For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

i did the ebay thing, sticking to
the brands that have served me well...
nikon and pentax, i bought the best
ones i could afford at the time...spent
around 2-3 hundred...ended up w/a nice,
heavy, rubber coated nikon...crystal
clear optics, nice case, etc....i am sure
you can find off brands at 50% less...i
fig quality and brand name are important...
i did the same w/camera gear....


Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

"Lester Evans" wrote in message
news:5wDhg.5163$LN1.5074@trndny01...
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,


Well I'd recommend you get genuine marine binoculars that are sealed and dry
nitrogen filled otherwise you will eventually get moisture inside and
corrosion/fogging.
I believe in the past only bino's with individual focus eyepieces were
constructed this way but now several manufacturers including Fujinon and
Nikon offer center focus marine bino's. I think these are a bit more
convenient to use, especially if several people with widely different eyes
are going to be using the bino's.
I would also suggest getting them with built-in compass as this lets you
take bearings of distant objects.

I have the Fujinon Mariner binoculars with compass and these seem to be
fine. I paid $149US a couple of years ago. These have a polycarbonate body
and are much lighter (and cheaper) than the MIL spec Fujinons that have
alloy bodies. For daytime use I don't think the various claims about light
gathering, coatings, etc. are all that important. Some binoculars, Steiner
for example, have a larger compass which is easier to read and, I think,
more stable. Fujinon has a digital compass in one of their models.
Nikon also makes some nice marine bino's for around $250-300.
Do a search on eBay for "compass binoculars".

Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,


Hi:

I made my living as an "observer" on most kinds of vessels both
domestic and foriegn through the 80s. My job was to look for 8 + hours
a day. got to use just about every type of opticals around. Even had
soem of thoes $650 mil armored marine jobs hand polished by Carl Ziese
himself (joke) What do I use know?

I always buy two pairs of Bushnell 10x50 Insta Focus. Way cheep at
maybe 30 bucks last I got a pair. They resonable optics. The best thing
is that if I drop them overboard, get them ripped off its no big deal.
I usually get about 5-8 years service per pair. Might even get longer
life if I used their case.

Some folks say never get biger than 7x35 or 8x50 at the most.
Personally afer 1000s of hours staring through a pair i perfer 10x50. I
can just see so much more. Movement was never a problem for me.

Go cheep.
Go 10x50.
Get two.

Bino Bob

On 2006-06-07 18:21:14 -0400, "Bob" said:

Some folks say never get biger than 7x35 or 8x50 at the most.
Personally afer 1000s of hours staring through a pair i perfer 10x50. I
can just see so much more. Movement was never a problem for me.

10x50's are fine for daytime use, but are a bit hard to stabilize on a
small sailboat. 7x50's have a much larger aperture, 7mm vs. 5mm and
much more low-light capability, and are easier to hold stable. For
daytime use, I do carry a pair of Steiner 8x30s, which are considerably
smaller than the 7x50s I use at night. Also, the 7x50s have an
integrated compass, which is nice for taking bearings.

Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

I'll give a different point of view. The "common wisdom" is that
proper marine binoculars must be 7x50. Certainly, this seems to be
true for night sailing. However, for daytime use, you may find that
smaller binoculars are more useful. I notice that West has a 7x25
with all the basic marine features for only $70. Although only a
quarter of the light gathering, it has the same magnification and
field of view of its big brothers, but at 9.8 oz's, its less than a
third the weight.

For my own use, I carry a Canon 10x30 Image Stabilizing at the helm -
I like the magnification for spotting marks, etc. An older pair of
waterproof 7x50 are backup. But the lightweight 8x30 Nikon that stays
in my glove compartment probably gets used most of all. Its small
enough to be stuffed in a jacket pocket, so it tends to get taken
places when a 7x50 would be left behind.

Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

i had this same question, thanks for asking it!

Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

Dad had the big old heavy Fujinons on his boat. They were unsurpassed
a night light gathering but big and clunky to hold.
Looked a bit like these
http://fujinon.binoculars.com/produc...-sx-27618.html

We have a pair of 7x50 Steiner Military/Marines. Not quite as good as
the Fujis at night (or maybe my eyes have aged a bit in 20 years) but
still very good optics and excellent ergonomics.

Both of the above are probably overkill for most sailors EXCEPT when
you're trying to enter a harbour at night by starlight. Then you'll
be very happy to have spent more than $100. If you don't sail at
night then the good 7x50's are overkill

Evan Gatehouse

In article , ceilydhNO_SPAM@
3web.NOSPAM.net says...
Lester Evans wrote:
For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

Dad had the big old heavy Fujinons on his boat. They were unsurpassed
a night light gathering but big and clunky to hold.
Looked a bit like these
http://fujinon.binoculars.com/produc...-sx-27618.html

We have a pair of 7x50 Steiner Military/Marines. Not quite as good as
the Fujis at night (or maybe my eyes have aged a bit in 20 years) but
still very good optics and excellent ergonomics.

Both of the above are probably overkill for most sailors EXCEPT when
you're trying to enter a harbour at night by starlight. Then you'll
be very happy to have spent more than $100. If you don't sail at
night then the good 7x50's are overkill


If you wear glasses (as I do) be sure to test the binoculars while
wearing them. There can be a lot of variation in the field of
view with the change in eye relief due to the spectacles.

I like my Fujinon 7/50s because the field of view is good when
I'm wearing my glasses. My wife likes her Nikon 8x40s even
though they're not lightweights. But she wears contacts and
eye relief is less of a problem.

Mark Borgerson

Mark Borgerson wrote:
In article , ceilydhNO_SPAM@
3web.NOSPAM.net says...

Lester Evans wrote:

For my little old sailboat. Coastal cruising along the New England coast.
I took a look on ebay. Wow,, there were binoculars and there were
binoculars. Many brands, so many I gave up looking.

What do you experienced cruisers use?

Thanks,,

Dad had the big old heavy Fujinons on his boat. They were unsurpassed
a night light gathering but big and clunky to hold.
Looked a bit like these
http://fujinon.binoculars.com/produc...-sx-27618.html

We have a pair of 7x50 Steiner Military/Marines. Not quite as good as
the Fujis at night (or maybe my eyes have aged a bit in 20 years) but
still very good optics and excellent ergonomics.

Both of the above are probably overkill for most sailors EXCEPT when
you're trying to enter a harbour at night by starlight. Then you'll
be very happy to have spent more than $100. If you don't sail at
night then the good 7x50's are overkill



If you wear glasses (as I do) be sure to test the binoculars while
wearing them. There can be a lot of variation in the field of
view with the change in eye relief due to the spectacles.

I like my Fujinon 7/50s because the field of view is good when
I'm wearing my glasses. My wife likes her Nikon 8x40s even
though they're not lightweights. But she wears contacts and
eye relief is less of a problem.

Mark Borgerson


I pop my eyeglasses off and adjust the binocular accordingly.
Inconvenient but seems to work although I'm quite nearsighted.