Waterproof and Nitrogen-purged means it can withstand most things? (1 Viewer)

[Universe93B]

I have an Oberwerk BT-100XL and possibly adding some others, that are listed as waterproof and nitrogen-purged. I live across a pond (distance bird watching) and also do astronomy at night. Due to a lot of both day and night observing, is it okay to leave these out on a covered front porch so I can easily move these vs moving them throughout the house just to get outside? I'm not 25 y/o anymore and just looking to minimize inconvenience as that leads to me not observing.

I live in NC so the winter has large temperature swings and in the summer, around 90 degrees and high humidity and frequent thunderstorms. I assume it can handle these temperature swings.

I was thinking to buy a Telegizmos cover for it. Would the Oberwerk and other waterproof/nitrogen-purged binoculars be able to handle this?

https://oberwerk.com/product/oberwerk-bt-100xl-ed/

 

[Tringa45]

Manufacturers often quote a functioning and a storage temperature.
For a Swarovski these are typically -25°/+55°C and -30°/+70°C respectively.

John

 

[Binastro]

There are different degrees of waterproofness.

Also the metal parts may corrode.

If the binocular is covered and protected as well as possible it may last years on a porch, but eventually it will probably degrade.

Also the nitrogen seals won't last forever.

But for convenience I would leave it outside rather than risk personal health problems.

I have had a fisheye converter crack at minus 30C, but most optics will survive hot and cold, but not very rapid cooling.

I carefully used a very small hairdryer to remove mist on optics.

I think the only problem might be that the objective cells contract and crack the glass at maybe minus 40 degrees, but not at the temperatures mentioned here.

Regards,
B.

 

[Mike Crawley]

If you feel that you have to leave the binoculars outside, I guess you could add a layer of protection by keeping them in a large plastic container (Tupperware ?) - that would keep them dry.
Some uncooked rice in a cotton bag would "control" the humidity in the box.