Be content with a modest
magnification because the erratic motion of a small boat causes images to
shimmer and blur in the eyepieces. The rule-of-thumb glasses for small boats
are 7 x 50s. Anything more powerful is a waste of money.
Incidentally, 7 x 50 means
the image is enlarged seven times, and the front lenses are 50 mm in diameter.
The 7 x 35 format is quite popular, too, but the larger the front lens, the
better the binoculars will gather light at night. The 7 x 50 format makes for
good night glasses that will help you spot buoys and moored boats mostly
invisible to the naked eye after sundown.
You can buy military
spin-offs such as night scopes and image-stabilizing binoculars that provide
steadier pictures and magnifications of as much as 14 times, but they will cost
you an arm, a leg, and maybe an ear or two. They’re heavy, full of vulnerable
electronics, and they’ll need a constant supply of batteries. Unless you’re a
professional spy, you really don’t need them.
And if you should be so
lucky as to receive a pair of good binoculars from a nice person this festive
season, guard them carefully. Good binoculars are expensive. Buy yourself a
second, cheap pair for visitors who keep changing your settings and won’t put
the damned strap around their necks.
Today’s Thought
The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see
something. Hundreds of people can talk for one who thinks, but thousands can
think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy and religion all
in one.-- Ruskin, Modern Painters
Tailpiece
“Yes, I’ve been very
unfortunate with both my husbands.”“Oh? Why?”
“Well, the first one ran away.”
“And the second?”
“He didn’t.”
(Drop by every Monday, Wednesday, Friday for a new Mainly about Boats column.)
