best binos in the 500-1000$ range

ceriksson

ceriksson

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I'm looking for a high quality pair of binos for working on the bridge of a ship.

something around 8 or 10 power and a minimum of 45 optical diameter.

they also need to have a decent sized eye cup as I wear glasses.

I've been looking into zeiss, leica, and swarovski, but over 1000$ is getting a little too high for a government salary.

I've been keeping an eye out for used ones, but what are some other options for good glass or some good prices on the above three?
 
I got a pair of brand new Nikon monach atb 10x42, they are cristal clear you can barely see the difference with the swarovski! PM me if your interested, I bought another pair of Nikon 16x50 for varmint hunting and I dont use my 10x42 anymore :)
 
Fujinon 7x50 FMT-SX

if you are carrying them and not deck mounted .. personally I would stay with a good 7x...

takahashiamerica.com has them for $540.

I would also not take my own bino's to use on HMCS ... too many ways to loose or get damaged.

what is wrong with the issued bino's? Used to be Elcan 7x,50 they are about as good as they get if kept clean. Not sure what is in the system now .. I have seen Fujinon's issued fwiw but they were for arty general use.
 
I picked up a pair of the Bushnell Elite E2's and absolutly love them. I think their only a 42mm, but I use them at night with great results. I use them for star gazing, night time critter watching and such and they are just beautiful. Of course they are no Swaravski, but for $500, in my opinion they compare quite well. They have twist out eye cups for your glasses, so that's not an issue either.
 
Well, 7x50 is the standard marine binocular...kind of narrows you down for brands.

Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology publish a big binocular review every few years...I would start there as they are real experts. I picked up some Monarch ATBs on their say-so, and I recommend them highly, but I'm not sure about your application...you will want a lower magnification for sure.
 
The pentax SP's are very good and have been replaced with the ED's I think. They are very close to the Leica's etc. Check our NYcamerland website it's a spnsor here, they are great to deal with and have excellent demo's.

Doug is a great guy.
 
Nikon Superior E, Venturer are THE best rated binos for the last several years. They are all under $1000.

The Nikon Monarchs are also really good but the last bit of resolution would be pretty important given the application.

I use the Nikon Monarch 8X42 and Action EX Extreme 12X50 for hunting and shooting. Optics are more then adequate to see wild grass at 1000m.

YMMV

Jerry
 
Thanks guys.

The reason i'm looking more for 10x is that it makes a lot of difference for me in my experience on the bridge I have tried both and I need it for reading ship names at a distance and picking up leadmarks and other important navigation marks during coastal sailing.

I looked into minox and they look really good. My friend just got a pair of nikon 10x52 and they are great, but I'm not in love with the eye cups on them, not very comfortable with my glasses.

Also the reason for not using issued ones is that I won't have to fight over them and I can have my own to worry about. plus the ones they have had issued lately aren't all that great.. looked them up.. they are like 60$ a pair. definately not the best quality. and I'll leave the bigeyes for the lookouts.

I'll look into the nikons too mysticplayer.

but on my experience 10 power and a 50ish objective diameter works best for me
 
I have actually, my roomate has a pair.. they are good too.. another one to look at.

I've taken a liking to vortex binos.. anyone here have any experience with them? I'd like a straight set rather than porro prism ones
 
I have glasses as well this link is how I made my decision to purchase my Nikon Monarch 8-42. The eye relief is great and the eye cups will turn in for eyeglasses or out for non eye glass wearers. This independent study compares everything and puts the Nikon Monarchs up with much higher priced bino's. I would suggest optics planet on Illinois. They have sales and had the best price of all other sites I checked. I think they deliver to Canada as well. I am very happy with my Monarchs.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/Publications/LivingBird/Winter2005/Age_Binos.html
 
yea i've been all over their site lately. looking at getting the vortex razors from them:

digimarc.ms


I also think there is a local dealer in town where I can test them too and see how the eye cups fit.
 
Go onto ebay....type in "elcan" 60,s 70,s cdn military bino,s. They work great. I have 2 pr. Very clear and bright. They sell within your price range.
 
crazy_davey said:
Check out Camera Land under their Demo/samples section. You will have a hard time finding better prices anywhere.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I picked up a demo pair of Vortex Viper 8x42 and they are AWESOME. Shipped to my door with tax and shipping was $460 CDN!

They have a 10x42 that I contemplated... the glass is top notch (in my opinion, and the opinion of many bird watchers on the web).
 
canucklehead said:
Agreed - I picked up a demo pair of Vortex Viper 8x42 and they are AWESOME. Shipped to my door with tax and shipping was $460 CDN!

They have a 10x42 that I contemplated... the glass is top notch (in my opinion, and the opinion of many bird watchers on the web).
Click to expand...

awesome a vortex user.. a big factor for me is the eye cups.. what can you tell me about them regarding glasses? they compatible? if you dont wear eyeglasses could you try them with some sunglasses on or something? I want to make sure they 1. don't interfere with them on, 2 are comfortable and 3 don't scuff my glasses or dirty them making me have to clean my glasses regularly
 
I wear contacts most of the time, but I've also tried them with glasses and sunglasses- no issues at all.

In fact, you rotate the eyecups out, and you can adjust them to one of four positions (down, 1/3, 2/3, fully out). All of my family members with glasses have had no issues either.

The cups themselves are metal coated with rubber supple rubber. Hard to describe, but they are very soft on the tops, and they haven't scratched my Oakleys or my prescriptions.

I was trying to decide between the Viper series and the Razor, but in the end, the incremental increase in performance (on paper anyway - I never did find somewhere local that carried Vortex) was not worth the extra $300 or so. I'm VERY happy with my Vipers.

Do a google search, and there are a number of very positive in-depth reviews of the Vipers.

Or, contact Doug at www.cameralandny.com and ask for his opinion - he deals with hunters and birdwatcher/nature walk types, and I know he's very in-tune with his customer base!
 
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