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 Sailing Skipper Guide - How to Pick a Perfect Pair of Marine Binoculars

If you are anything like me, nothing quite beats the usefulness of a great pair of high quality marine binoculars. They are one chart navigation tool that every sailing skipper should carry aboard for safer navigation by day or night. Use this simple guide to get the best bang for your hard earned dollar.

Select binoculars based on quality, comfort, clarity, and ease of adjustment. Good binoculars allow you to see vessels through haze, rain, or low light conditions. From far away, you can identify that buoy you're looking for or the friendly twinkle of lights that signal you've made your expected landfall.

Check the Field of View (FOV)

When you look through a pair of binoculars, a circle surrounds the object being viewed. The diameter of that circle at a distance of 1,000 yards is called the field of view, or FOV. A larger FOV helps keep objects inside the circle, even when your boat rolls or pitches in waves and swells. Purchase binoculars with a specified FOV between 350 and 450 feet at 1,000 yards.

Choose the Right Power for Sailing

The most common marine binocular powers are 7 × 50 and 7 × 35. The first number shows the amount of magnification of a viewed object. You'll need magnification of 6 or 7; anything higher causes objects to jump out of the FOV.

The second number is the diameter of the larger lens, or objective lens. This indicates the instruments ability to gather light at twilight or nighttime and in haze or fog. Larger is better. Look for an objective lens diameter of 35 to 50 millimeters.

Are All Rubber Coated Binoculars Waterproof?
Rubber coating provides the user with a better grip and protects against damage. Waterproof binoculars come charged with nitrogen to prevent intrusion into the prism or lens housing. Read the specifications and avoid binoculars bearing the much less protective "water-resistant" claim. You want waterproof, not just water-resistant, binoculars, and you'll be glad you spent a few dollars more after spray or a squall douses them.

*Note -- Eyeglass wearers should choose rubber-coated binoculars with the fold-down eye-cups. These help improve focus and provide comfort when bracing the binoculars against glasses.

How to Focus Binoculars to Perfection
Binoculars come with center focus or individual focus eyepieces. Center focus makes adjustment easier and readjusting unnecessary as your viewing range changes. Many fine professional marine binoculars, however, come with individual focus lenses. They just take a bit longer to adjust and need readjustment at different ranges.

Take the time to learn the adjustment process for both types of instruments. Now you can select the perfect pair that will give you satisfaction for years to come.

Individual-Focus Eyepiece Binoculars

1. Focus the left eyepiece. Close your right eye or cover the right objective lens. Focus the left eyepiece on an object at least 1 mile away. Mark the scale setting between the body and the focus ring.

2. Focus the right eyepiece. Close your left eye or cover the left objective lens. Focus the right eyepiece on a distant object at a range of at least 1 mile. Mark the scale setting between the body and focus ring.

3. Reset the focus when ranges change. With individual focus settings, you'll need to make incremental adjustments when viewing objects at longer or shorter distances than your original setting. Remember to
reset your binoculars back to your personal focus-ring setting.

Center-Focus Eyepiece Binoculars

1. Focus the left eyepiece. Close your right eye or cover the right objective lens. Use the center focus wheel to focus the left lens while viewing an object at least 1 mile away. Mark the scale setting on the center focus ring.

2. Focus the right eyepiece. Close your left eye or cover the left objective lens. Using the right eyepiece focus ring, adjust the focus by viewing the distant object. Mark the scale shown on the body and focus ring.

3. Fine-tune with the center focus ring. When you need to make adjustments as viewing ranges change, use only the center focus ring.

Follow this simple sailing skipper guide to choose the perfect pair of marine binoculars. They will serve you as a faithful companion for many sailing seasons to come--wherever in the world you choose to cruise!

Key words:Waterproof Binoculars, Binoculars
Read more: http://www.nbbinoculars.com/blog/

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