Chuck Gould wrote:

I can't image why the typical boater would really need something beyond
this medium price range. I'd get some good quality, genuine marine
binoculars and not worry about stepping up to the diamond studded
stuff.

Binoculars are mostly needed in bad visibility conditions - in moist
weather (with risk of fogging for binoculars) or at night/twilight.
They aid in safe navigation as one wouldn't be able to pick up all
navigation buyos in those conditions. I figure eventually I might be
boating a lot during night or in rainy conditions, too.

Very good optics mean you will enjoy using the binocs more, and so you
will end up with more and better hours with the binocs, so you get more
from your investment. The Steiners are said to have optics that make
the $500 difference in price seem small, a really worthwhile investment
for a regular boater.

If the nitrogen leaks out, the binoculars won't really be so useful any
more. If you drop the cheaper binoculars and they break, you have just
wasted $200. This consideration really makes the markup seem less.

But well, maybe you can get these features with the $200 Fujinons? This
is the original question of this thread :-) And if you invest well the
$500 saved you could get any semi-reasonably priced binoculars in a few
years...

I agree with most of Harry's binocular comments, particularly
including the fact that the range finder is a PITA to use and for most
of us not really necessary. My binocs have a range finder, and I don't
think I've used it 3 times.

Isn't the range finding just simple maths? Not even trigonometrics
involved. The real problem I would suppose is knowing how high a
particular object is, but probably one knows the approximate measures
of different boat models, islands can be pre-measured and other objects
you might find lengths for from internet sources for example... Well of
course there is the movement of the boat too, so aiming the reticle
could be a bit of a challenge - were you referring to this?

Anyway range finding is more in the category of a cool toy than
essential tool, though any extra information to navigation can be a
help. Wouldn't it be just cool to say: "Captain, according to my
measurements we are approximately 10.56 miles from that tower over
there..."

Risto