BUYER'S GUIDE - MARINE BINOCULARS

Developments in optics and materials mean marine binoculars now offer better value than ever before. Dennis O’Neill rounded up the best pairs – for all budgets

- Dennis O’Neill

Although most yachts are now equipped with affordable electronic navigational aids that can pinpoint your position to within just a few metres, it’s still good practice to keep a pair of decent marine binoculars handy on board. Whether you’re trying to identify a tricky harbour entrance, take a closer look at an approaching vessel in low light, or simply check your rigging, a good pair of binos will repay their purchase price many times over as a vital tool for safe pilotage.

Recent years have seen significant developments in the quality of binocular design, construction and manufacturing. Lens coatings and prisms have improved hugely, enabling up to 95% of the light from a distant object to now reach the eye for brighter and more detailed imagery. Only a couple of decades ago light transmissions of 60% were considered premium quality. The introduction of stronger yet lighter materials has also made the latest generation of binoculars tougher, more durable and easier to handle.

Increasingly affordable models are also available with built-in compasses and even image stabilisation. The best pairs are purged and filled with nitrogen gas to ensure all internal moisture, which could cause the lenses to fog up inside, is thoroughly eliminated. Compass binoculars, in particular, have improved greatly in recent years, especially in terms of damping technology.

Compass bearings are usually viewed by just one eye as you peer through the lenses, requiring a little bit of skill and practice to be able to successfully read the bearing at the same time as viewing the object. Thankfully, many of the latest compass binoculars are now also equipped with built-in illumination, usually red, for use at night.