simonineaston
...looking forward to retiring!
Hi everyone, just joined! I recently treated myself to a pair of early Trinovid 8x40 binoculars to use when out walking, which is one of my main hobbies - I live in Bristol, UK and the country-side (and indeed the city itself) around about the city is very varied and riddled with public rights of way. Heretofor, I've not been particularly interested in bird life, but I'm learning to appreciate them, with guidance from my more experienced chums, for example I've learnt that there's a great spot to see the peregrines that (sometimes) live in the Avon gorge, from the opposite side, atop The Downs. I've also learned about what my birdie friends refer to as "LBJs" although that didn't stop me from being excited when I spotted a Stone Chat the other day, which I'd at first dismissed as another little brown job!
Anyway, my question is simply this: Reading around about my Leitz binoculars I see that they are described as being suitable for use in outdoor environments and common sense tells me that a top-quality instrument from a leading manufacurer should surely be designed and built with its intended use in mind, but in reality how water-proof are my Trinovid B binoculars? Should I put them away at the first sign of rain? Or perhaps I should have them serviced (by Leica?) on the basis that O-rings and sealants may have deteriorted since the day they were assembled... I have a pair of Barr & Stroud Chinese-made 8x binoculars too, which are claimed to be water-proof, but given the British weather, if I erred on the side of caution and took the Barr & Stoud bin.s everytime I thought it might rain, I'd never actually get to use the Lietz! Advice please!
Anyway, my question is simply this: Reading around about my Leitz binoculars I see that they are described as being suitable for use in outdoor environments and common sense tells me that a top-quality instrument from a leading manufacurer should surely be designed and built with its intended use in mind, but in reality how water-proof are my Trinovid B binoculars? Should I put them away at the first sign of rain? Or perhaps I should have them serviced (by Leica?) on the basis that O-rings and sealants may have deteriorted since the day they were assembled... I have a pair of Barr & Stroud Chinese-made 8x binoculars too, which are claimed to be water-proof, but given the British weather, if I erred on the side of caution and took the Barr & Stoud bin.s everytime I thought it might rain, I'd never actually get to use the Lietz! Advice please!
