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Optics Cleaning Kit

Many major optics and camera companies have figured out that bird watchers are serious optics consumers, and they have begun to create new and different products to sell us. One of the latest products in the optics arena is the optics cleaning kit.

Three cleaning kits that I have recently tried are quite effective.

• Premium Lens Cleaning Kit. Swarovski Optik North America, Ltd.

  This three-piece kit includes a cleaning brush, lens cleaning tissues, and a small spray bottle of fluid that is both a cleaner and an antifog agent. There's no carrying case, but the items will fit easily into your pocket, backpack, or field guide pouch. Suggested retail price: $17.77.

  Contact: Swarovski Optik, NA, 2 Slater Road, Cranston, RI 02920; 800-426-3089; www.swarovskioptik.com

• Optics First Aid Kit (Kinetronics Corporation)

  Slightly bigger than an eyeglass case, this kit includes an antistatic goat-hair brush, a static-free cleaning cloth, a spray bottle of lens-cleaning fluid, and a speck remover. Originally designed for use by camera operators in the film business, the first aid kit is now being marketed to outdoor photographers and birders. Suggested retail price: $19.95.

  Contact: Kinetronics, 4363 Independence Court, Sarasota, FL 34234; 800-624-3204; www.kinetronics.com

• Portable Lens Care System. Carl Zeiss Sports Optics.

  Includes a retractable lens-cleaning brush, a spray bottle of lens cleaner, microfiber cloths, cotton-tipped cleaner applicators and, handiest of all, 12 premoistened lens tissues. Suggested retail price: $29.99.

  Contact: Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, 13005 North Kingston Ave., Chester, VA 23836; 800-441-3005; www.zeiss.com/sports

Travelling with Optics

A few months after the terrorist attacks of September 2001, I was traveling through JFK Airport in New York City on a birding trip to Africa. My luggage and carry-ons were emptied and thoroughly searched. My backpack, which included my laptop, binoculars, spotting scope, and digital camera, was dumped out onto a table by a well-meaning but harried security officer. As she crammed things back into my backpack, she put a fine but permanent scratch on the objective lens of my best birding binoculars. It was my own fault-in my excitement over the trip I had not packed them safely.

Many optics manufacturers are now including travel bags or cases with their higher-end models. If you do not have a protective cover or case for your binoculars or scope, you should. Call or e-mail the manufacturer and ask about protective-case options. Two manufacturers that offer superior binocular cases are Brunton (the Bino-Glove) and Steiner (Bino-Bag).

When I travel now I carry optics in a padded backpack as my primary carry-on. I enclose my binoculars, eyecups held in place with rubber bands, in a padded case. I wrap the case in a strip of bubble wrap. All this not only offers excellent protection for my precious optics, it's also easy to remove and replace during security checks. My scope (which is enclosed in a scope bag and swaddled in bubble wrap) also rides in my backpack. Swarovski Optik now sells a line of field packs, including the Extremadura backpack (suggested retail price about $300), designed specifically for traveling with optics.

Traveling by air with your birding optics requires some preparation. Purchase a comfortable, durable backpack-one with padded sides and bottom. This investment will ensure that both you and your optics arrive safely and happily at your destination.a

Contact:

Brunton: www.brunton.com
Steiner: www.steiner-binoculars.com
Swarovski: www.swarovskioptik.at

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