“Dammit Wes,” a friend of mine shouted after I handed him my Swarovski binoculars for the first time. On my recommendation, he’d just splashed out $1,200 on some from another brand, and was so happy with them that he couldn’t believe mine would be noticeably better. But they were.

The phrase “the best” gets overused in gear reviews, but that’s exactly what these are: the best binoculars ever made. They’d better be, since they cost $2,999.

The Best Binoculars Ever Made Have a Price Tag to Match

NL Pure 10×42

How can Swarovski possibly justify that price for a piece of equipment that can costĚýas little as $70? There are a bunch of jargony technical reasons, but let’s start with the emotional one that’s most important to me: I love animals. The time, travel, and equipment it takes to spot, hunt, and admire wildlife accounts for a huge amount of my spending each year. I dedicate large parts of my time to slogging up and down mountains, paddling rivers, waking up before dawn, and going to bed wet, sore, and exhausted just for the opportunity of a fleeting glimpse of fauna in the wild. These Swarovski binoculars help me make the most of each sighting.

The optical quality of the lenses—glass that is free of distortion andĚýtransmits light equally across its entire surface. The Swarovski family, which also owns both a luxury crystal company and one that specializes in precision machine tools, has all the infrastructure in place to make high-quality glass. Swarovski treats the glass with coatings that protect it and amplify its performance in low light. Swarovski’s coatings eliminate reflection, directing as much light through the glass as possible. The protective layer prevents scratches and repels water and dirt, keeping the lenses clean.ĚýThen, on the prism (which corrects the image orientation from upside down to right side up), there’s a phase coating which ensures light passing through the Swarovski binoculars is directed perfectly toward your eye.

I’m particularly impressed by the NL Pure 10×42’s eyepiece lenses, which are designed to flatten the image reaching your eyes. Many lenses create a rolling ballĚýeffect, where objects appear larger in the center of the lens than they do near the edges. Not only does that effect distort the image, but it can create sort of a fun-house mirror sensation, causing dizziness and nausea over long periods of viewing. But the NL Pures display a perfectly flat field of view.

Then there’s the matter of what you can see through the lenses. As magnification increases, your field of view typically decreases. The purpose of binoculars is often simplified into image magnification. The “10” in the name NL Pure 10×42 represents how much magnification they provide. But even at ten-times magnification, these NL Pures display as broad a swath of the landscape as older eight-times Swarovski designs. Flying birds stay in the frame longer than on conventional ten-times magnified binoculars, making them easier to track. That field of view is so broad that you can often lose sight of it beyond your peripheral vision, so looking through the Swarovski binoculars doesn’t feel like looking through a toilet-paper tube.

The “42” in the name refers to the size of the objective lenses—the ones farthest away from your eyes. The more magnification an optic has, the less light reaches your eyes through it. However, the larger an objective lens is the more light reaches your eye. More light allowance into the binoculars improves the details you can see and the enhances the color resolution.

Every set of binoculars is a compromise between magnification, objective size, and overall size and weight. 10x42s are the ideal compromise for travel-size binoculars. You get plenty of magnification and light gathering, in a package that’s reasonably compact and lightweight.

Plus, these binoculars are incredibly svelte. Not only do the Swarovski NL Pures weigh less than 30 ounces, but the typical double bridge design of roof-prism binoculars has been replaced by a unified bridge. Their ergonomic shape—the tubes flatten into ovals halfway along, right where your hands want to grip the body—positions the focus wheel directly under your index finger. Typical of Swarovskis, a thick rubber armor adorns the entire body, offering a sure grip even in wet conditions or while wearing gloves.

That shape, the iconic Swarovski green, and the Northern Goshawk logo sets the NL Pures apart, visually, from lesser binoculars. And, I won’t lie, that’s also part of the appeal. Soon after I brought this pair home, my wife asked me why I wouldn’t put them down. “This is my Rolex,” I explained. Carrying these, in my mind, signals that I’m someone who takes wildlife seriously and is dedicated to enjoying time with the creatures of the forest. But unlike a fancy watch, these binoculars actually do something my phone can’t.

Unlike the larger, heavier, $5,330, animal-identifying, artificial intelligence-equipped Swarovski AX Visios, or other models equipped with laser rangefinders, these NL Pures are a simple, robust, purely mechanical device. There’s really nothing that can go wrong with them. In the two years I’ve had them, I’ve dropped them in the mud, banged them on trees and rocks, and dragged them everywhere from coastal Alaska to rural France to beaches in Baja, Mexico. In that time the only maintenance I’ve had to do was occasionally wipe the lenses with a cloth.

What’s it like to look through them? The crazy thing here is I can’t show you. No monitor, television, or printer in the world is capable of producing as crystal clear an image as is achieved by looking through this pair of Swarovski NL Pure binoculars. And no words describing how it feels like you’re standing ten times closer to whatever you’re looking at will ever do the experience justice. You just need to try a pair for yourself. But be warned: like my buddy found out, picking up a pair of Swarovskis will forever ruin your perception of all other binoculars.

The post What It’s Like to Look Through the Best Binoculars Ever Made appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

It was late fall, the Texas sun sufficiently merciful, and I was standing on a wood platform overlooking the humid, green core of Hazel Bazemore Park on the western outskirts of Corpus Christi. Though forgettable by most metrics, this 87-acre swatch of honey mesquite and lowland grasses ranks as one of the country’s richest and most diverse places to see migrating raptors. Three North American flyways converge here and by the time I’d arrived in early November, more than 1.2 million broad-winged hawks, turkey vultures, Mississippi kites, kestrels, and more had passed through, a record number for the second year in a row.

The park was a fitting testing ground for some super cool tech aimed largely at birders, still one of the of outdoor enthusiasts. I joined about a dozen of the country’s more influential bird nerds—each of us armed with a pair of the , the most advanced set of binoculars in the world. , the Austria-based offshoot of the larger, highly secretive, luxury crystal brand, Swarovski, would not introduce them to the world until Jan. 9, 2024, and as such we were asked not to let other birders see them up close. That’s because the AX Visio can do what no other binocular or scope in the world on the consumer market today can do: tell you what you’re looking at, instantly, at least when it comes to virtually every known bird on the planet. The binos can also identify hundreds of species of mammals, and soon, butterflies and dragonflies. And that’s just the start.

“If you have a database on wildflowers or mushrooms or stars or whatever, we can train the system to identify them,” Ben Lizdas, Swarovski Optik’s business development manager. “The idea is absolutely for developers to be able to contribute to this. It’s limitless.”

The identification feat alone is groundbreaking, but so are the other tasks that the smart binoculars can handle. The AX Visio has a tagging feature that allows you to drop a pin on a certain subject or location, like a mountain goat on a distant ridge. Hand the glass to a friend and a reticle in your field of vision will direct the viewer to the exact spot you just pinned. Paired with a smartphone app, the binoculars can also stream a live feed to up to four other devices at a time (though they need to be within about ten feet of each other), so everyone on safari can watch the jaguar eat. The display projected directly into the viewfinder can also show a digital compass offering both cardinal directions and azimuth angles. It has an onboard camera, a GPS, and Bluetooth capabilities for firmware updates and app connectivity. To function fully, it needs no signal from anything whatsoever.

Of course, Swarovski optics aren’t cheap, think $3,000 or more, and neither is the AX Visio. With an MSRP at about $5,330, they are not for everyone. But after three days of playing with them in Texas, followed by another two weeks around my home in Oregon, I can say they’re a blast, intuitive, and offer all sorts of implications for birders, hunters, guides, travelers, and those who just like to navigate the natural world by name. “I think there are applications that we can’t even imagine yet,” says Janet Moler, a manager with Portland (Oregon) Audubon. “I don’t recall anything on the market even close to this.”

At the moment, in Texas, I trained the glass on a flamboyant yellow bird with a sky blue head and a black throat that had materialized as if out of a Walt Disney film. I’d never seen a bird like it. The words “Green Jay” illuminated in a simple, unobtrusive orange font almost instantly along the bottom of the hyper crisp image. Suddenly I could appreciate this park a little more.

The Swarovski AX Visio Binoculars Basics

The AX Visio (a riff on something like “augmented-experience vision”) looks like a chunkier, more militaristic set of binoculars with 10×32 lenses, which, like all optics, translates to “how big by how bright;” In the AX Visio’s case, 10x magnification with 32 millimeter objective lenses. That’s enough glass to collect sufficient light for most outdoorsy applications, though a little under-gunned for dimmer conditions, like in the thick of a rainforest.

Like all of Swarovski’s optics, the lenses are crafted to nanometer precision. But the real magic lies with a fiercely guarded mix of light-altering chemical coatings applied in as many as 50 layers to enhance clarity and contrast. So secret is the recipe for these coatings that Swarovski has opted not to patent them, a protection that would require the company to divulge its materials and methods. Better to let the competition spend the time and money trying to reverse engineer it all with lasers and gas spectrometers than to spell it out in a patent, or so the thinking goes.

Some of the experts on this trip, most of whom are on the front line of the birding world as dealers who sell optics to other birders, said they could see birders wanting a brighter lens, say 42 mm, but the smaller 32 mm glass saves on weight. That was necessary because a third optical barrel sits under the bridge linking the other two barrels near the focus wheel. This third barrel houses a 13 megapixel camera with a fixed 2.2 f-stop (and maximum exposure time of 1/125) that’s capable of shooting HD video at 30 to 60 frames per second. Figuring out how to pair a camera with the binoculars was key to the whole “smart” process.

“People have tried to put cameras in binoculars before, but the technology was changing so fast that by the time it came out it was already obsolete,” says Daniel Nindl, the company’s head of product management. Now the components are so small and the processors so robust that Swarovski Optik, which first began toying with smart binocular designs about a decade ago, felt confident enough to move into prototype stages about six years ago. In the end, engineers packed the AX Visio with 37 lenses, eight prisms, and nine electronic boards powered by a removable, rechargeable lithium battery pack. Combined with the 390 individual parts (think sensors, a gyroscope, magnetometer, accelerometer and more) all housed in a forest-green, IP68-rated moisture- and dust-tight body, the unit is about three pounds. Though it’s a bit of a beast, it feels great in your hands.

How Does The AI-Generated Identification Work?

The ID feature is well worth the heavy weight, especially when you consider some of the alternatives. I got into birding the way many others did during the pandemic, when I happened to look out my window to find a delightful little guy with a body as yellow as an Easter Peep sporting a jaunty black patch atop his tiny birdy crown. I went full analog and hauled out a dusty copy of , eventually landing on page 825, a Wilson’s warbler.

Though I’m not a serious birder, I’ve learned a few very basic tricks that make identifying birds so much easier than that, namely the free Merlin Bird ID app. Merlin is a “machine learning -powered bird ID tool” put out by the avian gods themselves at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology at Cornell University. I take a picture of a mystery bird with my smartphone, record its song or enter its description, and Merlin will spit out a list of species possibilities. I use it almost every day just walking the dog.

This app, or rather the research and database behind it, forms the muscle behind the AX Visio’s ability to identify birds. Swarovski Optik obtained the rights to use the data and then figured out how to pack the hardware and software into binoculars that could make sense of it. The system includes a processor similar to one in your phone that powers an algorithm using a “neural processing unit” based on the Merlin app. In short, artificial intelligence.

What’s truly amazing is the sheer size of the bird reference library that the AX Visio’s AI can tap. On your phone, the Merlin app is so data-heavy with photos and sound bites that you have to pick and choose which “bird packs” to install based on your geographic location. Those packs narrow down the realm of possible birds to those the user is most likely to see in that particular area. For example, that’s 717 birds for “U.S. and Canada: Continental” and 810 birds for “Costa Rica.” The AX Visio, meanwhile, can only identify birds by “sight.” That data set consumes less storage space than the full Merlin app and allows the binoculars to have an on-board reference library that essentially includes every bird from every bird pack—roughly 8,000 birds total. The processor needs no connectivity to access it. That means it can identify a satyr tragopan in a remote rhododendron forest in Bhutan as easily as a mourning dove in New York City.

Understanding how this all unfolds is material for a graduate degree, but as a user, it couldn’t be more simple. To identify the green jay, I powered the unit on, waited for it to lock in a GPS signal, and turned the “mode wheel” to the bird ID function. Looking through the viewfinder, which included adjustable eyecups I could dial in to fit my sunglasses, a reticle appeared in the shape of a circle cut into four equal, curved segments. The more the bird can fill that circle, the higher the confidence in the AI result. Holding the binoculars naturally, you can toggle the size of the circle by depressing a button using a right forefinger.

A second, adjacent button acts like a shutter release on a camera. Once I had the jay lined up in my sights, I depressed the second button halfway, and the unit’s autofocus took over. Depressing it the rest of the way, the unit took a picture that was automatically uploaded to my paired iPhone 12 and then produced an ID readable directly in the viewfinder. All four segments of the circle had grown thicker, like a font in bold, signaling a high-confidence result. The fewer segments in bold: the lower the AI’s confidence in its result.

The system isn’t perfect. The unit couldn’t decide if a seagull was a laughing gull or a Franklin’s gull—it kept alternating between the two each time I hit the release. Ideally, the viewfinder needs to be filled with 224 x 224 pixels, though the minimum it needs is 100 x 100. Other times, it tested my own limitations. A hummingbird showed up and it was difficult to get a clear, stable shot of it that filled the circle. I tried anyway and the unit said it couldn’t recognize it or it wasn’t in focus. When I did get a decent shot of the bird face-on, the AI thought it was an Allen’s hummingbird when the birders all knew it was actually a Rufous. The differences between the two are difficult for beginners to distinguish and boil down to the shape of the tail feathers.

“To be fair,” said Clay Taylor, a naturalist who joined Swarovski Optik in 1999 as the division’s first in-house bird specialist, “even (famed ornithologist) David Sibley would need to see its back before he could tell you what it is.”

Other times I was shocked the AI could make sense of what I fed it at all. A raptor rocketed by and I fired off a sloppy shot. The unit called it a northern harrier, correctly. In the most comical, extreme example, perhaps, a bird never seen anywhere north of Panama suddenly showed up in downtown Corpus Christi, having likely hitched a ride on one of the many ships that come into port—a vagrant in birder-speak. The AI must have overridden what its own GPS said it couldn’t possibly be (or perhaps the unit couldn’t lock in a solid GPS signal among the buildings) and identified it as a cattle tyrant, a fly-eating fiend with a yellow breast and olive-brown back that had found an endless feast in a blue downtown dumpster. Soon hundreds of people from all over the country had gathered around this greasy trashcan to catch a glimpse.

Additional Features

I played with the other functions over the next few weeks. The location tagging setting led me right to a vermillion flycatcher a friend had spotted on a fence. Another time, I put it on mammal mode and drew a bead on a shih tzu walking down the beach, but all it could say was “dog.” One day, for giggles, I pointed it at my teenage daughter. “Human,” it said, though the state of her habitat would suggest otherwise.

I wondered if hardcore birders who already know hundreds of species by heart would have a need for something like this, and the answer is maybe. “We can all go someplace new and be totally lost,” says Diane Porter, co-founder of . Moler of Portland Audubon agrees: “There were many birds in Texas it identified when I didn’t have a clue,” she says. Having a pair to share among a group seems ideal, like an outfitter that equips its trip leaders and guides with a set to help clients see an owlet in the redwoods or a lion snoozing in the shade.

I shot a video of one egret bullying another in a pond and took pictures of distant buildings with architectural features I thought were cool, which was easy since I didn’t have to put down the binoculars and take out my phone or a camera. Though I enjoyed the photo function, it still can’t compete against a dedicated camera with, say, a 600 millimeter lens. “No way will it replace my big camera,” Porter says.

The most exciting features, however, may be the ones to come. The mode wheel already includes two empty slots ready to be claimed by future functions (which will also be open to third party developers). Perhaps one day one will go to the names and elevations of distant peaks or even climbing routes to the top. Maybe plane spotters will find a way to use it. In the meantime, there’s no doubt they’re game changers for many.

Personally, I’d kill to own a pair for the sheer amount of joy I got out of the Genesis-like gift of being able to give names to these delicate, gorgeous marvels of the world, and for the way that knowledge enriched my time in Texas, expanding doors and introducing me to others. (Like those 1.2 million raptors spotted at a tiny park for starters.)

“It’s a revolutionary product,” Moler says. “Now when a person walks in and says, for that price, those binoculars should identify the bird for you, I can say, they do.”

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Binoculars might seem as necessary for a cyclist as Ěýwheels for an ornithologist, but I came to my Mavens on the bike, and they will forever remain part of my riding kit.

A few years back, a friend introduced me and my wife to elk hunting by way of bicycle, an that has brought whole new meaning to post-race riding season. Since I already had a bike, this friend said the next piece of equipment I had to get was a set of binos: you can’t feed yourself if you can’t see the animals you’re after.

I had an old set of Bushnells that I thought were fine—until I tried my buddy’s , which made mine look about as sharp and clear as a Charlie Chaplin–era film. I resolved to get a pair just like his. Then I found out they cost about as much as those Enves.

As it happened, another friend of a friend, an alpinist and hunter who previously worked at Brunton, had recently started Maven. The company sells customizable binoculars with glass that is supposedly as good as top-shelf camera and birding optics—for a lot less money. As with bike brands like Canyon, YT Industries, and Franco, which all claim to pass along lower costs by selling exclusively online and thereby cutting out the overhead and middlemen, Maven promises an extraordinary product at cut-rate pricing.

That’s not to say the Maven products are inexpensive. At $1,000 stock ($1,210 as built), my 9×45-magnification B2 binoculars cost as much as a good used bike or a set of fast, lightweight wheels. But they are just as good as, if not better than glass from the other major brands I’ve tried (Leica, Swarovski, Zeiss) that are twice as expensive (or worse). And yeah, it’s pretty cool that you can mix and match eight colors of anodized metal rings and seven body patterns for a .

For those cringing at the steep prices for a pair of binoculars, I did the same when I first began considering them. (For the record, depending on your needs, Maven offers lighter-weight, shorter-magnification versions of the B1 and B3 that are .) But if you spend a lot of time in the field, the performance gains justify the price. Whereas cheaper glass (my old $250 Bushnells, for instance) turns an elk or deer rack at 500 yards into a befuddling haze, the Mavens allow me to count every point. Using these binos, I’ve spotted animals at close to two miles away—and ruled them out because they were the wrong sex or species. That’s the difference between a lot of lost time stalking and not.

Even with access to other pricey binoculars, I almost always find myself reaching for the B2. The differences, as with all good binos, are most revealing in the extremes of dawn and dusk, when the Mavens seem to gather more ambient light than the competition. I’ve had experiences where, after looking into the darkness through another pair and making out only a sheet of black, I’ve picked up the B2 and discovered deer staring back at me at 50 yards.

To be honest, no other single piece of gear has transformed my outdoor existence as dramatically as these binoculars have. Look through them at a flat hillside half a mile away—it becomes a ponderosa forest crawling with life. Point them at that golden evening field in the distance—deer, coyotes, javelina, and rabbits materialize. When we’re camping, I can spend hours in the woods perusing the far distance. And these days, even when it’s not hunting season, I’ve taken to carrying binos along on backcountry rides to enliven rest breaks or pass the time when friends have mechanicals. For me, the Maven B2 binoculars are like outdoor television, only cheaper, lighter, and much more relaxing.

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Good binoculars are essential for anyone who wants to hunt, go birding, or step up their wildlife-viewing game. But there are hundreds of options on the market, ranging from less than $100 to more than $2,000. For suggestions on how to buy the right pair, I enlisted my good friend Jason Brooks, who’s been an avid birder going on 20 years. He brokeĚýdown theĚýnitty-gritty specs like magnification, configuration, and lens diameter so you don’t have to.

Understand the Technology

Magnification and lens diameter are the two most important specs to consider when buying binocs. The two numbers are always displayed together as a “by” formula, with magnification in front and lens diameter in back (7×35, 8×42, 10×50, etc). Magnification denotes by how many times the lenses magnify objects. Lens diameter, measured in millimeters, denotes how much light the binoculars let in. The more light they allow, the easier it is to spot fine details. As a general rule, the bigger the numbers, the bigger the binoculars.

Establish Your Budget

There are lots of great options in the $1,500 range. These binoculars have lenses with a high optical quality and reduced glare, both of which help you see fine details. Serious birders and hunters will definitely benefit from these specs. The rest of us, however, don’t need to spend that much. A $350 or $400 pair still offers precise enough viewing. Warning: Brooks says $350 is a good cutoff. Any lower than that and the lens quality declines steeply.

Look at the Warranty

NewsĚýflash: Binoculars lenses will break if you drop them. And it’s easy to drop them when you’re scrambling around the woods. Make sure your pair comes with a warranty like that offered by and .

Choose the Right Pair for Your Activity

Binoculars come in many different configurations and sizes. To pick the right pair, you’ll need to determine how you’ll use it most often.

• Birding:ĚýGet anĚý8×42ĚýorĚý10×42Ěýconfiguration like the $400Ěý. These configurations hit the sweet spot between light and magnification when you’re trying to spot tinyĚýhidden objects. These tend to be heavy models, but birders will appreciate the optical precision.
• Hunting:ĚýGet anĚý8×28Ěýconfiguration like the $390Ěý. “The hunter spends time in the brush, off trail, and needs binoculars close at hand that are easy to carry,”Ěýsays Brooks. He suggests a smaller zoom and lens diameter for hunters.
• Watching football:ĚýGet aĚý10×50Ěýconfiguration like the $200ĚýĚýSure, they’re heavy, but it doesn’t matter if you aren’t walking far. Brooks recommends going with a maximum ofĚý10×50Ěýor smaller, as larger magnification requires a tripod to stabilize the image.

The post How Do I Buy My First Pair of Binoculars? appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

There are two simples rulesĚýto follow to get your kids to enjoy camping. The first:Ěýleave the iPadĚýat home. The second: encourage them to get out and explore. To find out what essentialsĚýshould absolutely be in your backpack if you're camping with kids, I spoke with myĚýfriend , a river guide and father extraordinaire, who has successfully adventured with his children for years. Here are his top six gear picks.Ěý

National Geographic Bird Guide of North America ($12)Ěý

“ have offered our girls hours of entertainment,” Allred says. He suggests turning observation into a game. See how many different species your kidsĚýcan findĚýor see which ones they can spot the most frequently.Ěý

Bushnell 8X21mm PowerView Binoculars ($16)Ěý

will help with the observation game. And they’re inexpensive enough that you can buy two—or not worryĚýif the firstĚýgets destroyed. When your kids lose interest, throw them in your own pack for day hikes.Ěý

The North Face Sprout Backpack ($35)Ěý

Your child probably has a school backpack, but tell herĚý is intended just forĚýhiking. That will help herĚýget excited for the trail. Allred likes the Sprout because it’s small, but still lets his daughters carry their own water and some extra clothes. When his kids aren’t hiking, Allred sends them out with the bags on scavenger hunts.

Disc Craft Beginner Disc Golf Set ($25)

is less about the discs, and more about the course, which you should have your kids set up using natural features.Ěý

Princeton Tec Amp 3.5 ($30)Ěý

Every kid loves a flashlight. See if yoursĚýcan spot wildlife at nightĚýwith this inexpensive model from Princeton. We like theĚýĚýbecause itĚýhas aĚýlong battery life, sturdy build, and a 100-lumen output. An included nylon lanyard helps ensure it doesn't get lost.

NRS Jester ($715)Ěý

This is a big investment, but one that’s given Allred’s kids hours of enjoyment out on a lake. is small enough for his first- and third-graderĚýto maneuver, and if they get tired of paddling, it doubles as a floaty.

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No matter where in the 59-park-strongĚýsystem your explorations take you, there are some nonnegotiable things you’ll need to bring along.Ěý

Topo x Howler Klettersack 15L

A collaboration between pack maker Topo Designs and apparel designer Howler Brothers, the ($179) features 1,000-denier Cordura, leather lash tabs, and side pockets for fly rods. Stash a hydration bladder in the padded inner sleeve.Ěý

Howler Brothers H Bar B Snapshirt

The cotton-poly blend in ($65) is quick drying and wrinkleĚýresistant, meaning you won’t look like you just hiked a bunch of grueling switchbacks, even if you did. A microfiber hem helps you keep yourĚýsunglasses smudge-free.Ěý

Canon PowerShot SX710 HS

Canon squeezed a three-inch screen into the slim ($350), so you won’t have to squint to see your 21-megapixel nature shots and 1080p video. The Story Highlights function pulls your photos into a reel that you can share via Wi-Fi.

United by Blue Ultimate American socks

United by Blue’sĚý ($38) are made with bison wool—its downy fibers make it lighter than sheep’s wool. It also regulates temperature better.

Rogue Medium Backpack Journal

The high-grade leather cover and thick, grainy saa paperĚýfashioned from sustainable mulberry barkĚýmake Rogue’s ($38) the ultimate adventurer’s log.

Maven B.3 10×30ĚýBinoculars

˛Ń˛ą±ą±đ˛Ô’s ($530) are made with phase-correction coating and extra-low-dispersion lenses for crispĚýcolorĚýcontrast and images. The 10×30 pair delivers high-end light transmission even in twilight—perfect for snooping on unsuspecting wildlife.Ěý

Forsake Mack

The plush padding in the heel and tongue reminds us of the kicks we wore to ollie curbs in high school. The Forsake ($110) has breathable mesh sides, a foam midsole, and thick tread that transform it from a street shoe into a lightweight all-terrain monster.Ěý

Esee Knives Esee-3

Made of high-carbon steel, theĚýĚý(from $170) has a four-inch fixed blade designed for hardcore specialĚýops and survival missions. It laughs at whatever you put it through, whether that’s cutting paracord or slices of salami.

The post Ramble On: Classic Day-Trip Gear appeared first on şÚÁĎłÔąĎÍř Online.

In October 2013, Namibia—one of the few countries with conservation mandated in its constitution—hosted the , an opportunity for 650 delegates from 60 countries to meet, network, and, of course, explore southern Africa.

Legend Ultra HD Binoculars.

Clearwater CNX.

X7R flashlight.

Equatorial Long Sleeve Shirt.

Tropical Flats Shorts.

Capture Pro Camera Clip.

LTM6 Airflo Nylamtium hat.

Ěý

Here’s the gear that survived the adventure.

; $275
When you want to see a leopard’s whiskers without becoming its next meal, the Bushnell Legends are your secret weapon. Tracking an injured hyena in Namibia, our safari guide could see its wound—a lion bite—from 600 feet away. Late that day, the binocs let us identify 47 bird species in three hours, even when some were circling 1,000 feet above us. The extra-wide field of vision glass maximizes available light and gives you a color-tuned, high-res image whether you’re peering into the forest or the dunes. Bushnell’s permanent water-repellant coating keeps your lenses clear from sweat or precipitation. The company guarantees you’ll love them or they’ll buy them back.Ěý

; $100
From Namibia’s famed Sossusvlei dunes to the Kalahari, walking in sand is one of the desert’s greatest challenges. It feels better barefoot until the sun is high. Then, you need a shoe that protects your feet from the skin-searing surface but doesn't overheat on the inside. Keen’sĚýClearwater CNXĚýis the perfect solution. It has a barefoot feel thanks to multidirectional grooves on the thin but supportive sole, and the webbed upper drains sand as well as it drains water.Ěý

; $240
Stopping under a camelthorn to peer into the one-ton nest of a sociable weaver colony, the 70-to-500 lumen adjustable beamĚýLED LenserĚýchased away shadows and helped our resident safari photographer capture a great pic. And, at night, its beam pierced the inky darkness, pinpointing a leopard crouching by a waterhole, and illuminating it well enough from 500 feet away for a gallery worthy picture. The X7R uses two LEDs in one beam, and it’s USB rechargeable.

; $95
On African safari, the humidity is low, but the sweat volume is high under the hot desert sun. The Equatorial shirt dried in minutes and never soaked through, even on the stillest days. And it’s tough enough to protect you from the claws of camelthorn and other grabby desert bushes. The collar flips up to keep your neck from burning.

; $69
Keep cool and pack light with Patagonia’s Tropical Flats Shorts. Weighing in at a mere 5.4 ounces, these shorts are made from sun protective, quick dry nylon and spandex. For extra venting, the pocket snaps open to catch the breeze. They're stretchy enough for any activity, from hiking to fishing to kicking back with a cold one and watching wildlife.

; $80
Keeping you camera out of the sand is key in the desert. So is being able to switch between camera and bincoulars. Enter Capture Pro Camera Clip. It attaches to your camera and any backpack shoulderstrap or belt and supports even a substantial zoom lens on a full DSLR without bouncing. The quick release lock can take up to 200 pounds of force without accidentally releasing. The transition from ready to action is seamless with a simple slide clip that doubles as a tripod mount.Ěý

; $79
A fat rim for sun protection and good venting—those are the basic requirements for a safari hat. Tiley’s hand-sewn Airflow Nylantium gives you that, plus UPF 50 with a dark underbrim for glare protection. And, should a freak storm arise, it’s water repellent.

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Bushnell NatureView 6×30 Binoculars

BEST FOR: Neophyte Birders

were made for wildlife enthusiasts, and it shows. Their sleek design and light weight (17 ounces) make them easy to carry around your neck, and the fully multicoated lenses offer superb clarity. This size felt a bit slight in the hand, but it’s also available in five larger ones if you’re looking for more heft (or power).

Carson 3D/ED 8×42 Binoculars

BEST FOR: Serious Outdoorsmen

The feel solid in hand, have comfortable rubberized eyepieces that make extended viewing easy, and are nitrogen filled to keep out moisture. But the most impressive feature is the lenses themselves, which have a proprietary coating that reduces color distortion—perfect for getting a clean view through trees.

Steiner Champ 10×26 Binoculars

BEST FOR: Hikers

Steiner is best known for making heavy-duty law-enforcement and marine-grade binoculars, but it’s managed to transfer that rugged sensibility (and its crisp lenses) into the pocket-size . Because of its size, it can be finicky to handle at first, but fast-and-light hikers and birders will appreciate its portability.

Vortex Optics Crossfire II 8×42 Binoculars

BEST FOR: Demanding Trekkers

The are a steal. Their fully multicoated lenses offer sharp images, and the focus wheel is exceptionally smooth. We also loved how durable and well built they are: rubber armor and a solid chassis (along with that price) make them perfect for worry-free stashing in a glove box or backpack.

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If I needed binoculars for zeroing in on birds, fireworks or the people in the building across the street, I’d get theĚý.

The glasses cost about $250, but you could spend a lot more and have little to show for it, or spend a little less to lose a lot.ĚýThe Monarch’s rugged, waterproof design, and its light weight and superb optical clarity under all types of lighting, have earned high praise from ornithologists, hobbyists and retailers alike.

Before I get into specifics, I think it’s a good idea to touch on some basic things to consider when buying binoculars. First and foremost, what will you be using them for? For example, an opera enthusiast will have much different requirements than a hunter, but that doesn’t mean there can’t be some overlap. We chose amateur birdwatching as our baseline activity because the features that attract birders—such as color accuracy, sharpness, low-light performance, close focusing ability, and portability—are useful for most other applications as well. Think of birding as the lowest common denominator for activities enhanced by close-up viewing.

With birding in mind, we still have some other considerations. First of all, regarding magnification, it’s best to stick with 8x zoom glasses. It’s tempting to get into the “more is better” mindset and spring for super-zoom 12x binocs but after a few minutes of trying to keep them steady to avoid puking, you’ll wish you’d gone with the 8x. Less zoom also means more light and a brighter image. At this level, you still have a fairly wide field of view, while getting close to the action. Less zoom also makes for a brighter image and better depth of field so you can see more even when there’s less light. (If you want to know more about the pros and cons of the various magnification levels, I suggest readingĚý.)

You should also make sure to get waterproof binoculars; even if you’re not planning on going near the water. That’s because there’s always water in the air and if your glasses aren’t waterproof, it means they’re not completely sealed. Thus, water vapor could build up inside the binoculars, ultimately turning them into an expensive and boring kaleidoscope.

Comfort is also an issue, especially if you already wear glasses. Nowadays, however, all binoculars worth buying come with adjustable eyecups that have multiple quick-adjust, eye-relief settings for bespectacled and bare-eyed users alike, so this shouldn’t be an issue.

You probably saw this coming, but the Nikon Monarchs includes all these features, and then some. They’re waterproof, lightweight and capable of focusing down to just 8.2 feet. A shock-absorbing exterior and durable, roof prism-based optics mean that they’ll take a beating without breaking. If something does break, though, you’ll be glad to know that the glasses come with a 25-year warranty. I won’t get into the specific marketer-created names of the myriad treatments applied to the lenses and prisms, but basically it has a bunch of fancy coatings that make for a seriously sharp and colorful picture under all sorts of lighting conditions. It’s these carefully-engineered coatings that make the difference between great binoculars such as these, and the mediocrities you’ll find stashed in the bargain bin at Walmart.

We asked , executive director of the world-renowned , what he thought of the Monarchs and this is what he said: “We actually recommend the Nikon Monarchs to everybody who asks us for the best reasonably priced binocs (and I’ve given many pairs as gifts). With Nikon, you know you’re getting great glass.” But you don’t have to take his word for it. Ken Rosenberg, editor of , had this to say about the Monarchs after testing them along with almost 80 other models: “These lightweight, waterproof and very comfortable binoculars focus down to six feet (they were given the name ‘Monarch’ to attract butterfly watchers) and offer an image and feel that surpasses many models costing two or three times more. Only in a direct comparison with the top-priced binoculars could our reviewers discern the narrower, slightly duller image, which was not quite sharp at the edges. But with a street price well under $300, the Monarchs are a steal.” The Monarchs earned similar praise in reviews from , , and . Retailers like it as well: named it the “Best All Use Binocular of 2009,” and Binoculars.com picked it as a “2012 Binocular of the Year” in the birding category.

That being said, you should make a serious effort to go to the store and try multiple binoculars for yourself before making a decision. Everyone’s eyes are different and if you can’t tell the difference between $50 and $1,000 binoculars, there’s no point in wasting $950 on bragging rights. However, if this isn’t an option for you, then the Monarchs are a pretty safe bet.

As for as higher-end binoculars, Fitzpatrick gave us this advice: “From this price point upward [$300], there is a logarithmic increase in price-to-quality ratio, so the very best binoculars made now cost $2,000 or more. But believe me, you do get what you pay for, and once you go birding with one of these great pairs (either or [or ]) it will be hard not to want one.”

It’s up to you to decide if that extra 10 percent bump in performance is worth a 10-fold increase in price but it’s safe to say that most people would be willing to settle for less. I would.

Speaking of which, for those who want to settle for even less than the Monarchs, Nikon’s Action line of binoculars offer Nikon quality at budget prices. The Action 7x35mm led the budget category in Living Bird magazine’s 80 binocular roundup, but in an email follow up Ken Rosenberg said that the 8x40mm model was the way to go though he lamented its lack of waterproofing. Based on this information and a little Amazon digging, we think that the $123 is the way to go if you’re looking for binoculars on a budget. They have the same, high-quality optics as the normal Actions, but are also waterproof so they’ll last you a long time. However, it’s worth mentioning that these, like the rest of the Action line, are based on a porro prism design, which can come out of alignment over time or if jostled. Thankfully though,Ěýthey’re also backed by the same 25-year warranty as the Monarchs, should something go wrong.

Bushnell is perhaps Nikon’s best known competitor in the binocular market and for good reason: they make a lot of binoculars. They have binoculars for every budget and they sell a lot of them, but quantity does not equal quality. Kenneth Rosenberg from Living Bird had this to say about Bushnell’s offerings: “Bushnell is known in the inexpensive binocular market, [but] we have seen issues of quality control and durability—even in their more expensive models.” Better not to risk it.

There are also a number of lesser known binocular brands that you may not have heard of like Leupold or Eagle Optics. They sell some really great glass but none of them outperform the Monarchs at this price point. Plus, if something goes wrong with your binoculars, you’ll be glad you have the giant multinational company with a generous warranty policy behind your back.

Simply put, the offer the best combination of performance, durability, features and price. If you want to spend more, you’ll have to shell out at least $1,000 before you find any significant increase in performance. Spending less will mean sacrificing some of the lens and prism treatments that give it such exceptional clarity and low-light performance.

This originally appeared on .

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Leupold Hawthorne 7×42 Binoculars

Sporting a roof-prism design to cut size and weight, the 23-ounce are sleek under a jacket. And while we liked the idea of having the built-in diopter adjuster on the center focus dial—intended to make it easier to use all the controls with one hand—it sometimes led us to accidentally move the focus ring. It’s a minor complaint, because once it’s dialed in the glasses are exceptionally crisp, and they’ll fit nicely in any amateur birder’s bag.

Carson VP 8×42 Binoculars

Substantial but not bulky, the VPs are perfect for the backwoods hunter or birder who wants bright, full-size for accurate viewing at dawn or dusk, in a package light enough for an all-day hike. The lenses were clear and vivid, with accurate color representation, and the textured focus ring worked buttery smooth, even with sweaty fingers. Bonus: the close focal distance (6.6 feet) made for big-screen-like viewing of nearby objects.

Bushnell Legend Ultra-HD Binoculars

Generally, the smaller the binocs, the worse the optics. Not so the ’s, which are impressively bright and sharp—especially in low light—for such a compact set (8.1 ounces). The center focus ring is smooth, and the twist-up eyecups are simple to remove for on-the-fly viewing. They’re a bit finicky to master, but at four inches long the Ultras stash perfectly in a jacket pocket—a great trade-off.

Binoculars with quality, fully multicoated lenses, which assist light transmission and help reduce glare, are finally becoming more affordable—and common. All four models here, including the compact Bushnell, have them.

Nikon Monarch 3 10×42 Binoculars

With a rugged rubberized body for solid gripping even in wet weather and waterproof and fogproof construction (that actually works), the is the most durable pair here. The optics are just as superb, with phase-corrected silver-alloy prisms and antireflective lenses that noticeably cut down snow glare on a high-alpine New Mexico hike. At last: high-quality binoculars you can throw in your pack without worrying about trashing them.

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