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06-13-2020, 11:57 AM
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#61
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Veteran Member
City: Lake Havasu city
Vessel Name: DOS MAS
Vessel Model: Ocean 50 mk1
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 47
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Maybe they have ,"2 pair"
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06-13-2020, 06:23 PM
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#62
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Guru
City: Burien
Vessel Name: Intrepid
Vessel Model: North Pacific/ NP-45 Hull 10
Join Date: Apr 2020
Posts: 684
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I ordered a fuginion 14x40 last night. Thanks for all the input.
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06-14-2020, 12:18 AM
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#63
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Member
City: Piermont
Vessel Name: YETTA
Vessel Model: 2017 Ranger Tug R-29 CB
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 11
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I have a monocular. Difficult to hold steady. I do not use it on the boat. I use 7x50’s I have had them for thirty years. I cannot recall the brand, but they have been all over land and sea. I think that I got them from B&H.
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06-14-2020, 04:29 AM
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#64
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Member
City: Piermont
Vessel Name: YETTA
Vessel Model: 2017 Ranger Tug R-29 CB
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 11
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Does anyone use night vision binoculars. I have only come into marinas in the dark a few times, but it was very dark. We did ok, but I was thinking that it might be easier with night vision goggles. Hard to find your way through mooring fields in the dark. I prefer to come in daylight, but it does not always work our that way.
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06-14-2020, 11:02 PM
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#65
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Senior Member
City: Potomac Maryland
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 105
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pete Meisinger
7 X 50, nothing stronger. I have a pair of "Steiners" which I LOVE, they are great. I also have a pair with a compass , I think they are West Marine. Nice but quite heavy.
Save your pennies, get stabilized with a compass from Steiner. The price is slowly dropping.
DON'T BUY CHEAP BINOCULARS!!
pete
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Agree 100%. I have the techno-stabi from Fijinon. They are stabilized 14x40 and are much better than 7x50. Since the image is completely fixed, the eye can accumulate the image in low light conditions. I have been able to read navaid info even in low light conditions.
After four binoculars, I decided to get stabilized binoculars. It is the only kind that works for boating. Any binocular not stabilized is not useful in boating.
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06-14-2020, 11:13 PM
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#66
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Guru
City: LaConner
Vessel Model: 34' CHB
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,257
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"Any binocular not stabilized is not useful in boating",
I cant go along with this at all. Everyone got along just fine without the newest and greatest for many years. Not saying they might not be a good option, but your statement is just not logical. After all, any binocular is better than none, at least for short periods. Lousy binos will surely give one a headache pretty quick though. My 35 year old Nikon 7x50's work just fine now as they did when I was sailing professionally. No plans to upgrade.
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06-14-2020, 11:35 PM
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#67
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Guru
City: Anacortes
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 1,189
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Whatever you buy, buy something good. My 25+ year old 7x50 Fuji’s still make me happy and are still the binocular I often reach for. It’s a great balance of magnification, depth of view with little focusing and wide vision. I long ago stopped caring about the money I parted with to buy them. Never once had buyers remorse.
Last year I treated myself to some stabilized Fuji 14x40’s. They are a joy and I can actually read boat names and vhf channels and other things. But for a quick and immediate scan around the vessel, the 7x50’s are still quicker and I’m at a loss for how anyone would say they are now obsolete.
I use both and each is a great tool in its own rite and each has its place. I feel very spoiled to now have both.
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06-14-2020, 11:35 PM
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#68
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Moderator Emeritus
City: Au Gres, MI
Vessel Name: Black Dog
Vessel Model: Formula 41PC
Join Date: Jul 2015
Posts: 21,187
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Since unstabilized binoculars were the standard 50 years ago that doesn’t mean that something better has not come along and the old standard isn’t anymore. Do you still buy unsliced bread? Do you still watch B&W TV? Probably not, so please stop saying that 7x50s are the standard or stabilized is not the way to go. Stabilized binoculars do perform better on the water. My wife was a prime example of someone that didn’t want to use stabilized binoculars since they are too heavy and too complicated, until I sorta forced her to use mine. Now she never picks up her 7x50s. Most of the people who argue against stabilized binoculars have not used them, or used them enough to be good with them.
__________________
Boat Nut:
If you are one there is no explanation necessary.
If you aren’t one, there is no explanation possible.
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06-15-2020, 05:24 AM
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#69
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Guru
City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,149
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I have used stabilized, heck I helped field test stabilized Fujinons when they loaned them to the USCG in the 1980s. And have used all kinds of cool optics since then, even made a presentation to senior officers on the direction they should put research and development money.
They ARE great, cool, expensive....but NOT necessary. Even 7X50s are barely necessary. But they do meet the minimum requirements well enough.
Does that mean if you can afford a set of stabilized you should pass? Heck no if you will use them worthy of their price tag.
But it's an interesting arguement for people who could and should beef up their safety equipment first, or take docking lessons and what they save in dock crashes they can afford any binocs, or buy boating items that they really need more than something that is great, cool, expensive ( unless you have lots of discretionary cash).
Many times I have raised my unstabilized binocs and have been unable to clearly see something .....but did that really alter what I was doing or affect safety? Well if it did, I cant remember one instance boating...maybe on a rescue mission it changed things....but we rarely flew with them as they never became standard equipment on helos....but maybe cutters.
After a 2 professional careers of looking for things on the water, if I felt they were NECESSARY, I would have them. Even my employers never felt that way....but yes they work and if you really want a pair...go for it.
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06-15-2020, 02:40 PM
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#70
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Guru
City: LaConner
Vessel Model: 34' CHB
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 1,257
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Very well stated!
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06-15-2020, 03:07 PM
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#71
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Guru
City: Aventura FL
Vessel Name: Kinja
Vessel Model: American Tug 34 #116 2008
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 10,595
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I have 2 Flir cameras. The aft camera is fixed. The fwd camera can swing right, left, up and down. They can go X2 which along with the night vision make night travel pretty nice when searching unlighted nav aids.
__________________
Two days out the hospital after a week in the hospital because of a significant heart attack.
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06-17-2020, 01:44 AM
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#72
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Senior Member
City: Potomac Maryland
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 105
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You said, "...After all, any binocular is better than none, ..." Not in boating, no way. There are several vendors of 7 X 50 binoculars under $50. Not for boating. Under the conditions where the function of a good pair of binoculars is most valuable and critical in boating, one may barely be able to hold steady while holding the binoculars with one hand. In such a situation, rocking and motion of the boat render useless any non-stabilized binoculars.
Naval binoculars are not instruments for bird watching. They are for reading floating navaid markings, man overboard situations and coastal features that are critical for navigation while possibly under very unstable and moving conditions.
In my experience, using non-stabilized binoculars ended up being more dangerous than none at all as they demanded a level of concentration that compromised the attention required by other aspects of the watch while navigating and piloting the vessel.
Allow me to insist that given the amounts of money spent for safety in boating, not spending a few hundred dollars more for a set of stabilized binoculars is foolish.
I invite you to imagine one of my experiences, 15 mph cross winds, choppy seas when returning trying to identify the legend of a navaid to remain in the channel while fighting the wind. With the stabilized binoculars you get a chance to pose your eyesight for the 2 or 3 seconds necessary to read and interpret the markings. With non-stabilized binoculars, forget it.
In a nutshell, non-stabilized binoculars in the marine environment are effective only under the kind of benign conditions that render them unnecessary in the first place. Why bother then. Get the real stuff. Get stabilized binoculars. One time you use them under realistic boating conditions and you will agree with me.
__________________
Rodolfo
SeaTrek
Marine Trader 40
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06-17-2020, 03:18 AM
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#73
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Guru
City: Edgewater, MD
Vessel Name: Catalina Jack
Vessel Model: Defever 44
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 3,585
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Now here is a strong opinion. Here is another. I had both, Fujinon 7x50 and Techno-Stabi 14 power. Sold the Techno's. Never found them of much use. Field of view far too narrow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rolomart3
You said, "...After all, any binocular is better than none, ..." Not in boating, no way. There are several vendors of 7 X 50 binoculars under $50. Not for boating. Under the conditions where the function of a good pair of binoculars is most valuable and critical in boating, one may barely be able to hold steady while holding the binoculars with one hand. In such a situation, rocking and motion of the boat render useless any non-stabilized binoculars.
Naval binoculars are not instruments for bird watching. They are for reading floating navaid markings, man overboard situations and coastal features that are critical for navigation while possibly under very unstable and moving conditions.
In my experience, using non-stabilized binoculars ended up being more dangerous than none at all as they demanded a level of concentration that compromised the attention required by other aspects of the watch while navigating and piloting the vessel.
Allow me to insist that given the amounts of money spent for safety in boating, not spending a few hundred dollars more for a set of stabilized binoculars is foolish.
I invite you to imagine one of my experiences, 15 mph cross winds, choppy seas when returning trying to identify the legend of a navaid to remain in the channel while fighting the wind. With the stabilized binoculars you get a chance to pose your eyesight for the 2 or 3 seconds necessary to read and interpret the markings. With non-stabilized binoculars, forget it.
In a nutshell, non-stabilized binoculars in the marine environment are effective only under the kind of benign conditions that render them unnecessary in the first place. Why bother then. Get the real stuff. Get stabilized binoculars. One time you use them under realistic boating conditions and you will agree with me.
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06-17-2020, 05:21 AM
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#74
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Senior Member
City: Med
Join Date: May 2015
Posts: 135
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rolomart3
You said, "...After all, any binocular is better than none, ..." Not in boating, no way. There are several vendors of 7 X 50 binoculars under $50. Not for boating. Under the conditions where the function of a good pair of binoculars is most valuable and critical in boating, one may barely be able to hold steady while holding the binoculars with one hand. In such a situation, rocking and motion of the boat render useless any non-stabilized binoculars.
In a nutshell, non-stabilized binoculars in the marine environment are effective only under the kind of benign conditions that render them unnecessary in the first place. Why bother then. Get the real stuff. Get stabilized binoculars. One time you use them under realistic boating conditions and you will agree with me.
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I now wonder, how I managed to safely sail the seven seas for the last decades with only my Zeiss 7 x 50 at hand ...
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06-17-2020, 05:56 AM
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#75
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Guru
City: Ft Pierce
Vessel Name: Sold
Vessel Model: Was an Albin/PSN 40
Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 28,149
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I often wonder..... when strong opinions countering very experienced boaters/professional mariners are expressed so matter of factly with no room for debate......hmmmmmm.
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06-17-2020, 06:54 AM
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#76
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Guru
City: Alexandria, VA
Vessel Model: 2000 Wellcraft
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 1,467
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I've always got by with 10 x 50 Steiners.
That said, we had some of the stabilized binoculars at work, and they were pretty cool to use out on the water.
Funny thing was, I took a pair of the stabilized binoculars up in a plane one day, looked through them for 45 minutes, and got air sick for the first and only time my life!
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06-17-2020, 07:10 AM
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#77
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Guru
City: Rochester, NY
Vessel Name: Hour Glass
Vessel Model: Chris Craft 381 Catalina
Join Date: Aug 2019
Posts: 7,553
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Quote:
Originally Posted by catalinajack
Now here is a strong opinion. Here is another. I had both, Fujinon 7x50 and Techno-Stabi 14 power. Sold the Techno's. Never found them of much use. Field of view far too narrow.
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That's a good point. With high magnification binoculars, I'd want a set of lower magnification in reach as well. You can see an object better with the higher magnification, but that doesn't apply if you can't find the object. And for that, a bigger field of view is helpful, especially when you can't see the object with the naked eye yet.
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06-17-2020, 07:14 AM
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#78
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Guru
City: Annapolis
Vessel Name: Ranger
Vessel Model: 58' Sedan Bridge
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 7,088
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Quote:
Originally Posted by psneeld
I often wonder..... when strong opinions countering very experienced boaters/professional mariners are expressed so matter of factly with no room for debate......hmmmmmm.
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Yeah, I don't do all that well with "dogma" either... I'm much better with "different strokes" and "it depends"...
OTOH, I also think it's great when somebody knows and is willing to say what works for them.
-Chris
__________________
Chesapeake Bay, USA
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06-17-2020, 08:09 AM
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#79
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Guru
City: Jacksonville
Vessel Name: Alzero
Vessel Model: Hatteras 63' CPMY
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 1,548
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rslifkin
That's a good point. With high magnification binoculars, I'd want a set of lower magnification in reach as well. You can see an object better with the higher magnification, but that doesn't apply if you can't find the object. And for that, a bigger field of view is helpful, especially when you can't see the object with the naked eye yet.
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This is why the optics makers developed zoom binoculars. Now the next frontier is to incorporate the zoom feature into a stabilized platform. This would be the holy grail of handheld optics: high and low power in the same device with the steadiness to use both under all conditions!
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06-17-2020, 08:19 AM
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#80
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Guru
City: Aventura FL
Vessel Name: Kinja
Vessel Model: American Tug 34 #116 2008
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 10,595
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Something I leaned in the Navy. When searching for something, dont concentrate on the center but rely on your peripheral vision. Once found, then look more closely.
__________________
Two days out the hospital after a week in the hospital because of a significant heart attack.
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