7x30 than 7x50. A decent pair of 7x30 with sharper better corrected glass with and some good coatings could very well out perform a cheap pair of 7x50's. There are some down side though. As the light gets lower the 7x30's are going to get a bit shakier, and there not going to have the same ease of view that a 7x50 has. If it's 7x50, you fujinon's look good as well as the steiner marine. Keep in mind that there both I.F. Not centre focus.
 
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