Binoculars

[Dave_Rolfe]

I have been watching a pair of Tasco Offshore 54 binoculars on Ebay and have been amazed that they finished at £90 but the reserve was not met.

Having looked at the internet I am confused to find under an Offshore 54 search I have found them listed as Tasco, Bushnell and Sea Go. Are all these models the same with a bit of 'badge engineering' or are they all different in some way (the specs seem the same). If they are the same then I think the ebay ones will remain unsold as I have found some Sea Go Offshore 54s at £89.95.

Has anyone experience of these binoculars and would you recommend them as a suitable pair of bins for use on a 29ft sailing boat. Pluses and minuses would be appreciated.

 

[pvb]

Lots of eBayers (both sellers and buyers) have little idea of the true cost of brand-new items. It's amazing what some people will pay!

 

[MarkJohnson12345]

Ebay is a world to itself............

I bought a 'Marine' pair of bino's from Ebay. In the daylight they were excellent, very crisp view.

Alas at night, because they had this red coating on the lense, red lights were masked as ordinary white yellow light.

They broke in the end.

I then bought a cheap pair from Lidl's last year (£14) and have to say they do the job. (so far)

Regards

 

[Goldie]

My wife struggles to use binoculars and we visited Monk Optics at SIBS so that she could try a monocular. The very knowledgeable and helpful salesman suggested that she try a pair of fixed focus BInoculars as he thought these would be worth a try. Bingo! for the first time ever, SWMBO has a pair of binos that give her a clear image and the best bit was that for a waterproof, nitrogen filled, pair of 7 x 50s, the price was <£60!!! The only downside of the fixed focus design is the inability to use them at short range - say <20m.

 

[Poignard]

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone experience of these binoculars and would you recommend them as a suitable pair of bins for use on a 29ft sailing boat. Pluses and minuses would be appreciated.


[/ QUOTE ]

I had a pair of Tasco 54 binocs [regrettably they are now at the bottom of the outer harbour in Cherbourg] and they were ok. Usual problems with cheap binocular/compasses were rather poor stabilisation and shadows over the compass scale in certain conditions.

I replaced them with a pair of 7x50s from Compass Watersports which seemed good value for money but the after-sales service is very poor. They became faulty last year and I have been trying to get Compass to replace/repair them for quite a while now; I fear the guarantee will have run out before I see them again!

 

[actionoptics]

Hi Dave. As you may gather from my name, my business is binoculars. You are correct in assuming that the Tasco; Bushnell and Seago are the same binocular with a different badge. In fact Bushnell now own the Tasco brand name. The Offshore 54 is made in Hong Kong by Haking and I think I have seem them for sale, new, for £80 and they are worth the money. They are a bit plasticy ( is that a word?) so don't like being bounced ( but what bino does?) but they can be dismantled and reset quite easily. Try borrowing one before you buy and that goes for any model, as some will suit the shape of your face and your eyes whilst others won't. We have two compass binos on board because I can't see the compass in Jan's and she can't see the compass in mine.

 

[oldestgit]

Yes:
I have a couple of pairs on board and my favourites are the Tasco 54's for maybe the last 6 years or so.

I accidentally bounced them in the airport on the way back from the Greek islands 2 years ago and that man just ahead of me (actionoptics) kindly reset them....

Still excellent and great value for that sort of money, I can't remember but I fancy I paid just over £100 for them, about year 2000.
. Peter