TiggerToo
Well-Known Member
What power / magnification do you regard as optimal for hand-held binoculars to be used on a sailing boat?
What power binos for sailing?
- Thread starter TiggerToo
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ferrymaniom
Well-Known Member
7x50 for me.
Daedelus
Well-Known Member
8 x 50 max. Even then the image bumps around a bit.
After that you need one of the self adjusting things that take out some of the wobble. Too expensive for me!
After that you need one of the self adjusting things that take out some of the wobble. Too expensive for me!
fergie_mac66
Well-Known Member
2 pair
i have some 8x50 with a compass one of the many things I carry back and forwards between home and boats !. I also have some cheapish ones that zoom up to 14X50 occasional can be used when calm . I find that in rougher conditions I can sometimes pick a buoy top-mark up 5 or ten min's earlier at the expense of getting dizzy !!!
i have some 8x50 with a compass one of the many things I carry back and forwards between home and boats !. I also have some cheapish ones that zoom up to 14X50 occasional can be used when calm . I find that in rougher conditions I can sometimes pick a buoy top-mark up 5 or ten min's earlier at the expense of getting dizzy !!!
Skysail
Well-Known Member
7x50 gives max light gathering. All those U-Boat captains can't be wrong! I sometimes feel that most binoculars are OK by day, its at dusk and by night that you need the difference in quality.
T
timbartlett
Guest
I seem to remember from some research I did years ago that 7x50s represent the best compromise between power and light gathering for a young adult, because the 7mm "exit pupil" (not sure if that's the right word) is the same size as the pupil of a human eye.
But as we get older, our pupils do not dilate as much as when we are in our 20s and 30s, so we don't really benefit from the 7mm "exit pupil", and we might find a smaller and lighter binocular easier to use.
I'm no expert, but next time I buy bins, I'm going to look very seriously at 7x35 or 7x40
Searush
Well-Known Member
7x50 are also known as Night Glasses for their light gathering capability & adequate magnification for hand held use. I have 2 cheap pairs aboard - cost under 50 squid (on the basis that I am bound to drop a pair overboard sooner or later.
However they are quite large & I bought 2 pair of modern lightweight small format Pentax 8x21 for SWMBO & I to carry on walks. The quality is astonishing - so take a visit your local specialist shop & try a few out. You can get a decent pair for 50-100 squid and they slip easily round your neck under a cag or even a shirt, or just drop in a pocket. Many are waterproof too - my older boat 7x50's tend to mist up when subjected to use in the rain.
If you want something more powerful, watch out for Aldi's spotter scope deal. It needs a tripod & has some noticeable edge distortion, but at about 20 squid is amazing value for what it does. Not much use on the boat unless you are aground tho' - but a bilgekeeler in the mud flats at low water is the best hide you can get.
However they are quite large & I bought 2 pair of modern lightweight small format Pentax 8x21 for SWMBO & I to carry on walks. The quality is astonishing - so take a visit your local specialist shop & try a few out. You can get a decent pair for 50-100 squid and they slip easily round your neck under a cag or even a shirt, or just drop in a pocket. Many are waterproof too - my older boat 7x50's tend to mist up when subjected to use in the rain.
If you want something more powerful, watch out for Aldi's spotter scope deal. It needs a tripod & has some noticeable edge distortion, but at about 20 squid is amazing value for what it does. Not much use on the boat unless you are aground tho' - but a bilgekeeler in the mud flats at low water is the best hide you can get.
Porthandbuoy
Well-Known Member
I've got a pair of Plastimo 7x50 self focusing bins that must be all of 20 years old. I've also got a nice wee pair of 8x35 Steiners I picked up at a game fair a couple of years ago.
I find the 8x35s much harder to use if the sea is a bit lumpy, of very little use in poor light, and impossible to use with my specs on.
I'd plump for a pair of 7x50 autofocus bins again, but with better coatings and nitrogen filled.
I find the 8x35s much harder to use if the sea is a bit lumpy, of very little use in poor light, and impossible to use with my specs on.
I'd plump for a pair of 7x50 autofocus bins again, but with better coatings and nitrogen filled.
Old Troll
Well-Known Member
Old Troll
We use the Binomaster 7x50 from Compass Watersports onboard and find them really good value for general use.
We use the Binomaster 7x50 from Compass Watersports onboard and find them really good value for general use.
Danny Jo
Well-Known Member
7x50 - Aldi's at £50, complete with internal compass, are pretty good optically, although the damping on the compass leaves something to be desired.
The first figure is the magnification, and market forces seem to have driven the cheaper models to ever greater magnifications. Any more than 7x magnification is counterproductive at sea, because even if you have a steady hand, your eyes can't fix on the image as it joggles about with the movement of the boat.
The second figure is the diameter, in millimetres, of the objective lenses. The larger the objective lens, the more light is gathered. Anything more than 50mm requires strong arms to support. Objectives smaller than 50mm give you lighter binoculars that capture less light.
The other factors to consider are quality of the optics and surface coatings (in general you get what you pay for); waterproofing and immunity from salt spray (which generally rules out the focusing mechanisms used in ordinary binoculars and requires marine binoculars to have a large depth of field); image stabilization, which requires battery power, not to mention quite a lot more cash; and objective lens shading (whereby the objectives are set in from the ends of the casing tubes, preventing glare caused by sunlight or light from bright clouds hitting the outer surface of the objective).
The first figure is the magnification, and market forces seem to have driven the cheaper models to ever greater magnifications. Any more than 7x magnification is counterproductive at sea, because even if you have a steady hand, your eyes can't fix on the image as it joggles about with the movement of the boat.
The second figure is the diameter, in millimetres, of the objective lenses. The larger the objective lens, the more light is gathered. Anything more than 50mm requires strong arms to support. Objectives smaller than 50mm give you lighter binoculars that capture less light.
The other factors to consider are quality of the optics and surface coatings (in general you get what you pay for); waterproofing and immunity from salt spray (which generally rules out the focusing mechanisms used in ordinary binoculars and requires marine binoculars to have a large depth of field); image stabilization, which requires battery power, not to mention quite a lot more cash; and objective lens shading (whereby the objectives are set in from the ends of the casing tubes, preventing glare caused by sunlight or light from bright clouds hitting the outer surface of the objective).
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