Harry Krause wrote:

Don't use binocs much. The area where I mostly boat is pretty forgiving,
coast-wise, there aren't many obstructions to espy, and no real inlets
to run. Even when I lived in Florida, I rarely used binocs to help with
navigation or safety, though I usually took a look at some of the
hairier inlets I had to run when returning from the ocean to port, to
see what the sea conditions were.

The Finnish waters are a bit different, unlike most (?) boating
locations in the world - at least different from most US conditions.
The coastline is not clean - instead there's lots of beautiful little
islands, either with woods or rocks. The downside is that the rocks can
be found below water too, though many of them are marked - or rather,
the navigable water without rocks is often marked The inland waters
are the same and Finnish waters as a whole are notoriously
treacherous...

So much for advertising But that might result in some differences in
the need for binoculars, a small boat can get by fine without them in
good conditions, but I suppose serious boaters have at least one set in
the boat. Besides navigational aids you can use them to observe boats,
ships, islands and other such objects that come plenty in our waters.

Risto