It’s been a long time since I bought new binoculars. For many years I’ve used a pair I inherited that are decades old, but last summer, when I finally tired of the stiffness that had worked into all the moving pieces and the lack of a rubber cup on the left eyepiece, I decided the time had come.There’s a wide variety of binoculars on the market ranging from very small to very complex, and from not-especially powerful to extraordinary levels of magnification. The price tags also range widely from well under $100 to well over $1,000. For a while I was confused by all the offerings, so I made a shortlist of needs: They must be waterproof, reasonably rugged, have a magnification of no less than 7 and objective lenses no smaller than 40mm; they should be fog-proof, comfortable to hold, no heavier than 2.5 lbs (which is what the old pair weighed), and cost less than $300. It would be nice if they also floated and had a compass. The Hooway 7x50 Marine Binoculars are fully sealed and waterproof. The rubber eyecups can be folded back so that they can be used efficiently if wearing glasses.
Photographs by the author
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Jenny, It has been more than a long time that my family has kept our binoculars.. the family legend is that the U.S. entered WW1 woefully unprepared. So much so that it put out a call for folks to “lend” their binoculars to the war effort. The government promised to return them at some point in the future. Well, a pair was sent back but the family swore they were not exactly the ones lent. We still have them… perhaps we might upgrade from our hundred-year-old-plus binoculars—in a decade or two. Merry Christmas to all.
“Each eye lens has its own diopter adjustment ring so that it can be focused independently; there is no center focus.”
No center focus sounds like a problem.
Hi Robert, I haven’t found it to be a problem, but that might be because the vision in my two eyes is not the same. That said, for users who are accustomed to, and like, the center focus function, it will definitely be missed here.
This one does seem to check all the boxes, Jenny. Thanks for reviewing it. Ordering mine now as holiday gift to self :).
Not sure that waterproof and centerfocus are compatible. These seem a bargain, not a brand with which I was familiar, but floating and waterproof tics major boxes for a little row /sail boat.