Optics

MARINE INSURANCE REDUXI have been reading with much interest your articles about marine insurance this year (April and May 2006).

Is it really worth dropping a few extra bucks for binos?

Nikon, West Marine top the field of binos under $300.

Optical acuity was very good across the board, but the devil's in the details. Steiner and Fujinon are still superb - at great cost. West Marine and Nikon share Best Buy honors.

For onboard back-ups and excursions ashore, a set of good compact binox are almost required. Nikon fielded a strong team—their Mountaineers are a Best Buy. But the race is also to the Swift.

Two of the most important tools on our night passages through the Java Sea and South China Sea were our Fujinon FMTR-SX binoculars and our ITT Night Mariner 250 binocular-style night vision scope.