Binoculars? Which ones? Heeeellllpppp!

[pwmullins]

I have had two pair of Steiner's binoculars. The first pair was bought about 25 years ago in Germany. I love them on the boat until they were stolen about 10 years ago. Then I bought a set of West Marine Steiner binoculars. I paid $500 for these. I could not see any difference and they both had the compass. I.ve always enjoyed them. For what it's worth.

[rodrinn]

Originally Posted by ImaginaryNumber

Could you explain why the compass won't work world wide? Thanks

It is most likely to be angle of the magnetic field - "inclination" which is different in Northern and Southern Hemispheres.

Never had a problem with a silva compass or boats compass but could see that bino compasses may be more tricky.

This link explains better than me
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compas...agnetic_dip.29

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Best bang for the buck?

... pop round to B&H and pick up a pair of these. Fujinon 7x50 FMTR-SX Polaris Binocular 7107507 B&H Photo Video

The duck's guts of binoculars.... as used by better navies around the world..

I have a few pairs of Steiners and a large pair of Fujinon stabi bino's ....... starting again I would certainly go with the Fuji + compass. Excellent optics and value.

[hellosailor]

"I am in New York with a bucket of cash to buy new bond's. Yippee!"
Got any muni's paying six percent at par, with a AAA rating and non-AMT status? (G)


About those binocs...I'd say it comes down to two things. First, warranty and supplier. The folks who made mine--with a lifetime warranty--went bankrupt and unfortunately, mine were there for service at the time, almost got back nothing at all. I suspect West and Steiner both will be around for a while.


But even within one brand (i.e. Nikon) there can be six quality levels all with the same numbers attached. The difference is warranty, construction, weight, coatings on the glass, and the type of glass itself, as well as the precision of the lenses. A maker may say, quietly, their best lenses have a shape that is polished within one micron...anything they pull from the same batch that doesn't spec up, goes to the secondary brand. Pull one of each from the display case, and maybe you can or cant see any difference, maybe in fact both passed the better qc level.
So you really have to look closely at the specs, and then actually TRY OUT the binocs to see if you can tell ay difference.
When I bought mine, that particular pair happened to be just as sharp as Steiners costing twice as much. After the "warranty" repair (an internal prism shattered during indoor winter storage, from stresses in bad mounting one assumes) they couldn't compare--the company didn't have a very tight quality control level, and the replacement prism simply wasn't as good.
BTW Steiner, like Nikon, my offer many price points with "the same" spec. Compare with your eyes, and the warranty terms. "Better" binos may simply have a larger exit pupil size, and if your eyes have smaller pupils? That's just wasted on you. Some eyes dilate out to 7mm at night, most only go out to 5-and-change.

[tankersteve]

Uncivilized mentioned it but the Steiners are at least not the Army's choice of binos anymore - they now use Fujinon. For the price, the top Fujinon (a link was previously posted) have exceptional light gathering ability and are very solidly constructed. Personally, I have seen fewer broken Fujinon than Steiners in heavy mechanized units where both models tended to see a ton of abuse. Also, the armor coating on the Fujinon seem to last longer. However, my opinion is only based on about 5 or 6 company sized units, with anywhere from 20 to 100 binoculars per unit, so others may have a different perspective. And none of these incorporated a compass.

Tankersteve

[JPA Cate]

ImaginaryNumber,

The short story on this is that compasses are generally balanced according to the area where they will be used. If, for instance, you sail from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern, you may find that your ship's compass gets so much dip that it hangs up. Our northern hemisphere "hockey puck" hand bearing compasses did this. However, the various brands of compasses vary in this: and there's probably a writeup about this somewhere online.

At any rate, once the compass hangs up it is useless for getting bearings. Ships compasses can be rebalanced--I don't know whether this can be done with binocular compasses.

Ann

[Boardshorts]

We're really impressed with our new Canon Image Stabilised ones .... we bought the 10x30 which are surprisingly light to hold to the point that we wish we had gone up to at least the 12x36.

On a calm day, the difference the Image Stabilisation makes is good, but in choppy weather the improvément is amazing. There are Series 1, II and a new III about to come out so take care when you are shopping.

[GrahamHO]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

I am in New York with a bucket of cash to buy new bond's. Yippee!
But the range is huge!

West Marine has West Marine branded Steiner 7x 50's for $399 and exact same West Marine 7x 50's not Steiner for $599. Sounds weird!

What's the "best"?

What about image stabilization and night vision that's affordable?

Thoughties puleeeeeze.


Mark

Sent from a stupid phone that replaces words with weird stuff.

Smart phones can often be stupid.
In my humble opinion Canon Stabilised binoculars are the gold standard.
I don't have them unfortunately but I have used them.


I do have Canon DSLRs with several of their stabilised long lenses which can do good duty as stabilised telescopes. Often better than non stabilised binoculars but not as good as Canons's stabilised binoculars.


I once bought ex Russian night vision equipment by mail order and straight away returned it for my money back.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Two General points:

1. Stabilized binocs (Canon or Fujinon) can make a world of difference in the pleasure of using a binocular to see, observe, identify, enjoy something distant. This is where I would place the bulk of your budget.

2. The non-stabilized marine binocular is better when it has glass that has "light transmission" greater than 90% so look for that spec on any marine binocular. Be aware that there may be same brand with different levels of light transmission. For example, there is a relatively inexpensive Fujinon binocular (marine type with compass) that is aimed at entry point for their line, lower cost, and has much lower light transmission than the higher priced models. The percentage and real perception difference is significant, as is the price. I have confirmed this with Fujinon technical support.

I would buy one of each. Most of my viewing would be during the day, so I would place emphasis on the stabilized binoc.

Good luck on your choice.

[bacon]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

We have few threads about the subject already.

Good then this chap seeking help and the advice he will receive will add to that collection.

[River Cruiser]

I have Canon 10x30 stabilized that I bought especially for the stabilization to be able to read the mile mark numbers on day marks. I'am very pleased with them after having used them for a year, the 7x50 binos they replaced are very good for viewing but the Canons make reading distant numbers easy to read where it was often impossible with the others.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

ImaginaryNumber,

The short story on this is that compasses are generally balanced according to the area where they will be used. If, for instance, you sail from the Northern hemisphere to the Southern, you may find that your ship's compass gets so much dip that it hangs up. Our northern hemisphere "hockey puck" hand bearing compasses did this. However, the various brands of compasses vary in this: and there's probably a writeup about this somewhere online.

At any rate, once the compass hangs up it is useless for getting bearings. Ships compasses can be rebalanced--I don't know whether this can be done with binocular compasses.

Ann

True for a floating magnetic compass such as the Steiner and Fujinon.

Which is one reason that I bought binoculars with a digital compass (Bushnell 7x50 Marine ). They aren't bothered by dip.

[El Pinguino]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

ImaginaryNumber,
........
At any rate, once the compass hangs up it is useless for getting bearings. Ships compasses can be rebalanced--I don't know whether this can be done with binocular compasses.

Ann

The construction of 'big ship ' compasses is such that they aren't affected by 'dip'.

I believe that with some top of the range binos - maybe Steiner- you can change the compass module to suit. Bit 'spensive though.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

The construction of 'big ship ' compasses is such that they aren't affected by 'dip'.

I believe that with some top of the range binos - maybe Steiner- you can change the compass module to suit. Bit 'spensive though.

Are the modules for N Hemisphere vs S? Or what?

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by ImaginaryNumber

Could you explain why the compass won't work world wide? Thanks

From Steiner's FAQ (FAQs | Steiner Optics):

In order to get an accurate compass-heading reading from a compass, the magnetic needle in the compass must be able to move freely inside the compass capsule. The needle must be balanced to make sure it can move freely, without touching and dragging along the top or bottom of the capsule; while consistently and precisely point to a compass-heading.

The compass industry has divided the earth into 5 zones. Your compass is pre-set for the magnetic field in the northern hemisphere (Zone 2). If you sail too far outside of the pre-set zone, the compass needle might stick or not work at all. Many trans-oceanic sailors will take 2 or 3 binoculars with different zones.

Changing compass modules is not a DIY project. You can send your binoculars to our Service Center if you need a different compass zone.

Steiner do have a $$$$ all zone version. Electronic and gyro compasses wouldn't suffer from this issue.