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binoculars necessary?

plenox

By plenox,
in Alaska

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knorrisb07

knorrisb07

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Got a pair of 8x42 VISTA for DH as Christmas gift and he was so happy with it. Now, he wants to get me a pair of 10x binoculars so both of us will have our own during our July cruise next year. However, I am still concerned about too much hand shake from high power binoculars. Is a tripod adapter like this going to solve my problem?

 

http://www.zen-ray.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=236

 

 

http://www.opticsplanet.net/alpen-binocular-tripod-adapter-153.html

 

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

I don't think 10x will cause so much vibration that you need a tripod. Mounting a binoculars to a tripod will make it stable, but at a cost of no more roaming freely with binos in your hand. If handshaking bothers you, just stick to 8x power.

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qiangf2

qiangf2

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I have their 10x42 SUMMIT and 8x42 VISTA. Although not an exact apple-to-apple comparison because of different magnification, it is easy to tell that summit has a superior optics than VISTA. Both of them are waterproof. Summit seems to be a little brighter than VISTA. Another major, yet subtle, difference I noticed is that summit is really sharp across most of the field of view, while vista becomes a little soft towards the outer edge of the field. It was expected given the price difference of the two. With that said, I was quite impressed by both of them. No experience with their Yukon. I remember it was not waterproof. But it is no longer available on their website.

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bmcc

bmcc

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I don't think 10x will cause so much vibration that you need a tripod. Mounting a binoculars to a tripod will make it stable, but at a cost of no more roaming freely with binos in your hand. If handshaking bothers you, just stick to 8x power.

 

Thank you so much for your help. We probably wil go ahead and give 10x a try.

 

What are the big differences between the Zen Ray Summit, Yukon, and Vista??? Did I read that you may get a "bum" pair? How is that possible?

 

what's zenray summit? I only saw ZRS and ZEN.

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qiangf2

qiangf2

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The ZRS is SUMMIT. It is an excellent binoculars and got some good reviews on magazines last year. I had mine for over two years and used it almost every weekend. They are still doing really well. I have my summit in 10x42 and don't have any handshaking problem. Vibration is more pronounced when you use high power binoculars, such as 16x or zoom one (which I do not recommend). You should be fine with 10x. If you really worry about vibration, maybe consider a pair of stabilization binoculars from Canon. They are much more expensive, but does a great job.

 

I am curious about the new ZEN model. Spec definitely looks good. I wish I knew this earlier so I can bug DW for a Christmas gift.

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qiangf2

qiangf2

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I got binoculars for my first Alaska trip two years ago for Christmas - thanks to Dave's excellent posts about choosing them. :) How time flies!

 

Hi, Nancy, time does fly by! Just got some emails from Princess and HAL with some really good price that I cannot pass. :)

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diverearl

diverearl

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The ZRS is SUMMIT. It is an excellent binoculars and got some good reviews on magazines last year. I had mine for over two years and used it almost every weekend. They are still doing really well. I have my summit in 10x42 and don't have any handshaking problem. Vibration is more pronounced when you use high power binoculars, such as 16x or zoom one (which I do not recommend). You should be fine with 10x. If you really worry about vibration, maybe consider a pair of stabilization binoculars from Canon. They are much more expensive, but does a great job.

 

I am curious about the new ZEN model. Spec definitely looks good. I wish I knew this earlier so I can bug DW for a Christmas gift.

 

I agree completely with Dave (who told us about the Summits in 2007 before our Alaska cruise). I use mine a lot also, and have since bought two more for friends. I will always be grateful that Dave took the time to let us know about this great product.

 

I am planning our very first Alaska cruise trip for the next year. From some of the extensive trip reports by many cruisers, it seems that almost everyone brought their binoculars with them. Can we still see wild life without it?

 

You will see wildlife with or without binoculars, but for the majority of wildlife and scenic viewing binoculars are a must (in my opinion).

 

Do we need one for each person? thanks

 

YES :D IMHO, when you see a good subject you probably will not want to hand over the glasses. It might not be a priority for everyone in the group though, so ask each person before the cruise. For me I might as well have left the camera at home (or an arm, maybe a leg or two) as to not bringing really good binoculars.

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plenox

plenox

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YES :D IMHO, when you see a good subject you probably will not want to hand over the glasses. It might not be a priority for everyone in the group though, so ask each person before the cruise.

 

That's a great suggestion. I did see a problem during our last cruise. During glacier bay cruise, we had a hard time to get our binoculars back when somebody spotted something. To a point, we had to say "sorry" to some fellow cruisers.

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knorrisb07

knorrisb07

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For Caribbean cruise, we won't take out our binoculars while on the beach so to raise concerns. :) But we use them a lot during our Alaska cruise. We would not be able to a couple of black bears at the bottom of a creek if not because we brought the binoculars. Don't forget to take camera either.

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bmcc

bmcc

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All, thank you for sharing your experience. We are leaning toward to ZRS now since the price looks really good. Another option we have been considering is Kowa BD42 as one of our friends highly recommends this. Anyone has experience with both? Thanks a lot for your help.

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knorrisb07

knorrisb07

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I have thought about Mariner 7x50 when we made our purchase. Everything looks good, except it is a little heavy, outside my comfort zone. Summit is an awesome binoculars. I cannot tell the difference between it and my other pair (Bushnell E2). 8x has wider angle than 10x, which is a big plus. But many folks here recommended 10x for Alaska trip.

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qiangf2

qiangf2

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All, thank you for sharing your experience. We are leaning toward to ZRS now since the price looks really good. Another option we have been considering is Kowa BD42 as one of our friends highly recommends this. Anyone has experience with both? Thanks a lot for your help.

 

I only have experience with summit. They are my favorite! I did peek through a higher end of Kowa the other day. It is their Genesis 8x44. Beautiful glasses, quality is definitely top notch. drooling...:)

 

Anyone have any thoughts on the Zen-Ray Mariner? It is 7x50, wideangle and waterproof. Also, the Summit 10x42 and 8x42 are only a $5 difference. Which is better for Alaska??

Thanks!

 

I agree with the other poster about Mariner's weight. Another reason I don't like Mariner is that it uses individual focuses. It is too slow for bird watching. I prefer 10x summit. An extra 2x helps with distant objects without causing stability problem.

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vbmom87

vbmom87

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so far we have 2 pairs for 6 adults and two youngsters. I am worried that they might not be enough during our land tour in Denali.

 

It is good to have a pair for everyone. Some of the animal sightings will be brief. However, as mentioned, it is good to check with everyone involved. My sister purchased a pair for the cruise, and hardly used them. She didn't seem to like having to carry them around. However, once an animal is sighted, you really do want to get a look as close up as you can. It becomes difficult to share the binoculars unless you are having a prolonged viewing.

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knorrisb07

knorrisb07

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I don't mind sharing. But the problem is everyone has different eyesight and interpupilary distance. Whenever I got my pair back, I have to readjust the binoculars for a few seconds, often missed the sighting. That's why we decided to get a pair for everyone.

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dhmom99

dhmom99

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We are getting a new pair of binoculars for our inlaws for their Alaska cruise this year. We already have zenray summit and vista for ourselves. Has anyone bought their new ZEN binoculars. It looks beautiful. Any difference between this and the summit we already have. Thank you for your help.

 

Here is ZEN http://www.zen-ray.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239

 

and summit http://www.zen-ray.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=181

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plenox

plenox

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We are getting a new pair of binoculars for our inlaws for their Alaska cruise this year. We already have zenray summit and vista for ourselves. Has anyone bought their new ZEN binoculars. It looks beautiful. Any difference between this and the summit we already have. Thank you for your help.

 

Here is ZEN http://www.zen-ray.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=239

 

and summit http://www.zen-ray.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=181

 

 

A birder friend of ours ordered a pair of ZEN. He will receive it next week. We will have an opportunity to take a look when we went out for a hiking next weekend.

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qiangf2

qiangf2

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Thanks for the link. The 8x43 has 426ft viewing angle, which is quite wide for its size. The price is slightly more expensive than what I have paid for Nikon Monarch. But if it is several levels better than Monarch as discussed in the link, it will be quite incredible.

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