Offshore survey bins (1 Viewer)

Im trying to work out what would be the best bins for offshore surveying. My company is prepared to stump up BUT they must be a trade off between expense, image quality, ease of use at sea and durability. My own budget pair died a death at the hands of sea spray last week so these will be a replacement. The company are NOT going to stump up for Leica, Swaros etc. My own investigations found Opticron Explorer BGA 8 x 42. What do people reckon? £250 is probably the top of the budget as we need a few pairs.

Cheers

James

Look at the Vortex 8 x 42 Diamondback if you can find them in England. They are really solidly built and have an excellent warranty.

http://www.cameralandny.com/optics/vortex.pl?page=vortexdiamondback8x42

I have one and can vouch for it. They aren't as bright as my Leica 7 x 42 Trinovid BN but they cost about 1000.00 bucks less!
Cordially,
Bob

There are plenty of specialist marine products from any number of makers out there at under your budget. Ours are listed here:

http://www.opticron.co.uk/Pages/marine.htm

The 7x50 spec suits the need for something that provides good light gathering with the ups and downs (literally) of being at sea. A relatively lower mag will be easier/more comfortable to use for extended periods.

Note that you should look for something that has a large depth of field to reduce (or more or less negate) the need to re-focus and for an indication of some ruggedising such as prism bracing, rubber armouring etc.

Whilst the Explorer is waterproof, it has a relatively limited depth of field for this application and also is aimed at wildlife watchers so doesn't have the additional knocks and bumps protection that you should expect in a specialist marine model. Also, its twist up eyecup mechanism would be susceptable to build up of salt from evaporated sea water. This is one reason why we continue with fold down eyecups on the marine products.

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Pete

Another vote for 7x50s I've used them all day cetacean monitoring. And make sure they are fully waterproof.

cheers guys thats really useful

You can't go wrong with Opticron. I checked your blog, and I see why you are considering an 8x42.

These chinese ed binoculars are very nice, competative with name brand sales.
I first checked Bushnell Ultra HD ED 8x, but it is sold much above your guidelines.
The Hawke 8x ed is the closest--
They are waterproof, so they can be used near sea spray. I would keep some fresh water on hand to wash them off every time they get salt water on them. That would extend their life of use.

Opticron ought to have an ed model....

The control of chromatic aberration does give a more pleasing focus on the feathers and colors of birds. You would get that with the use of ED glass.

I would add a little of my own cash to the employer's to stretch to get these ED models.

Amazon UK link to binoculars

Rob