Before you storm out and flip stores from inside out or browse the all the online shops in the internet to hunt and purchase the best binoculars for your personal use, you should first be familiar with features you need to look for in a pair of binoculars. Almost every high-quality pair of binoculars are specially made, designed, crafted and released for selling to have a designated use. In this case, marine binoculars are not exempted.
Of course, a lot of binoculars on the market today has the same common features. There are also features wherein is unique and can only be found on a specific binocular usage, like a marine binocular. However, some people won’t consider buying a certain binocular that sports a certain feature the user cannot really use. For example, sea men and sea farers would find marine binoculars with a built in waterproof feature a very useful tool for them. But people who just uses binoculars to spy on people or just to look at far distances won’t see having a binocular with a waterproof feature very useful to them.
Here are some of the extra features you need to look for when purchasing your brand new pair of marine binoculars.
Compass
Having a pair of binoculars with compasses embedded on it can be very helpful to you as it helps you take the bearing of an object as you observe it. Built in compasses are now one of the must haves when purchasing a brand new pair of marine binoculars. While not all marine binoculars have them, it would be surely a bummer if your pair of binoculars doesn’t have it. In today’s technological innovations, many pairs of aquatic binoculars of today has built in digital compasses. There are also compass systems that are illuminated but some are not. However, there are some marine binocular compasses that only work if you are sailing at the northern hemisphere zones. While people at the Americas and the Europe wont matter at these limitations, people at the Southern Hemisphere like Australia, New Zealand and South America would find it unusable. This could also be a problem for world voyagers sailing across the world with their ships or yachts.
Rangefinder Reticle
There are so many marine binoculars that include a rangefinder reticle. It consists of a vertical scale and a horizon line which is projected across the images. When you know the height of the object you are observing or based its height from a list of heights at nautical charts, you can use the scale to know how far your distance is away from the object by using some simple geometry and trigonometry. Rangefinder reticles are your compass’s buddy to help you locate things.
As much as possible, you must get a laser powered rangefinder reticles. Laser powered rangefinder reticles even help you get distances at much exact numbers. High tech rangefinder reticles can sometimes include a GPS and a digital bubble level and information gathered are shown through an LCD screen.
Floating Straps
Almost all marine binoculars now come with floating straps. However, you can buy one anytime if ever your marine binocular doesn’t come with one. Its use is to keep your marine binocular afloat even if your binocular comes overboard and decides to swim too after all. Floating straps make a great addition to a pair of waterproof marine binoculars. You just have to rinse and wash it with fresh and clean water and you are again ready to see those sights.
Image Stabilizers
There are also a lot of marine binoculars which have a built in image stabilizing feature. It makes use of the optical image stabilizing technology feature found mostly in camera lenses. It enables the observer to have a more stable and steadier views than your traditional 7x magnification power marine binocular.
Marine binoculars with built in image stabilizing feature will require no tripod just for you to see clearly. It can give you steady images even when viewing instantly, making it very useful for all kinds of outdoor activities. You can even use your marine binoculars on non-aquatic activities like shooting, astronomy and hunting.
Waterproofing
Marine binoculars have electronics inside of its body, but thanks to the technology today, a lot of them are now water and splash proof. This makes it very useful while it is raining and you are in a middle of a storm. This also comes best with floating straps in case your binoculars went overboard. However, these kinds of binoculars are battery powered, so you need to get ready if you run out of juice. In this case, you may consider getting a solar charger or a power bank.
Lenses
There are many kinds of lenses available for marine binoculars. They may even come coated with chemicals to lessen the internal light in between them. However, the most suggested kind of lens to look for in a pair of marine binoculars is the ruby coated lenses. Ruby coated lenses minimize the flare, reflections and foliage haze. It also enhances nature and wildlife colors, and filters out the color red from the color spectrum.
Eye Relief
Marine binos with eye relief can be a great help to people who needs to wear prescription eyeglasses. It helps you see clearly if the individual eyepiece focus is not enough to correct and adjust yourself according to your vision. Eye relief is the distance in which you can hold the binoculars far from your eyes every time you are wearing an eye accessory like a pair of sunglasses or prescription glasses.
Armor Coating
Marine binoculars, or any binoculars in this case, is known to be used for outdoor activities. So, it is given that your binoculars will experience drops and shakes. That is where an armor coating come in handy. It will surely protect your binos from sudden shocks and drops and also gives you a better grip especially on wet conditions.
Here are just some of the must have extra features you need for your marine binoculars. The perfect pair of binos should have the majority of them. Make sure your next binoculars should have these features!