Binoculars

JonWA said:
It looks like you are right and I really wished I already owned a pair, just can't bring myself to buy new after watching that. It sounds like 7 x 50 is the way to go, but no obvious Steiner equivalent.
Click to expand...

When I bought the boat, which had previously been in charter with Suncharter in Marmaris, the inventory just said "Pair of Binoculars" and to my surprise and delight they proved to be an old pair of Steiner Navigators.
 
Zing said:
In a word or maybe two, Fujinon Technostabi. You'll kick Leica out of bed for them.
Click to expand...

I recently acquired a Leica binocular (no stabilisation or compass) and I am astonished at how good they are. Or, to put it another way, I had never realised before just how bad cheap binoculars are.
 
skipmac said:
Wow. If I trade in my old binocs for a set of Steiners will I get a girlfriend with bleach blond hair and big h**ters?

Seriously, I have a pair of Nikon 7X50 marine binocs that are excellent and my wife has a pair of Canon 10X35 stabilzed that are even better. Even with only 7X magnification I find I can't read the numbers on channel markers any better than with the naked eye due to shake. However, the Canon stabilized are great. Much better for reading signs and numbers at a distance than anything else I've tried.

By the way, Canon isn't the only stabilized binocular. Nikon and several other companies make them. One caveat, the Canons are not marine in any sense of the word.
Click to expand...

I expect you might, looks like that's what they are for.

The Nikon Monarch 8 x 42 seem a good compromise, a bit more multi functional and with same or greater field of view as the Steiner. Think I'll take a look at those.
 
Last edited:
JonWA said:
A bit pricey and lumpy for me, but love the techno stabi name, sounds like a really mean new music genre.
Click to expand...
I see from their spec that they weigh 1300g, which would be too much for me. I'm not sure what my Canon weighs, but it only takes 2 AAs against the Fujinon 4 and I keep the weight down by using Lithium batteries. According to their blurb, the new Canon IS ones are waterproof, though my old ones are not, though they all seem a lot more pricey. I think I paid about £280 in 2000.
 
JonWA said:
A bit pricey and lumpy for me, but love the techno stabi name, sounds like a really mean new music genre.
Click to expand...
Yep, they rock.:)

I have a pair of Canon mid priced IS too, I forget the model, but they are far inferior. I'll bet the top end model is good though. This is a product where the law of 'you get what you pay for' applies.
 
Last edited:
I've got a Swift Audubon 8.5x44s which don't seem too powerful for boat use.
I really like their high contrast/lack of flare, which seems to me to be where cheap binocs often fall down.
They're not a current model, but (maybe because they're the old fashioned twin prism type) seem to go for around £100 on ebay
 
I've recently bought a pair of Minox BN 7x50 DC bins with digital compass. Although not as robust as the Steiners, the image quality seems great. I wouldn't throw them around too much but they're better than most and currently just over £300
 
I use a pair of Canon 10x30 image stabilised binoculars on our boat. They are not waterproof and do not have a compass, but they are extraordinary at sea. Hold the button down and you can suddenly read the name of an approaching ship.
 
prv said:
I'd like it, but many of the purposes for which I use binoculars involve the built-in compass. As far as I'm aware (and probably for good technical reasons) nobody makes image-stabilised binos with a compass in.

Pete
Click to expand...
Horses for courses, of course. I have no, or very little use, for a compass in my binoculars, whereas others, including a friend of mine, swear by them. I can't take a bearing any more accurately through them on a moving boat than with a hand-bearing one, and the only application I am likely to use is when a ship with its bearing appears on AIS and I want to look for it.
 
Technology has moved on.
I find my old digital camera with 50x zoom and stabalised image much more use than my expensive carl zeiss binos. Get HD video running, point and hold as stable as you can, then review the image. I don't think I would buy another pair of binos.
 
Halo said:
Technology has moved on.
I find my old digital camera with 50x zoom and stabalised image much more use than my expensive carl zeiss binos. Get HD video running, point and hold as stable as you can, then review the image. I don't think I would buy another pair of binos.
Click to expand...
There's something to be said for that. I sometimes use my camera as substitute binos when I have gone for a walk without them. The main problem I can conceive is that in sunshine one would probably have to retreat to the cabin to view the image.
 
GrahamD said:
I use a pair of Canon 10x30 image stabilised binoculars on our boat. They are not waterproof and do not have a compass, but they are extraordinary at sea. Hold the button down and you can suddenly read the name of an approaching ship.
Click to expand...

I have both ex Admiralty 7 x 50s on the boat, and Canon 10 x 30 stabilised. I now almost invariably use the canon stabilised bins. The 7 x 50s are probably better for generally searching (periscopes etc!) as they have a wider field of view, but when it comes to checking out specific details such as the characteristics of buoys, the Canons win every time. Also when you finally drop anchor the Canons are brilliant for bird watching. Having said that, we have the Beaulieu Boat Jumble coming up on 23 April where there are always large numbers of binoculars for sale, new and used. Bins never actually wear out but they do occasionally get knocked and misaligned and dirty if not cared for so important to check them out before buying. Bottom line: my recommendation is a pair of second hand but clean 7 x 50's from Beaulieu and put the canon stabilised on your birthday wish list.
 
What the advert tells me is that Steiners are for the swinging jet set Med/Florida boating people. What I want is binos that survive a swinger mooring in the rain, mud and muck of the average UK estuary! would they even survive small boat knocks and mistreatment? Thats what I need to know. I go with Seajet - buy cheap and treat them as disposable.
 
oldharry said:
What the advert tells me is that Steiners are for the swinging jet set Med/Florida boating people.
Click to expand...

It doesn't even really say that, since I'm sure even those people would laugh at the idiots carrying their fancy binoculars around strapped to their torsos 24/7. It's just a crap advert by an agency that doesn't seem to understand the market at all.

I reckon they'd have done much better to play on the "professional" image - crisp white shirts, rank slides, calm control - and appeal to the kind of yachtsman who sees himself as a steely-eyed destroyer captain or the master of the QE2.

Pete
 
The trouble with Steiners/Swarovski etc is purely cost, depending on which model you can pay anything from £250 to £1,000: but you get 90% of the performance from my Russian 7x50s (though twice the weight), one pair at home were Ebay at £20 and one on the boat £10 at a car boot sale. On the boat I also have a pair of Greenkat (Japanese) 8x40s that are quite light but very good which cost £12 on Ebay.

Sooner or later binoculars on sailing yachts will get dropped and/or put down on one side just before you tack or gybe. No-one actually sailing a small/medium sized yacht wants binoculars on a strap getting in the way when winching or climbing up and down the companionway, so they get tucked somwhere hopefully safeish and dryissh in the cockpit.

I can always think of a better use of £200-£1000 for a boat than really expensive binoculars.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top