I Spy With My Little Eye: Binoculars Sizes and Uses

Last week we talked about different kinds of compasses and did some survival drills at a local park. I also mentioned that we were going to be talking about a compass' best friend. Much like a boy needs a good dog, I believe a compass needs a good pair of binoculars. This week I'm going to be going over the different types of binoculars that I have. We will also be returning to our local park where we will be travelling with a map and binoculars only, as well as with a map and compass only. Lastly, we will choose one of these binoculars to add to our backpack at the end to build it out better, much like we did last week.

First let's start out with a quiz. I'll show you the binoculars and the numbers on them, and you figure out which binoculars are the best. From Left to right,the first pair are 10x25, the second are 16x32, and the last pair are 8x40. Now, don't cheat, but if you think you know leave a comment on this blog with the answer! If you aren't sure what these numbers mean, you're more than likely going to go with the biggest pair, the 8x40. Actually the best pair I have are the 16x32 pair. Now, let's talk about what these numbers mean. The first number, for example the 16, refers to the magnification of the object I am viewing. The first number on the larger binoculars is 8, letting us know that magnification is half of what it is on the second pair of binoculars I showed you. The second number refers to the distance in millimeters across the lenses of the binoculars. So the first pair have 25 millimeters, the second 32 millimeters, and the third have 40 millimeters.

So now you may be thinking, if one pair of binoculars is clearly better than the others, why do you even have the other two? Well, much like with the compasses, the different types are better suited for different tasks. The 8x40 binoculars I prefer to use for hunting. It's not going to magnify as much, but I do have a wider view of what I am looking, much like having peripheral vision. This allows me to look around the area of a tree and easily spot when a squirrel comes into view. The 16x32 I prefer to have with me at all times. It is very useful when looking for something in particular or if I am looking around with them trying to spot something. The 32 millimeter lenses give me a good window of vision to work with as well. The 10x25 pair are a good in between. Sometimes with the 16x32 pair I get drawn in to one spot with the powerful magnification at close distances, but with the 10x25 it's not so bad.


Now I am going to show you what I see through each pair of binoculars. There is a leaf in particular I am going to point out, then we are going to view the leaf through each pair of binoculars to see what we can see. The 10x25 can single out the leaf pretty well way up at the top of the trees. There is a leaf to the right of the one we are looking at that I am trying to get in the same viewing circle as well. I'll be talking about why in a minute. The problem with the 16x32 binoculars is that they are so zoomed in that you can easily become disoriented when trying to spot an object or find where you are. When we locate the leaf we cannot get the second leaf in view at the same time. This is because the magnification is better for pinpointing a specific object. With the 8x40 binoculars we can easily get both leaves into view. It is not the most zoomed in, but we still can see some details as well as still have room for anything else that may come into view.

Now we are going to return to the park and work with our binoculars a bit more. I am beginning at the location that we are calling the ranger station as per last week's blog. What  I am going to do is take my binoculars, and spot for the first X designated on our map. Now, I know that the first X is directly in front of me, but I would do is spot the feature, locate it on my map to confirm, and then begin walking in that direction. Now the second feature which is south of my I am noticing has 5 appendages coming from it. These represent two slides, a set of monkey bars, a staircase, and what I am assuming is

a second staircase around the back. I simply look through my binoculars to see each of these things more clearly, then confirm again with my map, and head that way. To add a bit of a challenge this time I didn't go exactly where the X was on my map. Before I move on to the next set of playground equipment, let's say I couldn't confirm what the feature was by viewing it through my  binoculars and referring to the map. In this instance I would try to look for features around where I am looking to go to confirm the location. In this case there is a bench and a pole near the playground equipment. I can spot those, check with my map, and we are ready to go. Now this is the home stretch. From here with my binoculars I can see the dirt circle with the ride-on equipment, move on, and from there, spot my "camp" which was the bench I started at in the last blog.

Now we are ready to start our second drill. I will be using my 10x25 binoculars and my military style compass. What we will be simulating is a friend going off from camp, and it seems like they have been gone a while and you think something may have happened. Now in this scenario I noticed the direction they went in. I have my binoculars on top of my compass so I can easily switch my views between them. Now I will view with my binoculars the two trees that my friend traveled through and try to spot a flag or any signs on the trail that may signify the direction they went. I don't see anything so now I am going to take a bearing of that direction which is about 50 degrees, so we are going to head that direction. After arriving at the two trees we are going to scan again and in this simulation, we are going to say our friend is smart enough to leave behind trail markers to indicate their direction. So I scan with my binoculars and find a pile of rocks, or a stick with an arrow pointing in their direction. I take a bearing and get about 60 or 65 degrees, and start walking. From here we are going to scan about 360 degrees. I don't notice anything and I am sure that this is an unnatural landmark. So I am going to orientate myself and continue following the 60 to 65 degree bearing and check again in a few yards.

Now I've reached what we are considering the end of the road. What I am going to do is place a marker here so if I cannot find my friend in one direction, I can come back to this spot and check a different direction. My options here are a very steep hill or a much easier to walk path. I am going to say my friend took the easier path. I am going to take the bearing which is about 320 degrees. I'm going to continue scanning every few yards and eventually I do notice them. It appears as though she has hurt her foot, so at this point we are going to try to get her back to camp, and then to the ranger station for some aid.

At this point we have to choose between the 16x32 and the 10x25 binoculars to add to our backpack. The 16x32 binoculars have a pretty good balance between magnification and lens size, though they are not as balanced as the 10x25 binoculars. I do get better picture with  the 16x32 binoculars and naturally the hand shake is a little bit worse. At the end of the day, the one thing the 16x32 binoculars can do that the 10x25 can't is magnification. So with that being said I am choosing to add the 16x32 because I would rather have that feature and not need it, than need it and not have it. A quick word on the military compass that I used. I had a lot of problems with it. It did not want to give an accurate reading through the peep hole or when I matched it on the compass. I would hate to have someone buy it and have the same problems as me. It's because of this that I am happy with the decision I made to add the modern compass to my pack instead.

Next week we will be doing a craft that will help us keep pace with this compass series, so you definitely don't want to miss it! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Set A Course For Survival: Compass Basics and Survival Drills

Last week we finished out our series on our EDC kits. If you missed any of those blogs feel free to go back and read them, there was some very good information there! The videos are also posted on our Youtube channel (backpack bushcraft) if you missed those as well. This week we are going to begin a new series on compasses. I have three compasses that I am going to be going over and discussing advantages and disadvantages. Afterwards we will be going to a local park and doing two survival drills. The first is finding yourself on a map using just a compass, and second is getting from point A to point B using just a map and compass. Lastly we will review the compass and we are going to do a new little ceremony of adding the item to our backpack. Let's get into it.

First we are going to talk about button compasses. Mine is not a traditional button compass as you can tell as it comes with the button compass, a whistle, a thermometer, and a magnifying glass. The button compass has a travel arrow, a floating needle, all the cardinal directions already labeled, and will spin to point north at all times. Because the compass always points north the travel arrow indicates which direction you are more than likely facing. The one problem that I have with this is that it does not have the degrees labelled on the compass, instead there are just tick marks. Now, you could likely easily enough figure out the degree based on the tick marks, as well as get around pretty well with it, however, if you are going to be using a map, you're going to want to check out the next compass.


The next compass, what I call the modern compass is what I was trained to use. It has a clear base with a ruler as well as a mile and kilometer indicator. This lets you line it up on your map and estimate how far away a destination on your map is from your position. The rotating dial and housing which allows the needle to find north by locking it into the two dots (what David Canterbury call the "doghouse"). This allows you to find your true position. An advantage of this type of compass is that it is clear so you can lay it on a map to find your way and still be able to read the map underneath it. The disadvantage are that the tick marks are very fine and can be difficult to read when pinpointing your exact position. I would still prefer to use this compass, however the next compass is even more precise.

Lastly we have a traditional or military style compass. You can see that it has the floating needle similar to the button compass as well as a rotating dial similar to the modern compass. Some key features of this compass is the level in the bottom corner as well as a spot for a tripod so you can hold it on the ground and make sure it is level. There is also a set of cross hairs which you can use to more accurately pinpoint the location of a far off object. At the base of the compass there is a scope which magnifies the degrees to get a more accurate reading. Facing my camera with the button compass I was one tick east. With the modern compass I was facing roughly 120 degrees. Now with the military compass I have pin pointed myself facing exactly 125 degrees.

Now we are going to go to our local park and do some survival drills with our compasses. First I want to talk about my map and how I made it. I started by going to Google Earth and finding the park that I was going to. I found where I wanted to start and oriented the map as north as possible. I then took a screenshot, transferred it to MS Paint, and blew it up to an 8x11 size. Voila. Map. This is good to practice with especially bearing in mind that you aren't going to find topographical maps of a park. The other thing to keep in mind is you can control how zoomed in or out the map is, but if you aren't careful you won't be able to accurately pinpoint mile markers. Another thing to remember is making sure your map is up to date. For a lot of topographical maps this isn't a problem. You also want to be mindful of trees because if they are dense they may blur or cover a path or important map marker.

The first thing I am going to do is look at my surroundings, then look at my map and try to locate specific markers. The first thing I notice is a dirt circle with two ride-on toys. On my map I can clearly locate what looks like a marked off circle with two objects in it so I can say that what is in front of me is that feature on the map. Now I need to figure out what direction this feature is from me. To do this, I am going to set my traditional compass to north, followed by setting my map to north. Now I am going to turn my compass from north, toward the feature, and see what direction I get. My reading shows about 310 degrees.* Now I am going to lay the compass flat on my map and draw a line from my location to the feature I have identified. Now where the lines cross is my location. I appear to be a little off so I need to practice more.

Now we are going to move on to the next feature on the map from the same position I was when we got a bearing on the first feature we identified. I identified this feature, which in this case is a playground set of slides, by determining it's relative location to a very large playground set, a very small playground set, and a bench and trash can. When I take my bearing, it is at about 350 degrees. Now, just like we did previously, I am going to position my compass on the map, and draw the line.

Now that we have located ourselves on the map, we are going to go somewhere with it. I have marked a location on the map that we are going to call the ranger station and I am going to simulate an emergency situation where I need to find the ranger station to get aid. Based on where I am on the map facing as north as I can, and relative to my position from the ranger station on the map I am going to guess the direction I need to go. I am going to guess 315 degrees. I am not going to put my compass on the map and try to get a bearing. If I lock my compass in to 315 degrees, lock myself in north position and draw a line from my position outward on the map I find that I will actually overshoot the ranger station by a few degrees. If I dial it down to about 305 degrees, it gets me pretty close to where I need to go, so I am going to draw a line and go with a bearing of 305 degrees.

Now that I have a line drawn from my location to the ranger station it is important to travel that line on the map and see what features I will come across on my way to my destination. This is important because these features will let me know that I am going in the correct direction if the bearing wasn't enough. The first thing I notice is that my path leads right through a large set of playground equipment. Past that a little ways and to my right is another feature which I cannot identify simply by looking at the map, but we will be able to identify on our walk. Lastly just before I reach my destination there is another set of playground equipment to my left. Now, at the first feature I encounter, instead of walking straight through the playground equipment I am going to instead turn left 90 degrees and walk for a ways, turn right 90 degrees and walk for a ways, and then once again turn right 90 degrees and get back on my bearing of 305 degrees. This allows me to walk around the playground equipment instead of through it. I will show you how to do this without losing your bearing as well.

For my walk I am actually going to be using my button compass. I'm not really staring at it and closely monitoring my direction, I'm just headed generally northwest and using the x's I have placed on my map as I guideline for what features I should be encountering to make sure I am heading in the correct direction. When I encounter my first x, I know that I want to go around it and not through it. I am currently facing northwest, I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and go southwest. I am going to walk 10-20 paces, enough to get past the equipment, then turn 90 degrees to my right and go northwest once again. I am now going to take another 10-20 paces to get out in front of the playground, turn right 90 degrees now heading in the direction of northeast. After my 10-20 paces I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and head northwest once again and in my original direction.
Continuing on our original trail I am able to identify the feature that I was to encounter to the right which was another bench. Shortly after it to my left I locate the playground equipment and right in front of me is what we have identified as the ranger station.

That's it for today guys, however before we wrap this up I wanted to take a minute to talk about my backpack (yes, the one from the three day camp). In my backpack right now are just items from the 5 C's. I did have some personal items in there, but I have recently removed them. Now that we are talking about a new set of 5 C's I would like to take some time at the end of the blog if I choose to add an item, and talk about which item and why. Today I am faced with a difficult choice of whether to add the modern compass, or the traditional military style compass. The button compass has earned a special place, not in my pack, but instead in the EDC kit we spent last month building. For right now I am choosing to add the modern compass to my pack. I know we didn't work much with the military compass this blog, but we will in future blogs. I like that I can put the modern compass on the map and still be able to see what I'm doing. I also like the housing dial on it as opposed to the one on the military compass which has two arrows that don't seem to line up when they are supposed to.

Next week in our series we are going to be talking about a compass' best friend and you know you don't want to miss it.As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.


*After further review the bearing was NOT 310 instead 290. This was the reason my location was off on my map.