Talk about buying a new pair of binoculars and a lot of people’s eyes glaze over. Too many choices (including many that truly are not easy to see); too many pairs of numbers. But even if you just pick a pair off the shelf, you’re ahead of the game. In my opinion, no cruising boat should be without a decent pair of binoculars – for both safety and enjoyment reasons. You use them to pick up buoys and breakwaters, to see other boats, to tell whether that white thing you spy on the horizon is a low-lying cloud or a distant sailboat. And they can get you a lot closer to whales or birds or even bears on land than you’ll ever get otherwise.
Given that you need a pair, the features – and the pricing – can be confusing. At the low end, a plain Jane pair of 7 x 50 binoculars at West Marine costs $99.99. At the top, a gyrostabilizer pair of 14 x 40 Fraser Optics binoculars at West Marine costs $5,859.99. (In my opinion, for $5,858.99, a pair of binoculars should at least help you dock the boat or make lunch.)
Here’s a great primer from Boat Trader about what to look for in a new pair of binoculars, with a clear explanation of what the numbers mean, plus a discussion of all the options – including compasses, range finders, stabilizers, waterproofing, field of view and auto focus. Take a look:
http://blog.boattrader.com/2017/12/marine-binoculars-101.html
