Binoculars with integrated compass

Chris_Robb

Chris_Robb

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I boat a set of Bushnell Binos last year (£200), and find the the compass is really great for taking bearings - but only on land..... Underway with a chop I just cannot take bearings on ships, as the compass swings madly around.

What are others experiences of these devices?

Don't tell me to get an AIS!
 
I have a cheap pair from Compass (appropriately enough) that I find adequate, at least for collision avoidance (I haven't hit a ship so far :) )

They do swing a little but you can usually get a repeatable bearing after a couple of seconds by averaging the extremes of the swing.

What would be nice would be a pair with a digital compass and an instantanous "hold" button
 
I bought a pair of Monk own brand bino's eight years ago with damped compass. They're about half the price of Steiners; I think I paid about £380. They are excellent and its not difficult to take accurate bearings with the inbuilt compass; much better than a hand compass by my experience.
 
Got a cheap (£50) pair from Aldi bright yellow jobbies
Actually very good damping on the compass and quite usable underway
Have to average the swing as motion of boat gets you as other poster says, but not that different from a hand held
Well worth the money IMO
 
Interesting answers:

I returned mine to Bushnells who are very easy to deal with by the way, and they have just come back saying there is nothing wrong with them.

I have asked them to recheck as they work wonderfully on dry land, - have they tried them in a rough sea conditions - how would they simulate the test?

Last year I replaced my Silva steering compass (Westerly standard issue) which was just impossible to steer on due to lack of damping, and replaced with a Plastimo equivalent. I must say that it is an absolute eye opener in comparison with the Silva - so well damped ( and we sailed to Greece this year) and so clear.
 
Robih said:
I bought a pair of Monk own brand bino's eight years ago with damped compass. They're about half the price of Steiners; I think I paid about £380. They are excellent and its not difficult to take accurate bearings with the inbuilt compass; much better than a hand compass by my experience.
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I bought Monk own brand too and they are indeed excellent. I bought ours at LIBS to replace some stolen in a break in and the Monk compass was hugely better than on the ones it replaced. I also tested several others on their stand including Nikons and the own brand ones were better in all respects for me.
 
second that

smeaks said:
ALDIS and they are fab!
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second that and they only cost me £39. Only issue I have is the red light button is too stiff but iI can live with that . The compass damping is good .

Still find my autohelm personal compass better for taking most bearings , wish they still made them , I buy another new one .
 
fergie_mac66 said:
second that and they only cost me £39. Only issue I have is the red light button is too stiff but iI can live with that . The compass damping is good .

Still find my autohelm personal compass better for taking most bearings , wish they still made them , I buy another new one .
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Yes, I still have one of those flat digital jobs - they are good.
 
I have an XM set, cost about £100 a few years ago. The compass works well and they perform well as general binoculars too.

Negative points; the lens covers are on short semi-flexible straps and tend to get in the way, and the outer protective ring of one lens knocked off too easily - largely cosmetic, no ill effect.

As budget items they generally do the job well, and have proven waterproof.
 
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Chris_Robb said:
What are others experiences of these devices?

Don't tell me to get an AIS!
Click to expand...

I have a monocular compass with a mag of 6. I find it fantastic when at anchor for checking if I am dragging by taking a bearing of a easy to see mark on shore. It is not always possible to use transits if the background is bland.

I don't use the compass at sea for collision avoidance since the day I was peering into the blinkered thing and I accidentally gybed the boat so hard the mast was in danger. I use transits like the guardrails for a constant check.
 
I have the Bynolyt SeaRanger III (the II version is used by the RNLI I'm told) and they are superb.

How anyone gets their hands over the compass on the Steiners is beyond me, most uncomfortable.
 
I have a pair from Plastismo, now about twelve years old. Against expectations they have proved to be very durable, the compass is highly accurate and the damping is very effective. Don't know what their current offerings are like, but they are worth considering.
 
I have a pair of cheap bins with a compass. The issue I have is that when they are opened right out, the compass isn't level and so doesn't give accurate readings.
As one of the optical parts on the non-compass side has developed a flaw (OK, it got dropped), I'm probably going to take a hack saw to them and have a compass monocular!
 
Got a pair of Visionary ones from LIBS a couple of years back for about £70 IIRC. Compass is fine with pretty good damping. However, tend to use the hand compass most of the time, as its easier to use. Night time is when the binos come into their own, as the extra light enable you to form a better picture of what's there and the little light illuminates the compass to take a bearing - much easier than messing about with compass and torch.
 
Got a pair of Bressers for about £100 three years ago - think they're basically the same as the Aldi ones - good to use; pretty well damped but you have to average out a bit if the boat's moving about a lot. I also have a Plastimo Iris hand bearing compass, and find that they're about as good as each other, depends which falls to hand first...
 
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