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TanTien

Members
  • Posts

    118
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    New Smyrna Beach
  • Interests
    Travel, Food, Birding, Yelping
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Princess, Holland
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Baltic

TanTien's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Because rentals may be low quality and hard to come by. If you can borrow a decent pair, you can try them out before going to your cruise. My earlier recommendations still are good guidelines. Smaller, waterproof, at or under 10 x and probably 32 MM objectives will be bright enough and compact enough for traveling.
  2. Nice! They should be great! 😊 The trade-off between optical power (10x vs 15x) will be apparent but this is what you gain at the lower power: Wider field of view (makes things easier to sight in and find), brighter image, much easier to hold for long periods, especially if you are tracking an animal or bird. Finally: the shake factor will be much reduced so your eyes don't need to jump around trying to follow the image. I have a pair of 10x42 Zen-Rays (now defunct, unfortunately) that I've brought on other cruises. These are "near-alpha" in quality and they are bigger/heavier than most of my other binoculars but also crystal clear and bright. I can better control the shaking because of their weight. So your Vortex Vipers should be excellent as well. Vortex remains an excellent company and stands by its products.
  3. I hope they work out for you and that you have a return window. In any case, they will be a quality set of binoculars. A monopod will definitely help with their weight. Let me know if you have any questions.
  4. Note about I agree with this. More power is not better and the stability will be negatively affected unless image stabilization is used. I have a Canon 12x36 Image Stabilized pair and I cannot get the image at 12X to steady without the stabilization. For sightseeing/birding/wildlife watching, 8X is the maximum I would recommend. More light transmission (brighter with a larger exit pupil) and a wider field of view are all benefits. These 15x56 binoculars are best used for stargazing with a tripod, will be heavy (34.8 oz/2.175 lbs), and will be very large for casual wildlife and scenery. Even the Vortex site says for these particular bins: "Note – Recommended for use with a tripod. Tripod adapter included." What is your budget and use case? I can help with a recommendation if these don't work out for you.
  5. This will depend on your budget, but there are a few things that may help: travel with compact binoculars: 8x32s are probably the best balance between size, power, and the shaking that an Alaskan boating excursion might force you into. - Waterproof/fog proof because you don't want to worry about them in the rain or dunked in a lake. Fogproof so you don't end up in Alaska with fog inside your optics. - 8X power (not 10X or higher because they cause too much shake). - 32 MM Objectives let in enough light and are smaller/less bulky to carry. In order of preference (and because I know people like to have options) but I wanted a good lifetime warranty and a cost that would not break the bank: 1. Vortex Diamondback HD 8X32 ~$260 2. Celestron – TrailSeeker 8x32 ~$198 or Opticron Discovery WP PC 8x32 ~$200 3. Vortex Optics Crossfire 8x32 ~$140 4. NIKON PROSTAFF P3 8x30 ~$107 Better brands are Vortex, Nikon, Zeiss, Pentax, Vanguard, and Swarovski but they are well over $300 (up to a few thousand) per pair. You get what you pay for. The higher cost is a higher quality build (tougher), better optics, and a brighter image. Heavier means more glass and metal and less plastic. It should also last you a lifetime of cruising. If you have a bigger budget, I recommend anywhere between $300-600 which is the sweet spot for great quality and value--above that price range it becomes much harder to see the jump in clarity and brightness. Example: the Vortex Viper HD binoculars (below, discontinued) I have are my go-to pair for cruising. They were ~$550 and were wide-angle, under 21 ounces, and very compact. Hope this helps. Happy to answer any questions.
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