Binoculars - Recommendations?
 

Hi,

Any recommendations for compact binoculars?

Is it essential to have waterproof & dustproof ones (nitrogen filled) or do cheaper ones do the job just fine and dry out ok if dunked.

The Silva Pocket 8x21 are cheap, small and light (ideal) but not waterproof but I'm not convinced the waterproofness is worth the extra given that they might get stolen or broken anyway. What do others use?

Andy.

P.S. Not sure if this is the right forum but they are kind of navigation equipment ;-)

binoculars ... hmm. some countries (eg Algeria) require you to declare them on entry ... so that they can confiscate them! non-waterproof ones tend to suffer badly if dunked. they just don't seem to dry cleanly and you can't get in to clean them. I have a very funky pair of 7-14x25 zoom ones (80 quid years ago), but didn't bring them cos of the size and dust. I've been carrying 8x21s, but await a 10x25 monoscope (12 quid at army surplus) which should arrive today. reasoning ...
1) less to get dust in
2) cheap, compact cheerful
3) don't seem to have to declare it at borders
4) single lens means you're not comparing piss-poor lenses on cheapo binoculars