Navigation or Boating Binoculars

Binoculars are great to have on your boat. Good binoculars are invaluable for reading channel marker numbers or signs on bridges so you can know where you are so you can plan your action. They can run from cheap to expensive, and have extras like a compass or rangefinder reticule built in. Binoculars are as important as a basic compass, and can work with a GPS, and a chart plotter for boating safety.

Binoculars have a number telling you what the magnification they are. You will see a number like 7X50 or 8X32 or 7X42 on them. The first number is magnification. A 7 means that what you are looking at appears that it is 7 times closer. The second number is the size of the front lens. The larger the number the larger the front lens is, and the larger the lens is the brighter the image you see is. It is like how much light is let in a room by a small window compared to how much light a picture window lets in.

A binocular is simply two telescopes mounted together, one for each eye. The mechanical connection of the two telescopes determines how good the image you see is. The collimation or alignment of both should / must give only one image when you look through both telescopes at the same time. If you see a slightly different image, one with each eye, this is bad collimation.

Focus also should be coupled, but some require you to focus each separately. If they are coupled, one of the two eye piece lenses should have a fine focus for that side. This lets you focus on an object with the coupled adjustment using the eye on the non-adjustable eye piece side. Then you open the other eye and fine tune the focus of that eye with the eye piece lens focus adjustment. Now both eyes see the same object in focus if the collimation is correct.

A few things you want in a boating binocular are that you can hold them steady, that they have a bright image, and they should be waterproof. The most popular size of binoculars for boating is a 7x50. These are easy to hold, not two large, and bright in low light. The military uses this size.

If they are water proof, float, have a compass, a range finder, and or a stabilizing feature all the better. Get what you can afford; there is a full selection you can choose from, and a wide price range to pick from. The best binocular is one that you can see well through. That is what you are getting them for.

On our boat we have two binoculars, a his and a hers. This was a necessity. When my wife adjusts a binocular to her eyes and I look through them, it is as if I am trying to see through pop-bottle glass. If I adjust it for my eyes, she cannot use it. Her binoculars are a wonderful old 7x50 that she used going around the world in her sailboat. Mine is a 7x42 that is ½ the size hers is and because of the new lens coatings as bright as hers is.

I have less trouble holding mine steady because of the smaller size. If someone sees us both using our binoculars at the same time it would mimic the pirates Barbosa and Jack Sparrow looking through their telescopes…one large one small. *-)

 The new 7x42 in as bright as the old 7x50 because of the new lens coatings and it is 1/2 the size.