Binoculars a must?

We are booked on a 13 day cruisetour the of May 2015 and just wondering if binoculars are a must? If so do you have any recommendations. Something reasonable in price.

Frankly, absolutely- Yes. Binoculars are necessary- if you are going to Alaska for wildlife. I am never without mine, they are always around my neck, everywhere. The rare occasion I am in the dining room, they are still with me. I've seen some great views at a repeater party this year. :)

There are a wide range of binoculars. You can see if you can borrow a pair first, if you don't want to pay for a pair, cheap binoculars sometimes are a poor choice. I suggest you go to a sporting goods type store and try them out. My sister ended up buying a pair online for a $30 savings this year, after trying them out in a store, exact same model. I did push her to purchase them. My nephew had them with him on our 4 week trip in July and they were excellent with a lot of use by him. I cruised with her in August- I did drag her out early for Glacier Bay and prior to Juneau, as an example for wildlife viewing, and she did admit, the binoculars were a great enhancement. :) Especially for all the humpbacks, and sea otters, I made here look at. :)

Go to a store to try them out. Just like a camera you want to get something that you feel comfortable holding and that you are pleased with the power.

Try going to Best Buy.

Keith

Go to a store to try them out. Just like a camera you want to get something that you feel comfortable holding and that you are pleased with the power.

 

Try going to Best Buy.

 

Keith

I would go to a good sporting goods store instead. They will have a way better selection.

DON

Don, good suggestion by you.

The key is to go someplace where you can try them out.

Keith

Yes, each time I go to Alaska, the binoculars go with me. My dad brought one home from WW2, still have it. They are better than the ones today.

My birdwatcher has quite the collection of binoculars. Almost every issue of major "birding" magazines have reviews of binoculars so a trip to the local library to check these magazines may be helpful. But no review will substitute for actually holding the brand/model in your hands. What feels great for one person will not work for another.

And yes -- unless the only "wildlife" you want to see are the shoppers in a Diamonds International store binoculars are a must on a Alaskan cruise.

I'm assuming that not only are binoculars a must, we each need a pair--if there are really cool things to see, I won't want to share--but won't want to deprive DH of viewing. So, we'll each bring a pair. (We actually each have a pair already.)

We don't share a camera either--we each bring our own and take pictures of the same things. When we get home, I merge all of the pictures and sort them by date/activity. Without fail, his pictures are better than mine--but I'm still going to take my own!

We didn't have binoculars during our first cruise in Alaska about 10 years ago. We had a good time enjoying the scenery that SE Alaska has to offer. But my input is to listen to Budget Queen's advice. We bought two pairs of binoculars for our second trip. It just opened up a whole new world for us. We were able to see whales up close, bald eagles, puffins. There is no need to buy the most expensive binoculars out there. We are just happy with a compact size 10x42. Keep in mind, the binoculars need to be waterproof as it may rain on you any time while in Alaska, even in the summer.

check those sites

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/binoculars/zrshd/5zrshd10x42.html

http://www.binoculars.com/search/index.cfm?Ntt=10x42&x=0&y=0

http://www.adorama.com/l/Binoculars-and-Scopes/Binoculars-and-Accessories/Binoculars

I'm assuming that not only are binoculars a must, we each need a pair--if there are really cool things to see, I won't want to share--but won't want to deprive DH of viewing. So, we'll each bring a pair. (We actually each have a pair already.)

 

We don't share a camera either--we each bring our own and take pictures of the same things. When we get home, I merge all of the pictures and sort them by date/activity. Without fail, his pictures are better than mine--but I'm still going to take my own!

DH and I both have our own binoculars. Sharing just does not work. DH has different eyesight between his eyes, which requires different setting on the binoculars. We figure it is much easier to have our own, which works out great. We use Zen-Ray SUMMIT binoculars. We also get kids some Leupold compact binoculars

Camera or binoculars, it is an either or. If you are using binoculars then you can't use your camera. A good camera is much more effective.

I think there's room for both binoculars and cameras on the same cruise--but I'd agree it doesn't work to switch back and forth. Sometimes I just want to look and sometimes I want to take pictures. I'll be bringing a camera and binoculars.

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I want both my camera and my binoculars with me. A lot of times on our cruise tour, I'd spot something with the binoculars and then take a photo with the camera.

we took both camera and binoculars and didn't have any problem. My DH has a 400mm zoom lens on his camera. We spotted a bear on the shore when cruising into Tracy's arm. Even at 400mm, the view through the viewfinder of his camera is still a tiny dot. But we can see all the actions with the binoculars. We even snapped some pictures with the iphone through the binoculars.

we are booked on a 13 day cruisetour the of may 2015 and just wondering if binoculars are a must?

yes!

We even snapped some pictures with the iphone through the binoculars.

How did that work? I would love to see one of the photos!

Just my opinion but I would never go to Alaska w/o binoculars.

I want to make a general comment on the many posts on CC asking which binoculars should be bought. There are a whole lot of really good binocular sites out on the WEB but CC is not one of them.

Most of the responses that the people get about the "best" binoculars read like "I bought brand X binoculars and they were wonderful and I could really see the bears". These responses are meaningless because they have only bought brand X and have no other binoculars to compare them to. Also, we probably bought them on the internet so we could not compare brand X with brand Y with brand Z before our purchase. Finally, there are a lot of technical issues that you should consider when buying binoculars that few of us have any knowledge about.

Asking CCers about the best binoculars is the equivalent of going on a birders site and asking the birders which cruise one should take.

If you want to get good cruise information, you are at the right place. If you want to get good binocular information, go to a birding or binocular site. If you want to get good camera information, go to a good photo site.

The last time I bought a pair of binoculars, I did my on-line research and then went to a store that sold binoculars and telescopes and spent several hours trying different ones. At least go to a good sporting goods store which has a good selection of binoculars instead of buying them over the internet.

Now that I have finished preaching, I will emphasize that have binoculars on an Alaska trip is mandatory regardless of which ones you have. Anything {usually} better than nothing.

DON

If you want to get good cruise information, you are at the right place. If you want to get good binocular information, go to a birding or binocular site. If you want to get good camera information, go to a good photo site.DON

Outstanding advice. I will add my opinion that the binoculars birders think are the best aren't necessarily the best for general wildlife viewing (at least, to my preference). Birders tend to like a lower power than I take on wildlife trips.

Outstanding advice. I will add my opinion that the binoculars birders think are the best aren't necessarily the best for general wildlife viewing (at least, to my preference). Birders tend to like a lower power than I take on wildlife trips.

This is a really great site even though it is a bit out of date -

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2674

DON

This is a really great site even though it is a bit out of date - http://www.allaboutbirds.org/page.aspx?pid=2674

Heh heh - "Deciding between 8x and 10x binoculars is a personal choice." The ones I have are 50X (image stabilized)!

DH and I both have our own binoculars. Sharing just does not work. DH has different eyesight between his eyes, which requires different setting on the binoculars. We figure it is much easier to have our own, which works out great. We use Zen-Ray SUMMIT binoculars. We also get kids some Leupold compact binoculars

we also take our own binoculars as well. For our 2016 trip, we will need to get some pairs for in-laws who are also joining us

We are booked on a 13 day cruisetour the of May 2015 and just wondering if binoculars are a must? If so do you have any recommendations. Something reasonable in price.

Both my wife and I enjoy birding. So we have some binoculars to take along during the last several Alaska trips. In my opinion' date=' although it is not a must (many people are perfectly happy by just enjoy the shopping at the ports:)), it will greatly enhanced your experiene if you are into nature and wildlife. We use Swarovski EL and a Zen-Ray PRIME binoculars. They are one of the best for what we use for birding. But if you just use occasionally for the trip, it is probably not worthy spending so much money on those expensive binoculars. We did get some couple of inexpensive pairs for our parents to use when they came with us a few years ago. One of them is Leupold Pinnacle and the other one is Zen-Ray VISTA. I am impressed how well they are built, considering they are less than 1/10 of my Swaro binos. I think Zen-Ray had a $15 coupon on their binoculars (the code was SAVE15, not sure if it still works).

Another to consider is to get binoculars that is waterproof. The lens needs to be fully multi-coated so it is bright enough even during the early morning or late evening hours.

I would bring binoculars! You never know what you may want to zoom in on!

How did that work? I would love to see one of the photos!

We mounted binoculars on a tripod using an adapter. Then, place the phone's camera next to the binoculars' eyepiece until we have clear view of everything.

This is the tripod adapter we are using..

http://www.zen-ray.com/shop/accessories/tripodadapter.html

But you can handhold the binoculars and phone as well, or maybe work with someone in your party as a team effort.;)

My wife and I are perfectly happy with cameras instead of binoculars, but we're usually "loaded for bear" when it comes to camera gear, and far better equipped than any point&shoot.

On our last cruise, my parents tried a set of (cheap) binoculars on the Tracy Arm excursion, and felt they were horrible. The next day, when offered the opportunity to rent binoculars for $5 on an excursion in Haines, they chose to skip them because of the poor binoculars the day before. Another guest loaned them her (good) binoculars, and my folks realized the difference. They've since bought good binoculars to replace the cheap and/or old ones they already owned, and keep the good ones handy for watching the birds out their back window.

Long story short, good binoculars are essential if you're going to get binoculars.